Many languages make creative use of vanilla swearword alternatives, called "minced oaths" in English, and Swedish is no different.
If you keep your ears open, you're likely to hear some of the phrases below every single day, and they're also a lot of fun to use, particularly if you want to channel your inner Swedish pensioner.
Sjutton! meaning "seventeen", is a very light swearword, the origin of which is a bit unclear. You might think that, like "sugar" or "shucks" in English, it is a substitute for skit, the Swedish word for "shit", as it starts with the same "sj-sound".
But skit is such a weak swearword in Swedish that it barely warrants a "minced oath" variant, and sjutton is one of several numbers used as swearword substitutes.
It can be expanded to mild, humorous expletive phrases like för sjutton gubbar! meaning "for seventeen old men", or vad sjutton håller du på med? – "What the seventeen are you doing?"
Tusan! meaning literally "a thousand", is another number swear word and is believed to be a remnant of an expression from the Middle Ages in which people would invoke "a thousand devils".
Again, the word can be used to form expletive phrases like fy tusan and tusan också or expressions like jag ger blanka tusan i vad de tycker, meaning "I don't give a flip what you think". If you're feeling expansive, you could even resort to sjutusan, meaning "seven thousand".
Attans! is yet another number swearword, coming from an old form of arton, meaning eighteen, which, according to the Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore, might be a replacement for katten, a word for the devil. You can say attans också meaning "darn it", or even attans bananer if you're feeling particularly silly. We're not sure where the banana comes from.
Järnspikar! This is a minced oath version of jävlar, meaning "devils". It literally means "iron nails".
Statens Järnvägar! meaning "national railways", is a humorous replacement for satans jävlar, "Satan's devils", because it sounds a bit similar. Järnvägar can also be used as a mild expletive. Similar but less entertaining substitutes for jävlar or jäveln ("the devil") include jäsiken and jädrans.
Fabian! The name Fabian is sometimes used as replacement for the word fan, meaning devil, so you'd exclaim fy fabian as you stub your little toe and dislocate it. Farao, meaning Pharaoh, can be used in the same way. Fy farao!
Fasiken! Fanken, fasen, fasiken are all diminutive words for fan, meaning devil, rather than actual substitutes. They mean something like "little devil" and using them is presumably milder than invoking the full-sized version.
Katten! meaning "the cat", can also be used as a mild expletive, apparently because it is a mild reference to the devil. You might exclaim katten också!
Gå till Hälsingland! meaning "go to Hälsingland", isn't simply a way of throwing shade on the region around the city of Gävle. It is also a way of avoiding saying gå till helvete, or "go to hell".
Other minced oaths replacing helvete are helskotta and helsike, neither of which seem to have any other meaning. You could say, hur i helskotta kunde tanterna stå ut med det här? meaning "how on earth could those old ladies stand this?"
Häll... vete i en säck. Just like how in English you might say, "oh sshhhhhhhhhhh....ugar!", you can pull back at the last minute from saying helvete by using this, which means "pour... wheat in a sack".
Dra åt skogen! Another milder way of saying "get to hell" is to tell someone to dra åt skogen, meaning "go to the woods".
Sablar! meaning "sabres", is sometimes used as a replacement for Satan.
Förbaskat. This is a milder version of förbannat, meaning, literally "damned" or "accursed". You could say det var så förbaskat gott, meaning "it was so damned tasty".
Did we miss your favourite Swedish phony swearword of them all? If so please tell us in the comments below and we'll add it in.
Comments