När örat hamnar i munnen på dejten

What does “slicka” mean in Swedish?

Slicka is the plain Swedish verb for “to lick.” Swedes use it without drama: a child slickar an ice cream, a cat slickar its paw, a stamp gets slickad before going on the envelope. The word lands extra hard on Swedish reality TV, where contestants narrate intimate moments with the same flat tone they’d use to describe doing the dishes. That deadpan delivery is part of what makes Swedish Bachelor-style shows recognizable.

In this clip, a contestant on a Swedish dating show recounts a date: “han började slicka mitt öra... hela det var i munnen” (“he started licking my ear... the whole thing was in his mouth”). The deadpan delivery is the joke.