Words wanted
Yesterday was Dagur íslenskrar tungu, a day held annually to celebrate the Icelandic language and highlight its importance for our nation. To commemorate the day, the Icelandic Centre for Educational Materials has launched a competition to find new Icelandic words for ten English terms that have entered the language.
A quick glance at the words confirms that, indeed, there is no single Icelandic word that adequately conveys their meaning. Also, they tend to be bastardized when written, to fit in with Icelandic grammar, phonetics and sentence construction. The words are:
casual [Þetta verður bara kasúal, skiluru]
crossover [Hann er allur í krossóver tónlist]
date [Ég er að deita ógesslega sætan gaur..]
fusion [Þetta er svona fjúsjón matur, rosafínn...]
nick [No idea what that is but you'd send it on MSN]
outlet [as in 'sale': Keyptetta í átlet búðinni þarna í Skeifunni þúst]
skate [as in skateboard: Farinn út að skeita mamma!]
surf [the web: Ég var að sörfa og lenti óvart á klámsíðu]
trendsetter [Hún þarna Sienna Miller er algjör trendsetter]
wannabe [Þessi Kylie Minogue er algjör Silvía Nótt wannabe]
Right! If anyone has any suggestions, you're welcome to deposit them here or, better, in the entry form [warning: PDF!] on the ICEM web.
Now that that's done, would you like to know what the most popular names in Iceland are?*
1. Jón (6,072)
2. Guðrún (5,673)
3. Anna (4,998)
4. Sigurður (4,842)
5. Guðmundur (4,586)
6. Sigríður (4,193)
7. Kristín (4,126)
8. Gunnar (3,599)
9. Margrét (3,380)
10. Helga (3,177)
And the most common foreign names in Iceland:
1. Julia (391)
2. Nina (308)
3. José (138)
4. Natalia (128)
5. Marianna (113)
6. Andrzej (111)
7. Krzysztof (110)
8. Marek (106)
9. Piotr (102)
10. António (99)
Now aren't you pleased you know all that?
MEANWHILE, BACK IN WINDLAND
Someone did something really nice for me today. This morning it was obvious that there was no alternative but to run indoors, what with temps at -7°C [19.4° F] and massive windchill. So off I went to my local fitness studio [which I only do when desperate, as I've often said] that in the past has always charged me a day rate to use the treadmill, which is somewhere around ISK 1,200 [USD 17 / EUR 13.50]. Today, however, the clerk just smiled and told me to go ahead, it was OK, I didn't have to pay. So either the extreme cold we've been having lately is making us into a kinder, gentler nation, or the desperate look in my endorphin-deprived eyes was too much for her. At any rate, it made my day.
YES WE HAVE NO FISH
All this storm and cold lately has had the effect that the fishermen can't go out in their boats and catch fish, which means supplies have dried up in the fish markets [and here in Niceland, fish markets are about as essential as your regular grocer]. So not only is this miserable weather causing disgruntlement and crankiness among the general populace [well, except for the clerk in the fitness studio], but is also bad for the economy. Let's hope we get some respite soon. Temps at the moment are -6°C, winds 8-15 m/sec and the sun came up at 09.56 and will set at 16.28.
* Nicked from today's Fréttablaðið.
A quick glance at the words confirms that, indeed, there is no single Icelandic word that adequately conveys their meaning. Also, they tend to be bastardized when written, to fit in with Icelandic grammar, phonetics and sentence construction. The words are:
casual [Þetta verður bara kasúal, skiluru]
crossover [Hann er allur í krossóver tónlist]
date [Ég er að deita ógesslega sætan gaur..]
fusion [Þetta er svona fjúsjón matur, rosafínn...]
nick [No idea what that is but you'd send it on MSN]
outlet [as in 'sale': Keyptetta í átlet búðinni þarna í Skeifunni þúst]
skate [as in skateboard: Farinn út að skeita mamma!]
surf [the web: Ég var að sörfa og lenti óvart á klámsíðu]
trendsetter [Hún þarna Sienna Miller er algjör trendsetter]
wannabe [Þessi Kylie Minogue er algjör Silvía Nótt wannabe]
Right! If anyone has any suggestions, you're welcome to deposit them here or, better, in the entry form [warning: PDF!] on the ICEM web.
Now that that's done, would you like to know what the most popular names in Iceland are?*
1. Jón (6,072)
2. Guðrún (5,673)
3. Anna (4,998)
4. Sigurður (4,842)
5. Guðmundur (4,586)
6. Sigríður (4,193)
7. Kristín (4,126)
8. Gunnar (3,599)
9. Margrét (3,380)
10. Helga (3,177)
And the most common foreign names in Iceland:
1. Julia (391)
2. Nina (308)
3. José (138)
4. Natalia (128)
5. Marianna (113)
6. Andrzej (111)
7. Krzysztof (110)
8. Marek (106)
9. Piotr (102)
10. António (99)
Now aren't you pleased you know all that?
MEANWHILE, BACK IN WINDLAND
Someone did something really nice for me today. This morning it was obvious that there was no alternative but to run indoors, what with temps at -7°C [19.4° F] and massive windchill. So off I went to my local fitness studio [which I only do when desperate, as I've often said] that in the past has always charged me a day rate to use the treadmill, which is somewhere around ISK 1,200 [USD 17 / EUR 13.50]. Today, however, the clerk just smiled and told me to go ahead, it was OK, I didn't have to pay. So either the extreme cold we've been having lately is making us into a kinder, gentler nation, or the desperate look in my endorphin-deprived eyes was too much for her. At any rate, it made my day.
YES WE HAVE NO FISH
All this storm and cold lately has had the effect that the fishermen can't go out in their boats and catch fish, which means supplies have dried up in the fish markets [and here in Niceland, fish markets are about as essential as your regular grocer]. So not only is this miserable weather causing disgruntlement and crankiness among the general populace [well, except for the clerk in the fitness studio], but is also bad for the economy. Let's hope we get some respite soon. Temps at the moment are -6°C, winds 8-15 m/sec and the sun came up at 09.56 and will set at 16.28.
* Nicked from today's Fréttablaðið.
posted by Alda at 1:28 PM
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