This study of the Spanish expression “hacerse el sueco” shows that there are several theories about the origin. Which of the theories is the most correct is not known but it is popularly thought that the expression “hacerse el sueco” makes references to Swedish tourists who act dumb and pretend not to understand. The analysis of this study is made of the corpus CORDE and CREA and shows that the meaning of the term “hacerse el sueco” no has changed over time, but has the same meaning today as before. This study is also made of surveys that indicate that the term is used today with the same meaning but also shows that Spanish speakers use the phrase rarely and the Swedish speakers with knowledge of Spanish never use the expression. The study also shows that the Swedes who know the expression “hacerse el sueco” perceived the phrase more negatively than Spanish speakers.