I'm too scandinavian to get this
this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
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As a true Scandinavian, do you also speak Hindi?
Even as someone who's Dutch this seems quite obvious. I guess it's not obvious to English speaking people because shark is nothing like haj.
Okay, that's odd. Both English and Scandinavian used to be closer on this, using the same original word "sea dog" originated in old Norse or so.
However both languages changed it to something else since that.
Both languages borrowed words from Dutch, but not the same Dutch word.
The English took "Schurk" for scoundrel and applied it to the fish, while Scandinavia took "Haai" describing the fin.
Curiously, Scandinavian also took Schurk and made it into "skurk", but also uses "haj" as a scoundrel just the same as English in the word "loanshark" = "lånehaj" etc.
So the words have the same origin, but it was split in Dutch while being passed back and forth between languages.
Never meet your heroes
Wait till you find out how it's pronounced. It's /ˈbloːhaj/. Here's an audio recording (still not 100% correct because you'd need to pronounce "blow" with a Glasgow accent, but this video is way funnier than the serious ones). I still call mine /blɑ.'hɑːd͡ʒ/, or just /hɑːd͡ʒ/ :3
But consider: Swedish is a fictional language made up by a furniture store to sell sawdust and horse meat rolled into funny little balls
Close. Swedish is a failed attempt at Danish, as is Norwegian.
don't Norwegians English now?
All Scandinavians English. In fact, the vast majority of us are fluent.
But in case you meant that Norwegians ONLY speak English, that's not the case. They actually speak TWO kinds of Norwegian. Bokmål, which is a pretty good attempt at Danish and Nynorsk, which is a pretty good imitation of insanity.
if you consider Scandinavia as refering to the Nordics then Estonian has quite a bit of English speakers
I consider Scandinavia as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, since that's what Scandinavia is. I'm not speaking of only Scandinavia to exclude the other Nordic countries, though, just because I know a lot less about the other Nordic countries vis a vis their language abilities 🤷
Except for the fun fact that Estonia is the only country outside of the Kingdom of Denmark that teaches Danish as a mandatory subject in school 😁
how sure are you about that last part
Pretty sure. Supposedly it started because of an old legend about the origins of Dannebrog and became tradition. Why, have you found another one? 😛
that was the first reply I've read in 2024
Woah time traveller from the future!
Happy New Year!
This is ludicrous, horse meat costs more than beef.
As a Swede I can tell you it's pronounced "blåhaj"; no biggie ;)
(Also the latter video is correct)
While we’re at it: the correct pronunciation is obviously “gif”. You’re very welcome!
Finally, my degree in old English dialects is useful!
It’s extraordinarily lucky for you then that “gif” entered the English language on or around the PM period during ca. June 15, 1987.
Etymology: From Proto-Germanic jabai (when, if) with anomalous apocope. The expected form is attested once as ġyfe in the early 7th-century Law of Æthelberht, if not simply a scribal error.
Conjunction: ġif
Descendants: Middle English: if, yif, yef
Therefore, "gif" is pronounced with a Y
Edit: Yes, this was a very long way to go for a furry joke
Like being high on the blow, or a snow, or a coke. I get it it (:
But yeah, blah-hadge adds some alien tones to that. Not really nordic, but middle-eastern ones with that last vowel, like in hijab, jihad, tajik and other words.
ed: How could I forget Taj Mahal, lol. In my pronounciation it was 100% rhyming with Taj.
It's just "blow high" for you American accents
Your pronunciation is even weirder to us than ours is to you
Blåhaj is the very concept of the blue shark. This is unfathomable to the human mind.
Blåhaj 💚
Our beloved 💙
What does it mean in Hindi?
blåhaj
hmmm
Me with my A2 level of swedish 🤓
I just bought my first Blåhaj about an hour ago ❤️🦈❤️
Blorhai says hi 👋
Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen says hi back! 👋
Blåhaj!
jajamensan
In German the word for shark is der Haifisch or just der Hai. According to Wiktionary this comes from Middle Dutch, and Old Norse before that. Same for the Swedish haj here. Even English used to have haye but it fell out of use after the 17th century.
I think you can figure out the "blue" part.