This winter, get ‘cozy’ in your ‘snuggery’
People in Iceland traditionally embrace their long, dark winter as an opportunity to read, reflect, and spend time with family.
Scandinavian languages have several well-known words that refer to this atmosphere and the feelings of comfortable contentment it inspires – the famous Danish (“hoogah”), Norwegian (“kooshlee”), and Swedish (“mees”). Icelandic has (“gloogah vether”), which means “window weather” – when it’s best to light candles, make hot cocoa, and enjoy nature’s snowy beauty from inside. Judging from the number of books and articles published about them, English speakers are fascinated by these Scandinavian terms. But English has its own words that can express a similar sense of warm, inward-looking well-being.
