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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

​​Swedish word of the day: durkslag

What does it mean when you hit a 'durk'?

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

A durkslag is a colander, which is sometimes also known as a kitchen sieve, though the kitchen sieve is made like a mesh.

Even though this is a common word and an object you find in most Swedish kitchens, not many Swedes will be able to explain where the word comes from or why it is called what it is. Here is yet another opportunity for you to shine with in front of your friends through displaying your expert knowledge of Swedish. 

A slag can be any number of things in Swedish. Slag can mean a ‘hard hit often from clenched hand’, ‘a stroke of hand in the air’, ‘a setback or blow’, ‘a battle’, ‘a clock strike’, ‘to be fit’, ‘a brief moment’, ‘a stroke’ as in ‘having a stroke’, ‘the folded up part of clothing item’, ‘a species or variety of animal or plant’.

So which of these is being used in the word durkslag?

The answer is quite logical, you shake or hit a colander on something to make sure as much water as possible leaves your pasta. So it is either ‘a hard hit’ or ‘a stroke in the air’ which is really the same meaning of the word. 

But what about durk? Durk has two meanings in Swedish, both ones that do not seem to fit at all – it either means ‘the floor of a ship’ or ‘a storage room on a naval ship’. Here the Swedish Academy comes to our aid. It gives us a German origin for the word, ‘attested since 1613; from Low German durchschlag with the same meaning, from durch meaning ‘through’’. So the word in German also means to punch a whole through something.

The word then comes from either the act done with it of ‘hitting to get water through the holes’, or more likely from ‘punching holes through’, which is precisely what has been done to create most colanders – that is if they aren’t kitchen sieves, which would be a sil or kökssil in Swedish.  

Be sure not to miss the opportunity to dazzle your Swedish friends with this newfound expert level knowledge whenever you engage in small talk next, quite obviously by first putting them on the spot by asking them if they know what the durk- in durkslag is. I bet you they have no idea.

Example sentences:

Pelle, vet du var durkslaget ligger?

Pelle, do you know where the colander is?

Lotta, vet du vad durk-, som i durkslag, betyder?

Lotta, do you know what durk-, as in durkslag, means?

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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