Danesplained: A Survival Guide to (Nearly) Cracking the Danish Code

Richard Steed arrived in Copenhagen from Luton in 2009. Briefly exotic — until the Danes discovered where that was.
He has been trying to make sense of Denmark ever since.

Based on his popular Danesplained columns in the Copenhagen Post and on Substack, Richard uses British sarcasm and genuine affection for the Danes to decode the unwritten rules, social codes, and cultural quirks that Denmark never quite gets round to explaining.

Do Danes have manners? Why is small talk with a stranger almost a public nuisance? Why is the office empty at 3pm on a Friday? And why is a TV drama from 1978 still your fastest route into the Danish inner circle?

Part survival guide, part confession, and part interactive quiz, this talk is for anyone who has ever found Denmark to be simultaneously the most logical and the most baffling place on earth. Newcomers, expats, repats, and curious Danes all welcome.

Seventeen years in. Almost cracked it.