Sacred Haven of Debauchery

A significant change in the Swedish language occurred in the 1960s with the so-called "du-reform" ("you-reform"). Previously, it was acceptable to address people of the same or higher social status by their title and last name. The use of "herr" ("mister"), "fru" ("madam"), or "fröken" ("miss") was considered acceptable only in the first conversation with strangers of unknown profession, academic degree, or military rank. The fact that the listener was preferably addressed in the third person further complicated verbal communication between members of society. In the early 20th century, an unsuccessful attempt was made to replace the use of titles and ranks with the pronoun Ni (the standard second-person plural pronoun) – similar to the situation in French and Russian. As a result, Ni became used as a less offensive form of du, used to address people of lower social status. With the liberalization and radicalization of Swedish society in the 1950s and 60s, these previously significant differences between social classes became less important, and du became the standard form of address even in formal and official contexts.