Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.08.2017, Blaðsíða 6

It’s 02:00 you’ve got
a growling stomach
and you’re too lazy
to leave your couch.
All you have in your
fridge is a half eaten
container of skyr
and stale rúgbrauð.
This can be a bit of a
problem in Iceland.
Late night delivery is
what usually saves
the day when hunger
strikes at night, but
unfortunately there
is no such thing
here. As a newcomer
to Iceland, and an
awful cook, I’ve been
dreaming of ordering
food from my couch
from any place that
may still be open
after dark. When you
come from a land
where transportation
services such as Uber
or Just-Eat will pick
up your food from
any restaurant—
even if they don’t
deliver—and have
it right at your front
door at any given
hour, hot and ready
to be devoured,
it's pretty difficult
to live your life any
other way. Whether
you’re working late,
studying, going
out, or you’re just
a creature of the
night—there isn’t
anyone to call to fix
that hunger.
So, why is this
missing in Iceland? Is
it a lack of demand?
Perhaps late night
delivery is one of
those services you
don’t think you need
until you’ve got it.
For now, the lack of
late night delivery
will force the lazy,
bad chef insomniac
in me to change my
lifestyle. If we can't
all agree on the need
for such a service,
there is one type of
late night delivery I
think most people
would approve of—
and that’s late night
beer delivery. As if
that’ll ever happen in
Iceland...
JM

Earlier this week, Icelanders downtown
were greeted by one of the more visu-
ally unavoidable advertisements in re-
cent years: a giant H&M shopping bag.
“GRAND OPENING,” the bag screams
at you. “See you at Smáralind!”it says,
referring to one of the capital area’s
large shopping malls in Kópavogur.
While the ad has now been moved to
Smáralind, it has another aspect that at-
tracts the attention of Icelanders— it’s in
English. By Icelandic law, advertisements
aimed at Icelanders must be in Icelan-
dic. Eiríkur Rögnvaldsson, a professor
of Icelandic at the University of Iceland,
has been one of the more vocal critics of
the ad, and has contacted the Consum-
er Agency to ask if and how they have
been enforcing the law in this regard.
Who’s to blame?
"Like so many things that are related
to the Icelandic language, no one sees
it as their role to make sure that people
adhere to the law," Eiríkur told Grape-
vine. "Of course, one single instance
doesn't matter. It has no effect on the
future of Icelandic. But it's typical. No
one sees it as their responsibility to
safeguard the language. We get more
and more used to having English all
around us. That weakens Icelandic."
But it isn’t just the Consumer Agency
who bears responsibility. The City of
Reykjavík, by granting a permit for the
ad, must also share some of the blame.
At the same time, Eiríkur does not
take an absolutist stance on this issue.
The erosive effect
"It's normal to have advertisements in
English at, for example, the airport in
Keflavík,” he says. “But that's quite an-
other story. This particular advertise-
ments is directed towards Icelanders."
Eiríkur has noticed an increase in
English-language advertisements that
are directed at Icelanders, and sees it as
having a slow erosion on the language.
"It all comes down to individual speak-
ers,” Eiríkur told us. “Maybe ordinary Ice-
landers think they don't care. If they find
this OK, then maybe I'm just a grumpy
old man who should shut up because this
is the future. But then again, I think the
future of the language is uncertain."
The Great Big
Illegal Ad
H&M’s opening gambit breaks
Iceland’s language laws
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen
Though Iceland is known for hav-
ing ample earthquakes, the largest
one in known history didn’t even
reach seven on the richter scale.
In Chile and Japan though—other
well-known epicenters— many
have passed nine. Why are the
earthquakes in Iceland smaller?
To find out the answer to this
earth-shattering question, we
talked to physical chemist Dr. Helgi
Rafn Hróðmarsson, aka ‘The Cosmic
Chemist’.
“Earthquakes originate from
tectonic plate movements that are
situated just beneath the Earth’s
crust. There are several tectonic
plates that cover the Earth’s man-
tle, each named for its surface’s
geography. E.g. Pacific plate, North
& South American plates, etc.
Earthquakes tend to occur at
the boundaries of these crustal
plates, where they collide, sepa-
rate, or rub against one another.
Iceland is situated right at a fissure
between the North American and
Eurasian plates that are separating.
As the plates are moving away from
each other, all geological activity
under Iceland originates at a much
shallower level than at the cusp of
tectonic collisions or in so-called
subduction zones.
For example, whereas Icelandic
earthquakes start tens of kilom-
eters under sea level, earthquakes
in Chile, where the Nazca plate is
being subducted under the South
American plate, stem from a depth
of approx. 100-350 km under sea
level. The further underground an
earthquake is formed, the great-
er the seismic wave can build up,
which causes the Earth’s surface to
shake. Therefore, Iceland’s earth-
quake activity is quite mild in com-
parison to other regions in South
America and Japan.”
ASK A
Scientist
Q: Why doesn’t Iceland
have massive earth-
quakes like Chile and
Japan?
Words:
Paul Fontaine
Photo:
Art Bicnick
Share:
gpv.is/nws15
6The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2017First
ArtisAn BAkery
& Coffee House
Open everyday 6.30 - 21.00
Laugavegur 36 · 101 reykjavik
Somewhere, a giant wonders where she dropped her shopping bag
MISSING IN ICELAND
Late Night
Delivery
Protip: if the deliveryman shows up with an
empty box and a creepy smile, don't let him in