Talk:Swedish Chef

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of WikiProject Films, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to films and film characters on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale. Unknown This article has not been rated on the importance assessment scale.
Editing Guidelines Please remember these guidelines when editing a film article: If a non-film article already exists with the name of the film that you are trying to create an article for, disambiguate and use (film) in the title: Film Title (film) For more information see: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) When writing an article about a particular film, the general format should be a concise lead section, followed by a plot summary of no more than 900 words, production details, a cast list, a reception section, and references. Create an Infobox that tells all pertinent information about the film.

I remember hearing somewhere that the actual dialect of Swedish that the Swedish Chef's speech is a parody of had been identified, and also that the actual chef that he is a parody of also was identified. I can't remember who it was, or what the dialect was, and I can't seem to locate any info on it. But if I stumble across it again and it hasn't been added, I could write it in. It's a fun bit of trivia at least. --Mickel 19:24, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Quoting the article: The Swedish Chef character is actually based on real life Swedish chef Lars Bäckman. His rather unsuccessful appearance on "Good Morning America" caught the attention of Jim Henson, who later bought the rights to the recording and created Lars Bäckman's muppet alter ego. I guess that's what you mean? :) // Gargaj 00:48, 2004 Dec 15 (UTC)

I think the dialect he spoke was some kind of Dalecarlian, which sounds unlike most major dialects in Sweden. (I don't think he spoke real Dalecarlian language, though,)

This website contains some details on Bäckman. - Nunh-huh 01:12, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Funny tho... First off the article says "Jim Henderson" :D Next, I did a Google search on his nickname and the first article that turned up was this, which actually denies the claims... God knows. Probably the only guy who knew the truth was Jim Henson himself... // Gargaj 11:19, 2005 Jan 19 (UTC)

Seems like "Kuprik" was a nickname for Lars Bäckman. I have no idea what it would mean, though... =S

• "Børk! Børk! Børk!" is not Swedish! The letter "ø" is never used in Swedish, it uses "ö" instead. So the proper Swedish version would be "Börk! Börk! Börk!" 85.76.152.179 19:40, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • I guess this is just part of the screwieness of the character (the "Børk" was written Børk everywhere :) // Gargaj 21:19, 2005 Feb 13 (UTC)
    • I believe ø would look more Scandinavian/exotic than ö to an american, it was for that reason the Øresund region chose to spell its name with ø in all its Public Relations press material.

I remember one episode of either The Muppet Show or Muppets Tonight where a female guest star (All I can remember is that she's blonde folks) is able to understand The Chef as she speaks "Faux Swedish" (I believe it was faux or fake I can't remember it's been so long). Sam the Eagle, who is also there accuses the Chef of being a fraud and demands that he speak in his original tounge. The Chef speaks a rather strange, almost asian sounding, gibberish phrase much different than his usual, when Sam asks what he said the guest star replies "I don't speak faux japanese." Like I said this is going from my own recollection hence the fuzzy details. I'm sorry I cannot provide anymore Namrepus221

Yeah, that was Jean Stapleton. You can see Muppet Wiki for more information on the episode. -- Danny Toughpigs 22:48, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Source material?

Is this wikipedia article the source for absoluteastronomy, or vice versa?

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/s/sw/swedish_chef.htm

--SilasM 10:28, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

• That article was sourced from Wikipedia. At the very bottom, it says: "The source of this article is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL." What it has to do with Astronomy, though, is anyone's guess. Andrew Lenahan - Starblind 10:39, July 26, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Bort bort bort!"

I took away the part about the pronounciation being closer to "book book book"; I never heard that one before, so it could be original research, and anyway, to me, the R sounds loud and clear. What I remember from when The Muppets ran on Norwegian TV, was that people interpreted it as "Bort bort bort" (away away away), which actually makes a lot of sense, since he's tossing his kitchen utensils over his shoulders as he says it. "Bort bort bort" is good, idiomatic Swedish when you're really annoyed and want to get rid of someone or something. "Get away from me!!!" I don't know if anyone actually wrote it down, but it's not original research. I'm not saying it couldn't be a phonetic coincidence, though. Juryen 20:39, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry if I'm being picky on this "bort bort bort"-thing, but I really must object to it. I agree that "k" and "t" can sound quite alike. However, the way "bork" is pronounced by the Chef is not as similar to the Swedish pronounciation of "bort" as one might wish. The o-sound in "bork" is a 'long' or possibly 'half long' vowel and the o-sound in "bort" is a 'short' vowel, (which is actually pronounced like the short vowel-form of the Swedish letter "å", not "o".) I'm not sure that these are the correct terms but I hope you understand. Some examples? The o-sound in "Bork" corresponds to the o-sounds in the words "oar" and "door", whereas the o-sound in "bort", is _more similar_ to such words as "dozen" or "mother". Now, my knowledge of the precise pronounciation of English words is not perfect as I am not a native speaker. I am, however, a native Swede, and I can assure you that the o-sound in "bort" does not sound like the o-sound in the Chef's "bork". Therefore, I think that the whole bork => bort-connection is too speculative and doesn't fit in.

I think otherwise. Consider that the voice actor for the Swedish Chef presumably don't know any real swedish. Why should the (mis)pronounciation of the o-sound be a logical reason for "bork" not to be connected to swedish "bort"? I don't see how you can make any conclusions at all based on the fact that the o-sound sounds much more like the o-sound an English speaker would make (even when trying to imitate swedish) than the o-sound of a Swedish speaker... it might still be an attempt. After all, if it weren't just an attempt, and a failed one, it would probably not be as humorous (to the English-speaking audience it was targeted). 195.24.29.51 13:40, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Guild Wars?

Since the trivia mentions that Google has a Bork Bork Bork language option I feel that we should include that the game Guild Wars also has this option. Does anyone feel opposed to this? 67.60.52.178 05:38, 30 November 2006 (UTC)cambellsoup