IS THE SWEDISH CHEF NORWEGIAN?

IS THE SWEDISH CHEF NORWEGIAN? I asked Mary Jane to guess what Swedes think about the Swedish chef? She guessed: “They think he’s Norwegian.” She was right. In this article in Slate, Jeremy Stahl interviews some Swedes who opine that the Swedish Chef sounds Norwegian. There is also linguistic support for the theory that he is Norwegian. The Chef’s tone rises and falls in a way that is characteristic of Norwegian and not of Swedish. Norwegian goes back and forth between two tonal peaks, and so does the Swedish Chef.