Go happy bless
You know how sometimes you've said something so many times and then suddenly: ping! on comes a light and you realize what you've been saying all along?
Like f'rinstance in Icelandic, the formal greeting* when you meet someone is "Komdu sæll", or if it's a woman, "komdu sæl". Which actually means: "Come happy". And when you leave you say, "Vertu sæll/sæl," which actually means, "Go happy".
Why have I not realized this before?? [More importantly, why have I not realized that, when translated into English, this common Icelandic greeting sounds like a spam email?]
Of course the parting everyone knows [well maybe not everyone] is bless, which is even more commonly used. That is, when you don't say bless bless. Or bæ.**
And so, with all this blessing and happiness-wishing and suchlike, is it any wonder that we're the happiest nation on the planet?***
AND THE BLESSED WEATHER IS
Sigh. I wish I could say it was wunderbar today, but alas it was not. The beautiful sunshine we've had recently was obliterated by clouds, which wasn't the worst part, seeing as the clouds brought warmer temps. The worst part was the wind. There were some flurries, so windy snow blown into little patches ... very uninviting. I think it got up to around 2°C max [around 37F], but it felt like -7 or so. Sunrise today was at 08.33 and sunset at 18.48.
* i.e. as opposed to the informal 'hæ' [english: 'hi']
** [english: 'bye']
*** Supposedly.
Like f'rinstance in Icelandic, the formal greeting* when you meet someone is "Komdu sæll", or if it's a woman, "komdu sæl". Which actually means: "Come happy". And when you leave you say, "Vertu sæll/sæl," which actually means, "Go happy".
Why have I not realized this before?? [More importantly, why have I not realized that, when translated into English, this common Icelandic greeting sounds like a spam email?]
Of course the parting everyone knows [well maybe not everyone] is bless, which is even more commonly used. That is, when you don't say bless bless. Or bæ.**
And so, with all this blessing and happiness-wishing and suchlike, is it any wonder that we're the happiest nation on the planet?***
AND THE BLESSED WEATHER IS
Sigh. I wish I could say it was wunderbar today, but alas it was not. The beautiful sunshine we've had recently was obliterated by clouds, which wasn't the worst part, seeing as the clouds brought warmer temps. The worst part was the wind. There were some flurries, so windy snow blown into little patches ... very uninviting. I think it got up to around 2°C max [around 37F], but it felt like -7 or so. Sunrise today was at 08.33 and sunset at 18.48.
* i.e. as opposed to the informal 'hæ' [english: 'hi']
** [english: 'bye']
*** Supposedly.
posted by Alda at 10:46 PM
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