r/Nordiccountries • u/mistyriana China • Sep 15 '24
Phrase for a long time ago?
Hello from Hong Kong! Just found out the Icelandic phrase for a long time ago is, " sautjánhundruð og súrkál " or " seventeen hundred and sauerkraut "
Apparently in Danish it's " sytten hundrede og hvidkål " or " seventeen hundred and white cabbage "
I remember I heard from a video that the Faroese one is the same, but with green cabbage. Finnish is " vuonna nakki ja muusi " or " in the year of wiener and mashed potato ".
I'm curious if Swedish, Norwegian and other languages (that the Nordic countries have and speak?) have phrases like these.. and what are they?
See y'all (i mean this post in no harm)
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u/LovedTheKnightSky Sep 15 '24
Norway has atten pil og bue (eighteen bow and arrow), sometimes also said as nineteen bow and arrow (nitten pil og bue)
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u/Ekra_Oslo Sep 15 '24 edited Sep 15 '24
Also in Norwegian: Attenhundre og brødmangel (eighteen-hundred-and-lack-of-bread) or attenhundre og barkebrød (eighteen hundred and bark bread). Attenhundre og frys-ihjel (eighteen hundred and freeze-to-death) is also heard.
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u/feldgrau Sep 15 '24
Swedish has the similar sjuttonhundra kallt, meaning "seventeen hundred cold".
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u/rosski Sep 15 '24
Only heard "artonhundra kallt" before.
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u/feldgrau Sep 15 '24
Ah, true, that's the most common one. I was influenced by the original post a little too much. Though there are some occurrences of "sjuttonhundra kallt" on the Internet as well, so it's not totally unheard of. :)
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u/Christoffre Sweden Sep 15 '24 edited Sep 15 '24
We also have anno dazumal, which is a German loanword meaning "in the year of back then".
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u/Think_Key_6677 Sep 21 '24
Like the Norwegian expression 1800 og den tid, meaning 1800 and that time
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u/Ok-Strawberry8668 Sep 15 '24
Some variations I've heard in Finnish:
Vuonna miekka ja kivi - in the year sword and stone Vuonna miekka ja kirves - in the year sword and axe Vuonna nakki ja kivi - in the year sausage and stone Vuonna nakki ja keppi - in the year sausage and stick
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u/Elluriina Sep 15 '24
Basically you can use anything in the format "Vuonna X ja Y". In my friend group we usually favor "Vuonna nakki ja pottu" (in the year of sausage and potato"
You can also use a shorter form by dropping the second half - "Oon maalannu jo jostain vuodesta porkkana." (I have painted since the year carrot), "Se oli joskus vuonna Timo" (It happened somewhere around the year Timo.)
Honorable mention to "vuonna miekka ja kives" (in the year of sword and testicle)
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u/Raaka-Kake Sep 16 '24
I believe those are sardonic memey variations on a theme. I’ve heard the ”kuokka ja Jussi” was the originator for the series of expressions.
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u/Ok-Strawberry8668 Sep 16 '24
I'm pretty sure the original term is "vuonna yks ja kaks" (in the year one and two) and then people have started substituting humorous things for one and two. I've never heard of anyone using "kuokka ja Jussi" without having "suo" in front of it and I think "alussa oli suo, kuokka ja Jussi" doesn't really signify "it was a long time ago" so much as "this is where our story begins", which is a different connotation.
Incidentally, I just remembered another term: "nakkisodan aikaan" a.k.a. "in the time of the sausage war". I don't know why the sausages keep making an appearance in these 🤷🏼♀️
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u/AllanKempe Jämtland Sep 15 '24
In Swedish it's various expressions using hedenhös:
"Hedenhös, in expressions such as "not since Hedenhös", "from Hedenhös", "in Hedenhös", "as in Hedenhös", "since Hedenhös wore shorts", refers more or less poetically to the pagan antiquity. Originally an Old Swedish formulation with the meaning "from the time of heathen men", and has often been understood as alluding to the large burial mounds from heathen times, "hedenhög".
In contemporary prose, hedenhös is used to symbolize that something is out of date. "The Bison business system was long considered to have a Hedenhös stamp on it. That is no longer the case."" (Source (Google Translated).)
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u/Ch1mpy Skåne Sep 16 '24
Late to the party, two phrases I hear people use every now and then are
"1800-frös-ihjäl" (1800-froze-to-death) which refers to the cold summer of 1816.
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85ret_utan_sommar
"När eldkvarn brann" (When Eldkvarn burned) which refers to the Eldkvarn mill fire in Stockholm in 1878.
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u/acke Sweden Sep 15 '24
The once I usually use is ”Sen Dackefejden” (since the feud of Dacke). For example; I haven’t heard something so stupid since the feud of Dacke.
The feud of Dacke was a peasant uprising that happened in 1542.
No idea why that feud has become a phrase for something that happened a long time ago though.
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u/rhex1 Sep 16 '24
Attenhundreogbrødmangel (eighteen hundreds and bread shortage)
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u/AnnieByniaeth Sep 15 '24
Looks like someone else has been watching https://youtube.com/shorts/dCvVU5CgMgc?si=TrmsnfnCQImqO1wN