Dear Marc, know how I've been telling you about breast warts and other gross Swedish terms? Well, I have kept one of our most unappealing expressions hidden from you. It's an adjective used by many people, most of them don't even think about how disgusting the saying is.
I'm talking about snorhalt. As in "akta dig, det är snorhalt ute". Didn't get that?
Let me translate for you. Swedes of every age, creed and political affiliation say this. "Please take caution. It's slippery like snot outside".
I don't think your distinguished language stoops to such an archaic level.
But ours gladly does. Unfortunately!
love
-e, still writing in English obvious reasons.
5 comments:
haha, i min stad säger vi alltid svinhalt, inte för att det på något sätt är så mycket bättre. tack för en bra blogg, jag läser allt med lika stor glädje! kram!
Better to be slippery than snotty then, I guess.
Ick!
Makes you wonder who tried it out. And how much snot you would actually need to make a puddle big enough to slip from.
i've been having similar issues with the swedish language myself, as of late.
i'm taking a swedish language class here at the university i attend in florida; this is my first semester, though i had a tiny bit of exposure to the language as a child. about a month ago, i adopted a kitten from a litter that one of the ladies in the language department found abandoned in front of her house. the kitten is a spunky little black & white tuxedo girl, and i've been trying to name her in swedish, since i only found out about her through my swedish professor. my fiancee and i's closest friends adopted her all-black brother, and named him a japanese term for "little shadow" or something similar. my great-grandmother's crazy cat is named "fy fan!" and i've always thought that was an awesome and fun swedish name for a cat.
well, this little girl's been around for a while now, and she's still "the unnamed kitten" or "nameless" or most often, just "kitten." names i've considered: fågel, tjena (or tjena hejdå), and tjej. i've considered more than a few others, but usually they're either loan words that sound too much like their english counterparts, are too much of a mouthful or just sound too goofy for such a dignified kitten. so, the search continues. suggestions are welcome, but really, i just wanted to gripe- during all the time i spend pondering cat names, i keep finding myself drawn back to thinking about your entries regarding the awkward grossness and backwardness of the swedish language, and wonder why i'm doing this at all. (but i dont think i'm budging.)
sorry for such an incredibly, inexcusably long comment. i love your blog; i've been a reader on-and-off for probably about a year now, and it's always a pleasure to come back here.
thanks, tack!
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