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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

​​Swedish word of the day: ända in i kaklet

Today's word of the day is a phrase taken from swimming competitions.

Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Ända in i kaklet literally means ‘all the way into the tiling’, but in daily parlance it means to ‘keep fighting all the way until the end’.

Ända in i means ‘all the way into’, and kaklet, of course, is ‘the tiling’. Ända can also mean a’ behind’, as in someone’s ‘derriere’. This is because it literally means ‘an end’, as in either end of an object. A less common usage is ‘to finish’, as in ‘to finish something or someone’.

Here, of course, it means something like ‘all the way’, drawing from the meaning ‘along the entire route to a certain end point (or from a certain starting point)’.

The expression ända in i kaklet was born in the world of competitive swimming. You can almost imagine a coach at a competition screaming at their swimmer to keep going Ända in i kaklet! That is, keep swimming until you hit the tiling of the pool, or in other words, until the race is over.

As you might know, swimming is quite popular in Sweden. The country has had a disproportionate number of world champions for such a small country. And it is not hard to see how a popular expression in the sport would be carried home by fans to the wider public. 

The expression gained popularity broadly applied to any competition or struggle, where it simply means that you keep fighting until you win, or until the bitter end. During election years you might hear politicians use it, for instance, often referring to a tight race that they are gonna fight ända in i kaklet

You might want to use the expression for any number of occasions, perhaps going out to town you might say to your frends, Nu kör vi ända in i kaklet! Which would mean ‘Here we go, all the way until the end!’’ 

Anything that requires an effort (or a symbolic effort, like partying) is usually a good fit. If there’s a competition, even better. Good luck!

Example sentences:

Dom kör verkligen ända in i kaklet!

They’re really going all the way till the end!

Vi kommer att kämpa ända in i kaklet.

We are going to fight all the way till the end

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is now available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.

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For members

SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: shit

Before you get offended by this potty-mouthed word of the day, we should probably tell you that this English swear word is a lot milder in Swedish.

Swedish word of the day: shit

The word shit in Swedish is, as you may have guessed, a loanword from English. It has its roots in Middle English schit and scythe, meaning “dung”, which in turn originated in a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to split, divide or separate.

There are a number of words in other European languages which have the same root, like schijt in Dutch, Scheiße in German, skidt in Danish, skit/skitt in Norwegian and the Swedish word skit.

So, why does Swedish have two words for shit? Essentially, they’re used (and pronounced) in different ways.

Shit, pronounced similarly to the English word but in a Swedish accent, is essentially only used as an exclamation, whether that’s for something good or bad, and most adults in Sweden wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they heard a small child saying it. 

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It normally indicates some sort of surprise or shock, similar to “wow” or “oh my god” in English. You might also hear it in the phrase shit pommes frites, which literally translates as “shit, French fries!” which a Swedish speaker might use to express surprise: shit pommes frites, har du fått en ny mobil?! (“shit French fries, have you got a new phone?!”)

If you accidentally bumped into someone in a queue, for example, you could say shit, förlåt (shit, sorry), and if you came to some sort of realisation, you could say oj shit! (oh shit!). In general, saying shit would be acceptable even in professional situations with Swedes.

Skit, on the other hand, is pronounced with the sort of whooshing sj or sk-sound at the beginning, kind of like the word wheat, but with a whistle at the start.

It’s used in Swedish in broadly the same ways you’d use shit in English, both in the sense of actual faeces (as a noun and a verb) but also as a vulgar way to describe some sort of undesirable material or thing: jag har tröttnat på den här skiten (I’m tired of this shit) or ta bort din skit från bordet (take your shit off the table).

You may also have come across it in the term skit samma (the milder variant would be strunt samma), which can be translated as “never mind” or “forget it”, or skit också if something unfortunate happens (skit också, jag missade bussen – damn it, I missed the bus).

You can also describe something as being skit, use it in phrases like jag förstår inte ett skit (I don’t understand shit) and as an intensifier: han bankade skiten ur honom (he beat the shit out of him).

In contrast to shit, skit is generally considered less acceptable to use in a professional situation… although you will probably still hear children say it.

Example sentences:

Oj shit, spelar du in det här? 

Oh shit, are you recording this?

Ska vi inte åka snart? Shit, ja, klockan är redan 12!

Shouldn’t we leave soon? Shit, yeah, it’s already 12 o’clock!

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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