Conversation at the dinner table
Martin: We had a test in French class today
Liz. Oh? On what?
Martin: Useful words
Liz: Aren’t all words useful?
Martin: Well, paraplegic is less useful than inside, for example
Liz: *giggles madly* true
Then the three of us, Anders, Martin and I (Karin is spending the night at a friend’s house), had a long, drawn-out conversation starting from the fact that Martin asked me if I knew what longer word the Swedish word kompis was from. Kompis means friend. “No, I don’t,” I answered. “It’s from kompanjon,” he told me.
Adding an “is” to a word in Swedish turns it into a diminutive or cute version. dagis from daghem (daycare), godis from godsaker (candy), grattis from gratulerar (congratulations), etc. We spent quite a lot of time thinking of what other words in Swedish were commonly used that had -is on the end. It was funny and interesting but very long.
I just typed godis as dodis, and Martin started laughing really hard, and said “Why? Why do you dodis?”
Penis, incidentally, is from Latin and has nothing to do with this linguistic phenomenon.
Conversation continuing from that one
Martin: If I have kids I’m naming the girl Hjördis (note: pronounced Yurdis)
Liz: what??
Martin: Yep. And Åslög. (note: pronounced Oh-slug)
Liz: Oh no no no.
Martin: Oh yeah, and if I have a boy, I’m naming him Odd.
Liz: What? Not Jerker?
Liz & Martin: *giggle madly*
Conversation before bedtime
Martin: *all excited* Did you know Florence is going to be in the new Star Wars??!
Liz: Florence from Florence + the Machine?
Martin: Yes! How cool is that?!
Liz: She’ll probably be a wookiee
Martin: *outraged glare* No, she won’t!
Liz: …or maybe an Ewok
Martin: She’s the tallest person on the planet!
Liz: Definitely a wookiee then!
Martin: Don’t ruin this for me! *glares*
Liz: *giggles madly*
But seriously, ÅSLÖG …what is up with that name, Sweden??