Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.06.2014, Blaðsíða 21

21The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 08 — 2014
INFO
Historically, Icelanders have
taken slander very seriously.
According to Grágás, a col-
lection of laws that were used
in Iceland from 930–1260s,
there were three words—all
essentially connected to the
idea that the person insulted
was ‘unmanly’ or homosexual—
that were so insulting that a
man who said them could be
punished with full outlawry.
Moreover, per the terms of the
law, a man insulted in such a
fashion would legally be “en-
titled to kill on account of these
three words.”
Word Pronunciation What it means
Andskotans
Djöfulsins
Helvítis
Ahnd-skoh-tahns
Dyuh-fuhl-sins
Hehl-vee-tihs
By the devil
By Satan
By hell
Oomph Words
Word Pronunciation What it means English Equivalent
Ansans Ári
+Skúrkur
+Flón
+Drullusokkur
+Skoffín
+Gunga
+Garmur
Ahn-sahns
Ouw-rih
Scoor-kuhr
flown
Druh-dluh-
Sok-cur
Scoff-feen
Goon-gah
Gaar-muhr
By the devil
Villain
Fool
Toilet plunger
The mythical offspring of a male fox
and a female cat
Coward
Torn rag
Damn
Dirt bag
Idiot
Bastard
Cur
Scaredy-cat
Dick
Safe To Say In Front Of Your Granny
Word Pronunciation What it means English Equivalent
+Aumingi
+Mannfýla
+Drulludeli
“Farðu til helvítis”
+Drullukunta
“Éttann sjálfur”
+Raggeit
Oiee-ming-Gih
Mahn-fee-la
Druh-dhlu-deh-lih
Fahr Thoo Tihl
Hehl-vee-tihs
Druh-dhlu-cuhn-tah
Yeah-tahn S(ee)-
yeaouwl-fur
Rah-(g)h-gate
Weakling
A person so foul he is comparable to
bad breath
Shitty penis
Go to hell
Shitty vagina
Eat it yourself
As cowardly as a goat
Tosser
Asshole
Piece of shit
Fuck off
Piece of shit
Fuck you too
Bloody coward
For When You Stub Your Toe Really Hard Or Want To Insult Someone At The Bar
Your Pocket Guide To
Swearing In Icelandic
NOTE: You’ll see that a lot of the words
in the table have a “+” icon. This in-
dicates that you can use any of these
“Oomph Words” to preface them
for extra zing. You can also string
along combinations of all three Oomph
Words to indicate extreme frustration.
family dinner the subject of swear
words came up and my granny
shared some of her own favourites
with me, including the much beloved
“farðu til helvítis” (“go to hell”). It’s
a short and sweet retaliatory curse,
and gets straight to the point, even if
you aren’t religious.
As far as I can tell,
despite having a na-
tional church, most
Icelanders aren’t
terribly religious.
And yet there do
seem to be a fair
amount of insults
based in religious
imagery. What’s
that all about?
One might argue th-
at society has out-
paced the language
in progressiveness,
but you are right,
many swear words
have religious un-
dertones, including
the innocent “an-
sa-ns ári” (“devil’s
demon”), “man-
nfjandi” (“man-
devil”) and “sk-
rattinn” (“Satan”).
To be fair, saying
“oh my god” is still
a commonplace ex-
clamation in Eng-
lish, too.
It’s true. Adding
“god” before (or
between) most ba-
sic insults really adds some oomph
in (American) English, because
to this day, a good many of us are
essentially still Puritans. Which
probably explains why sexually
derived insults continue to mor-
tally offend us.
We have a fair share of those, in-
cluding the complicated “brundþró,”
which is composed of “brund”
(“cum”) and “þró” (“compost”), to
literally call someone a “cum recep-
tacle.” We have even more insults
referring to genitalia, including the
tame “skaufi” (“dick”), the banal
“kunta” (“cunt”), and the more in-
ventive “drulludeli” (“shitty penis”)
and “drullukunta” (“shitty vagina”),
both of which are comparable to
“piece of shit.”
But worse, really. Although things
seem to get a bit complicated when
it comes to body part vocab in Ice-
landic. Take “rassgat,” (asshole).
Not unexpectedly, this word fea-
tures in some pretty decent curs-
es, such as “farðu í rassgat,” which
I take to mean something like
“crawl up your own asshole.” But
then I was informed that “hvað þú
ert mikið rassgat!” (“aren’t you a
little asshole!”) is a perfectly ac-
ceptable endearment to use when
speaking to your
cousin’s adorable
child, for instance.
I find this con-
fusing. I’m hard
pressed to think
of a way in which
an asshole is some-
thing cuddly or cu-
te that you want
to associate with
a child that you
are fond of. And I
know for certain
that if you tried to
call someone’s kid
an “asshole” in the
States—even saying,
“aren’t you a cute
little asshole?!”—
you would imme-
diately be punched
in the face.
If you’re going to
take something aw-
ay from Icelandic, I
certainly hope call-
ing kids assholes
isn’t one of them. I’m
not sure how the
tradition began, but
calling kids ‘little
assholes’ is intercha-
ngeable with saying
“oh you little mon-
ster / beast / ras-
cal.” Perhaps asshole works because
everyone has one? I don’t know,
that’s probably not it...
But now that I have all these
words at my disposal, this brings
me back to my original problem.
Namely: how to execute an effec-
tive aspersion. So, can you teach
me how to actually deliver these
withering Icelandic insults now?
With pleasure! The insults can all
be shouted, but I find they have the
greatest impact if you can pull them
off slowly, deliberately and with
confidence. Most swear words can
be made even more potent by prefac-
ing them with “helvítis” (“damned”),
“andskotans” or “djöfulsins” (“by
the devil”). Please refer to the handy
“Pocket Guide to Icelandic Insults”
we’ve put together here.
“Most swear words can
be made even more
potent by prefacing
them with “helvítis”
(“damned”), “ands-
kotans” or “djöfulsins”
(“by the devil”).”
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Sultartangi Res. 109 Gl • Kelduá Res. 60 Gl • Hrauneyjar Res. 33 Gl • Gilsá Res. 20 Gl • Spordalda Res. 25 Gl • Bjarnar Res. 5 Gl • Vatnsfell and Ufsar Res. 3 Gl
Word Pronunciation What it means English Equivalent
“Éttu það sem
úti frýs”
Hlandbrenndu
+Náriðill
+Brundþró
+Vesalingur
“Megi tröll hafa
þína vini”
+Ónytjungur
Yeah-tuh Thahth Sehm
Oo-tih Freez
H(l)-ahnd-
Brehn-du(h)
Now-r(y)th-idhl
Bruh-nd-throw
Ve-sah-lin-gur
May-(g)hi trö-dhl hah-
fah thee-nah vih-hni
Ouw-niht-yoon(g)-gur
You can eat that which freezes
outside
May you burn from your own urine
Necrophiliac
Cum receptacle
Someone helpless
May the trolls take your friends
Someone who is completely
worthless
You can fuck
the fuck off
Screw you,
motherfucker
Disgusting piece of shit
Bloody wanker
Sad old man
Fuck you too
Sorry sack of shit
When You Want To Drop The Mic