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Letters to Leonhard the Mighty Lion: #3
Translations provided by the Avenger; both letters were written in Icelandic.
Dear Leonhard,
To me, there is no country that is as unique as Iceland. Closest country that is like us, even remotely, would be Greenland. Why? Geographically speaking, I think we are the most isolated country on Earth. Yes, lots of modern advancements have helped us, but we are a country of villagers living on a planet where basically every other country is organized with fixed schedules from morning to night (most of our businesses open at noon). Modern technologies have also allowed us to build our dairy factories in Hvallátur and Höfn at least. The global underground and underwater high-speed train tunnels connects through those cities to allow for steady exports of our dairy products, especially butter and skyr, to Greenland and Faroe Islands, which then goes to Denmark.
Skyr, as you know, is actually a type of cheese, not yogurt, despite being consumed similarly like yogurt. It even has similar tastes like yogurt, but it's not yogurt. Hence we do not showcase skyr in Saudi Arabia's International Yogurt Festival, as that would be considered false advertising of our product. In America alone, there are still too many people who think skyr is Icelandic yogurt, which is not. Though it is possible to produce yogurt in Iceland, we do not do that. If anything, we import yogurt, though doing that personally from online shopping costs too much in fees and taxes (but at least our government's social programs funded by our taxes supports our health and families for "free", but then again, we're villagers). Yes; it's strange, but then again, why make yogurt, a common global product, when we have skyr? (Of course, our butter is another major export of ours.)
Our ambassador in Japan is helping us to bring skyr there, since Japan loves cheese a lot. Convincing the Japanese that skyr is cheese instead of yogurt can be challenging, but probably because of language. The same of this could be said in Korea, where our ambassador is helping us to bring skyr there, too. But in the end, like with many Icelanders, I tend to get irked when people think skyr is yogurt. But the biggest offenders are corporate copycats of our products being labeled as "Icelandic yogurt", which is beyond misleading, which is also misinforming.
America seems to have a bit of a problem of dealing with skyr copycats being labeled as "Icelandic yogurt", but I hope that stops once people, not just in America, are informed what skyr really is. In fact, our government filed an application to UNESCO to have skyr included in the UNESCO List of Tangible Cultural Heritage because skyr is our national culinary staple and only Iceland can export true skyr. I'm hoping that happens because we want the world to know how skyr is unique from yogurt, and why they should try them, too.
You seem to be a very mentally strong lion, whose emotions isn't even touched by outside factors, and I like that. But I am curious: how do you handle people who tend to think skyr is yogurt instead of cheese? To many Icelanders, we tend to be either amused by that or bothered by that. Do you get upset when you see yogurt products being labeled as "Icelandic yogurt" to pass off as skyr when it is not? I sure do.
Kristín Einarsdóttir, age 20, (female arctic wolf)
Hvallátur, Westfjords, Iceland
Leonhard's reply:
Dear Kristín:
I have to set an example for my people, so I work hard to be a mentally and physically strong lion; playing the drums helps me do that, particularly when I am beating a marching drum. It has bothered me somewhat to find that skyr is wrongly labeled as yougurt, but I don't get my nose out of joint. I just let them make fools of themselves and live my life. However, I do agree that we should work to educate the public about what it really is, and I do not think it helps that the product is consumed the same way yougurt is consumed. If I do come across people who are like this, I calmly talk it out with them and encourage them to do more research about the topic before they come to a conclusion.
Misinformation (and for that matter, disinformation) is posioning to the brain, but this is a different type of harm than the type of misinformation that got spread when COVID-19 first broke out, or worse, when CNG was still alive. (Mind you the latter wanted to kill humanity, and it would kill them for doing something like this if it was still around.)
At a later date, as soon as my American counterpart awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a man named George D. Higgins (a political cartoonist who drew many cartoons of Leo during the era of Zachary Chandler as a dictator, and ultimately helped to bring the coyote down, but the coyote made a U-turn as you know and is a celebrated hero now), I plan to visit the U.S. and start a campaign that educates the public on what it really is. So pray hard for me that this succeeds. Otherwise, this confusion and this controversy may continue until the end of time. (I may be exaggerating, but my day job as an engineer can be stressful sometimes.)
Hope that helps; if not, feel free to write back and ask any further questions so I can fix the mistake.
Yours truly,
Leonhard Olvirsson, a.k.a. Leonhard the Mighty Lion
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Letters to Leonhard the Mighty Lion: #3
Translations provided by the Avenger; both letters were written in Icelandic.
Dear Leonhard,
To me, there is no country that is as unique as Iceland. Closest country that is like us, even remotely, would be Greenland. Why? Geographically speaking, I think we are the most isolated country on Earth. Yes, lots of modern advancements have helped us, but we are a country of villagers living on a planet where basically every other country is organized with fixed schedules from morning to night (most of our businesses open at noon). Modern technologies have also allowed us to build our dairy factories in Hvallátur and Höfn at least. The global underground and underwater high-speed train tunnels connects through those cities to allow for steady exports of our dairy products, especially butter and skyr, to Greenland and Faroe Islands, which then goes to Denmark.
Skyr, as you know, is actually a type of cheese, not yogurt, despite being consumed similarly like yogurt. It even has similar tastes like yogurt, but it's not yogurt. Hence we do not showcase skyr in Saudi Arabia's International Yogurt Festival, as that would be considered false advertising of our product. In America alone, there are still too many people who think skyr is Icelandic yogurt, which is not. Though it is possible to produce yogurt in Iceland, we do not do that. If anything, we import yogurt, though doing that personally from online shopping costs too much in fees and taxes (but at least our government's social programs funded by our taxes supports our health and families for "free", but then again, we're villagers). Yes; it's strange, but then again, why make yogurt, a common global product, when we have skyr? (Of course, our butter is another major export of ours.)
Our ambassador in Japan is helping us to bring skyr there, since Japan loves cheese a lot. Convincing the Japanese that skyr is cheese instead of yogurt can be challenging, but probably because of language. The same of this could be said in Korea, where our ambassador is helping us to bring skyr there, too. But in the end, like with many Icelanders, I tend to get irked when people think skyr is yogurt. But the biggest offenders are corporate copycats of our products being labeled as "Icelandic yogurt", which is beyond misleading, which is also misinforming.
America seems to have a bit of a problem of dealing with skyr copycats being labeled as "Icelandic yogurt", but I hope that stops once people, not just in America, are informed what skyr really is. In fact, our government filed an application to UNESCO to have skyr included in the UNESCO List of Tangible Cultural Heritage because skyr is our national culinary staple and only Iceland can export true skyr. I'm hoping that happens because we want the world to know how skyr is unique from yogurt, and why they should try them, too.
You seem to be a very mentally strong lion, whose emotions isn't even touched by outside factors, and I like that. But I am curious: how do you handle people who tend to think skyr is yogurt instead of cheese? To many Icelanders, we tend to be either amused by that or bothered by that. Do you get upset when you see yogurt products being labeled as "Icelandic yogurt" to pass off as skyr when it is not? I sure do.
Kristín Einarsdóttir, age 20, (female arctic wolf)
Hvallátur, Westfjords, Iceland
Leonhard's reply:
Dear Kristín:
I have to set an example for my people, so I work hard to be a mentally and physically strong lion; playing the drums helps me do that, particularly when I am beating a marching drum. It has bothered me somewhat to find that skyr is wrongly labeled as yougurt, but I don't get my nose out of joint. I just let them make fools of themselves and live my life. However, I do agree that we should work to educate the public about what it really is, and I do not think it helps that the product is consumed the same way yougurt is consumed. If I do come across people who are like this, I calmly talk it out with them and encourage them to do more research about the topic before they come to a conclusion.
Misinformation (and for that matter, disinformation) is posioning to the brain, but this is a different type of harm than the type of misinformation that got spread when COVID-19 first broke out, or worse, when CNG was still alive. (Mind you the latter wanted to kill humanity, and it would kill them for doing something like this if it was still around.)
At a later date, as soon as my American counterpart awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a man named George D. Higgins (a political cartoonist who drew many cartoons of Leo during the era of Zachary Chandler as a dictator, and ultimately helped to bring the coyote down, but the coyote made a U-turn as you know and is a celebrated hero now), I plan to visit the U.S. and start a campaign that educates the public on what it really is. So pray hard for me that this succeeds. Otherwise, this confusion and this controversy may continue until the end of time. (I may be exaggerating, but my day job as an engineer can be stressful sometimes.)
Hope that helps; if not, feel free to write back and ask any further questions so I can fix the mistake.
Yours truly,
Leonhard Olvirsson, a.k.a. Leonhard the Mighty Lion
Letters to Leonhard the Mighty Lion: #3
Leonhard's third letter.
Character joint-owned by Chuong and me; he did the original letter, and I wrote the response.
Character joint-owned by Chuong and me; he did the original letter, and I wrote the response.
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 86px
Listed in Folders
Snowstorm: We appointed you as our ambassador to America so you have the perfect job to educate the Americans about skyr. You got this!
Chuong: Skyr is extremely similar to yogurt. A small isolated country with a gift to the world. A nation of villagers in a world of organized modern societies.
Lawrenz/Lawrence: Hey. Malta is a fairly isolated country too and we have Leonardu. Just saying.
Chuong: Skyr is extremely similar to yogurt. A small isolated country with a gift to the world. A nation of villagers in a world of organized modern societies.
Lawrenz/Lawrence: Hey. Malta is a fairly isolated country too and we have Leonardu. Just saying.
Leonhard: I will do my best.
Leo: I trust you will. Even I mistakenly thought it was a yogurt at first because of the similarity to yogurt.
Leo: I trust you will. Even I mistakenly thought it was a yogurt at first because of the similarity to yogurt.
Chuong: Leonhard's biggest worry are people mistaking skyr as yogurt? Talk about being among the most luckiest parallels because they deal with the least amount of stress.
Snowstorm: Yes and no. If Iceland was a utopia, online shopping would be a breeze. Second, we have volcanoes and earthquakes.
Captain Cosmo: Then I'd vote to declare that Leki the Buddhist Lion is the least stressed parallel whereas with Leonid, he's the most stressed. As far as I know, there is virtually nothing in Bhutan for Leki to get stressed about nor do they get much visitors anyways.
Snowstorm: Yes and no. If Iceland was a utopia, online shopping would be a breeze. Second, we have volcanoes and earthquakes.
Captain Cosmo: Then I'd vote to declare that Leki the Buddhist Lion is the least stressed parallel whereas with Leonid, he's the most stressed. As far as I know, there is virtually nothing in Bhutan for Leki to get stressed about nor do they get much visitors anyways.
Leonhard: I think I would say Leki has the least amount of stress. I might be in second place.
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