Stockholm is the capital city of Sweden, in northern Europe. It sits where a lake meets the Baltic Sea, and it is built across fourteen islands joined by bridges, so water is everywhere in it — people sometimes call it the Venice of the North. It is Sweden's biggest city and the centre of the country's government, business, universities and art. Two things make the name familiar even to people who have never been to Europe. First, the Nobel Prizes are awarded there every December, apart from the Peace Prize, which is given in Oslo. Second, the phrase 'Stockholm syndrome' — when a person who has been taken prisoner starts to feel warmly towards the person holding them — is named after a bank robbery there in 1973 where the hostages ended up defending the robbers. That phrase has spread far beyond its original meaning; people now use it loosely, half joking, about anyone who has grown fond of something that treats them badly, like a difficult job. Always a capital S: it is the name of a place.