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Cursing in Swedish, Lesson 7
Mild Curses in the Swedish Language
Cursing in Swedish - Lesson Seven
Indirect references - tusan, j?rnspikar, etc.
Most of the curses of religious origin are frequently used in modified forms, which are generally cosidered
less coarse than the original words. Examples include:
j?vlar substituted by j?rnspikar (iron nails) or j?rnv?gar (railroads) helvete substituted by helsfyr (hell's
fire, no true substitution) or H?lsingland (a Swedish province)
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References to locations
In a way also this group of curses can be classified as indirect references. By referencing a locatin you are
at the same time indirectly referring to the occupants of that location or to the prevailing conditins at the
location.
Skogen, the forest, was the home of evil-spirited trolls. It is used in two, very mild expressions:
Du kan dra ?t skogen (60)
Get lost! Go to hell!
Festen kommer att g? ?t skogen!(61)
The party will be a real flop!
Peppar, pepper, was grown in a climate perceived by the almost Arctic Swedes as rather unpleasant. Tis
gave rise to the expression Du kan dra dit pepparn v?xer!, literally meaning "Go where the pepper is
growing!" and roughly equivalent to "Get lost!" or "Go to Jericho!". G? ?t pepparn and G? ?t skogen re
almost synonomous, meaning "It is all going to the dogs".
Surprisingly enough Bl?kulla, the home of the witches, is not used in any present-day Swedish curse,be it a
mild or a vulgar one.
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Childish curses
At least earlier parents tried to restrain their children from cursing. Since curses are a normal pat of the
language children often invent their own curses either by creating new words or by making new uses o
already existing words. Usually these childish curses never reach any widespread use. However, thereis at
least one notable exception.
During the 1950s a book for youths by Swedens most popular author, Astrid Lindgren, was made a radio
serial, "Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus". One of the heroes of the serial, the five-year old Rasmus (plaed by
the equally old Eskil Dalenius), consistently used the expression Fy bubblan as a mild curse which rpidly
gained a general usage.
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Numerals
It might be surprising that a numeric term can be used as a curse. Originally the Swedish word for tousand,
tusen, was used to give additional emphasis to some standard curses, e.g. tusen satar and tusen j?vlr (both
literally meaning "thousand devils"), tusen b?vlar ("thousand hangmen"), etc.
Very soon tusen was transformed into tusan and the above expressions became tusan satar, tusan j?vla and
tusan b?vlar, the original meaning of the numeral tusen being forgotten. Further development led to he
exclusion of the noun, the actual curse, only tusan being retained as a weakened image.
Thus an attempt to amplify a curse actually led to the creation of a weak (and socially acceptable) expression.
Tusan is usually used as a weak substitute for straightforward names of the devil, such as satan, fa and
j?veln:
Det kan du f?r fan/tusan inte g?ra! (64)
Damn it/For heavens sake, you cannot do that!
Aj fan/Tusan, det visste jag inte! (65)
Oh, shit/Oops, I didn't know that!
Satan/Tusan ocks?! (66)
Damn/Blast it!
Another numeral, sjutton, seventeen, can be used for adding emphasis in various contexts as in the
following examples:
S? sjutton att jag t?nker betala p-b?terna!(67)
Blast it, I will not pay the parking fine!
N?r jag blir av med gipset skall du f? se p? sjutton! (68)
Just wait until I have gotten rid of the plaster!
Fy sjutton!
Disgusting!
Sjutton ocks?!
Blast it!
Also the following numeral, aderton or arton, eighteen, can be used as a very mild curse in the old orm
attan
S? attan heller att jag t?nker bjuda in henne!(71)
Blast it, I am not going to invite her!
An even weaker form, katten (literally "the cat"), is sometimes used as an euphemism for attan.
Combining sju, seven, and tusan, thousand, does not give rise to a curse (as might have been expecte) but
rather to an expression of appreciation:
Hon var en sjutusan till kvinna(72)
She was a truly remarkable woman
However, when sju, seven, is combined with helvetes or j?kla, the sju acts as a reinforcing prefix, aking
the original curse somewhat more intense. Both sjuhelvetes and sjuj?kla can roughly be translated as
"bloody".
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