The secret word

There has been a recent boom in books about how, if you live the Nordic way, you too could live longer. Hundreds of little tips essentially all boil down to an instruction to be more Swedish, more Danish, more Finnish. Each country has its own special word that signifies the secret to success. In Swedish, according to Bertil Marklund, the word is lagom, meaning “just the right amount”. However, in each case we are told that there is no exact translation, and hence an entire book on “the word” is needed for the reader to glean the secrets it holds.

In Denmark the magic word is hygge, meaning an atmosphere of cosiness, closeness and comfortable conviviality, which in turn generates feelings of greater well-being and contentment (Norway has koselig, meaning nearly the same thing, with some subtle differences.) Candles, cushions and closing the door on unwanted intrusions feature heavily in hygge, and wrapping yourself in chunky hand-knitted blankets and indulging in pastries is how the concept was presented to the outside world (Country Life 2017). Inevitably, there is no exact English translation or short definition that quite summarizes the concept correctly.

It is not just the Nordic countries that have received this treatment. In Japan the equivalent concept is ikigai. According to The Times “Forget hygge. It's all about ikigai (that's Japanese for a happy life)” (Country Life 2017; Mogi 2017). Unsurprisingly, the Japanese term also defies translation and requires an entire book to explain it. What none of these books point out are the many similarities between these countries.