{"id":3507,"date":"2014-08-13T10:47:37","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T10:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=3507"},"modified":"2014-08-13T10:47:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T10:47:37","slug":"reykjavik-pride-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2014\/08\/13\/reykjavik-pride-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Reykjav\u00edk Pride 2014!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rp128\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hulda reporting in from the annual Hinsegin dagar<\/em>, Pride Week, and especially the parade! For once we had amazing weather luck and apparently one quarter of Icelanders showed up to celebrate the day. I can admit I’ve personally never seen this many Icelanders in one place together before in all the years I’ve lived here, although the parade is always a huge party and widely attended. To the pictures – and some\u00a0related vocabulary.<\/p>\n

\"rp023\"<\/a>Traditions of the parade dictate that it’s always headed by the local Dykes on Bikes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hinsegin<\/em> = otherwise, different. When used for people it translates close to\u00a0“those people”, something you would say when you want to exclude a group or define that the people in it are somehow (negatively) not like everyone else. I’m not entirely certain but I’m ready to wager that the term is derogatory at its origin but has since been reclaimed by the people it was used to target against.<\/p>\n

Yet this is Iceland and Icelandic attitudes are nowadays quite relaxed on the matter. Hinsegin dagar is\u00a0a week meant for celebrating differences, no matter the gender, sexuality, ethnicity or for example dress preferences, as the official statement goes (link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"rp075\"<\/a>\u00d3 stolti sk\u00e1ti<\/em> = Oh Proud Scout. I’ve a feeling this might be a pun on \u00d3 st\u00e6lti sk\u00e1ti<\/em> (= Oh Mighty Scout), a scout song… well, it is the Reykjav\u00edk Pride parade after all. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

Signs behind the yellow one say “Vertu ekki \u00ed hn\u00fat, komdu frekar \u00fat<\/em>” (= Don’t be “tied in a knot” – just come out), Gay Gang G\u00falli G\u00falli<\/em> which seems to be another campfire song pun of Ging Gang Goolie. I can’t make guesses to the pink sign because there’s so little of it to be seen but the purple in the back says\u00a0\u00dea\u00f0 geta allir veri\u00f0 sk\u00e1tar<\/em> (= Anyone can be a scout). This may again be a song pun on P\u00e1ll \u00d3skar’s \u00dea\u00f0 geta ekki allir veri\u00f0 gordj\u00f6ss<\/em> (= Not everyone can be gorgeous) or it may be a reminder of how homosexuality may even get you thrown out of your scout team in some countries. Possibly it’s meant to be both.<\/p>\n

\"rp040\"<\/a>“The ambassador of Canada and his husband are proud participants\u00a0in the parade.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Gle\u00f0iganga<\/em> = Pride parade, lit. transl. “happiness walk”. If you want to talk about parades in general the correct word is skr\u00fa\u00f0ganga<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"rp068\"<\/a>Some floats have a more serious message despite the joyous feel of the parade in general. It’s not unusual to see people from other countries partake in the Rv\u00edk Pride.<\/p>\n

Samkynhneig\u00f0ur<\/em> = homosexual, lit. transl. “same gender disposition”. For women you use samkynhneig\u00f0<\/em>, for men you add the masculine -ur ending.<\/p>\n

\"rp064\"<\/a>Wow, super cute! Pink sign says “Hey! Ge\u00f0veikur kj\u00f3ll sem \u00fe\u00fa ert \u00ed Siggi<\/em>” (= Hey! Awesome dress you’re wearing Siggi). Siggi is a nickname for a Sigur\u00f0ur, which is a male name. Funnily ge\u00f0veikur<\/em> would translate literally as “crazy” but in spoken Icelandic it’s typically\u00a0used to mean something brilliant, or occasionally surprising. It can also be used to mean simply “totally” or “very” when in combination with another adjective.<\/p>\n

I can’t really read the yellow sign but I’ll hazard a guess: “Hey \u00fe\u00fa! \u00de\u00fa ert (…) sex\u00ed!<\/em>” (= Hey you! You’re … sexy!). I can’t read that tiny word but it’s most likely something that stresses the “sex\u00ed<\/em>“, f.ex.\u00a0geggja\u00f0 sex\u00ed<\/em> (= crazy\/totally sexy)<\/p>\n

\"rp084\"<\/a>\u00cd\u00fer\u00f3ttaf\u00e9lagi\u00f0 Styrmir, fyrirmyndir ekki sta\u00f0al\u00edmyndir<\/em> (= Sports association Styrmir, role models not stereotypes).<\/p>\n

\"rp050\"<\/a>Sty\u00f0jum b\u00f6rnin okkar. S\u00fdnileikinn er mikilv\u00e6gur!<\/em> (= Let’s support\/we support our children. Visibility is important!)<\/p>\n

My personal favourite of this year’s parade signs was “aldrei n\u00f3g homo<\/em>“. It’s quite a witty pun on English and Icelandic, something that the Icelanders absolutely love to do: technically speaking it translates as “never enough gay”… except that n\u00f3g homo<\/em> is\u00a0pronounced exactly the same as “no homo”, in which sense it could also mean “never no homo”. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

\"rp086\"<\/a>…WHAT IS THAT?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"rp097\"<\/a>Ahem. Another tradition seems to be that the last float of the parade belongs to P\u00e1ll \u00d3skar and that year after year he does his best to overdo the previous year’s one. His float is always the big surprise everyone’s waiting for, glittery, huge, full of surprises and needs a whole team of volunteers of its own who walk beside it through the parade to\u00a0make sure no one gets so excited they’d try to run under its wheels. When you see this float you know a few things: number one is that the parade is ending. Number two is that glitter cannons are a\u00a0staple of his floats so close your mouth when you see one of those being prepared or risk eating confetti. The third and the most important point is that it’s time to follow him downtown because the party’s only starting!<\/p>\n

\"rp091\"<\/a>See you in the next year’s parade perhaps?<\/em><\/p>\n

More vocabulary<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hommi<\/em> = homo. Can be used in both a derogatory and harmless way, but it’s usually obvious which meaning it is.<\/p>\n

Lesb\u00eda<\/em> = lesbian.<\/p>\n

Mannr\u00e9ttindabar\u00e1tta<\/em> = human rights battle.<\/p>\n

Tv\u00edkynhneig\u00f0ur<\/em> = bisexual.<\/p>\n

Gagnkynhneig\u00f0ur<\/em> = heterosexual.<\/p>\n

Pankynhneig\u00f0ur<\/em> = pansexual.<\/p>\n

Transf\u00f3lk\/s\u00edsf\u00f3lk<\/em> = transpeople\/cispeople.<\/p>\n

Intersex f\u00f3lk<\/em> = intersex people. Some terms are so new that there isn’t yet an official Icelandic word, or if there is it’s not in use. A good example is “asexual” – despite my best efforts I haven’t yet found a proper Icelandic term for it. Not to say there aren’t words for people who don’t like sex but most of them aren’t that nice.<\/p>\n