It all began in the early hours of Thursday morning, when Denmark re-tweeted one of Sweden's tweets, pointing out that Danes and Swedes had much in common:
just one of many things, Danes and Swedes have in common https://t.co/9yC2zfO4Yl
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
Not such a bad thing to have in common — to be honest — but unfortunately, Sweden didn't quite get Denmark's humorous tone and responded by pointing to their Nordic neighbor's size, as the first shots of the 'Scandinavian Twitter War' were fired.
. @denmarkdotdk Another thing we don't have in common is that our lakes are the size of your country.
— Sweden.se (@swedense) 7 July 2016
Denmark, refusing to let it go, shot fire back at Sweden by mocking their laws.
Did you know that everything that is not forbidden in @swedense, is mandatory?
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
Accusations started flying across the online table with both Nordic countries taking a swing at each other's language as well as "entertaining" situations, like that one time, when a Swedish policeman thought a drunken Swede was speaking Danish.
.@swedense but more than half of you, said we could have Skåne https://t.co/uUN7nJ0m8H pic.twitter.com/3Py6Awp2II
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
.@denmarkdotdk or what did you say exactly? pic.twitter.com/BrRRsLKYVw
— Sweden.se (@swedense) July 7, 2016
.@swedense please, you can't even understand your own people https://t.co/7DDIWveBms
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
And then bring in the alcohol and the cold hard Nordic truth that it's actually a lot cheaper to buy in Denmark than it is in Sweden:
My dear @denmarkdotdk you slur, but tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still slur.
— Sweden.se (@swedense) July 7, 2016
But my dear @swedense, tomorrow we all know that you're back in Denmark to buy more alcohol
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
Then, enter the moose!
.@swedense the feeling is mutual, as we are happy to shelter your fleeing mooses https://t.co/onc8dSlH7C pic.twitter.com/DYq00sWwnH
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
.@swedense it just wasn't accustomed to modern infrastructure from where it came
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
They even brought out an article from Vice about how Denmark dominated the global sperm market.
.@denmarkdotdk We're happy to give you 5 moose seeing as you didn't have any for 5000 years. Is that the reason your fertility is so low?
— Sweden.se (@swedense) July 7, 2016
.@swedense while you were breeding moose, we were busy propagating the world https://t.co/fiRbe0ljrT
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) July 7, 2016
The Twitter rant between the two Nordic sides went on for quite some time with neither willing to back down. One thing's for certain, both Sweden and Denmark have come a long way since the Vikings, and "in the name of fun," this Twitter battle was staged by both sides, because in the words of Ferencz Thuroczy, Sweden's Social Media Manager, "the Internet needs a sense of humor… at our and Denmark's expense."
