A couple of Swenglicisms: He looks very pigg!

[Ann]

Well, it's Friday and all, and I'm feeling a bit silly, so I'm going to post a few Swenglicisms here. You know, the kind of things Swedes may say when they try to speak English.

He looks very pigg: He looks rested, happy and alert.

Nöff (Oink), I'm a "gris" (a pig) and I'm pigg!! The other guy is Musse Pigg, and he is also very pigg!

It stands in the newspaper (book, magazine, article, letter, mail etc) that...: It says in the newspaper...

What stands in the newspaper?

I've been on the hospital (in hospital):

I've been on the hospital! They took my appendix out!

Do you want to see my leg? Do you want to see my ID?

Do you want to see my leg? My driving license? My passport?

This is a classic, uttered by Lennart Bergelin, one-time coach of successful Swedish tennis player Björn Borg:
Do you have what we in Sweden call a skiftnyckel?

Lennart Bergelin with 15-year-old Björn Borg, and a "skiftnyckel".

Ann

[bystander]

The other guy is Musse Pigg, and he is also very pigg!

Pigg = Mickey

Do you want to see my leg?

Are they nice looking?

skiftnyckel?

Wrench in general, or an adjustable spanner (crescent wrench) in particular?

[Henning Makholm]

skiftnyckel?

Wrench in general, or an adjustable spanner (crescent wrench) in particular?

Skift means something like "change", so definitely adjustable. Amusingly, in Danish this is known as a svensknøgle: "Swedish wrench".

[neufer]

skiftnyckel?

Wrench in general, or an adjustable spanner (crescent wrench) in particular?

Skift means something like "change", so definitely adjustable. Amusingly, in Danish this is known as a svensknøgle: "Swedish wrench".

<<An adjustable spanner or adjustable wrench is a spanner (wrench) with a "jaw" of adjustable width, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head (nut, bolt, etc.). An adjustable spanner may also be called a shifting spanner, shifter, fit-all, crescent wrench or adjustable-angle head wrench.

In many European countries (e.g. France, Germany, Spain and Italy) it is called an "English key" as it was invented in 1842 by the English engineer, Richard Clyburn. Improvements followed; on 22 September 1885, one Enoch Harris received US patent 326868 for his wrench that permitted both the jaw width and the angle of the handles to be adjusted and locked.

Other countries, like Denmark and Israel, refer to it as a "Swedish key" as its invention has been attributed to the Swede, Johan Petter Johansson, who in 1891 received patent for an improved design of the adjustable spanner. Johansson's spanner was a further development on Clyburn's original "screw spanner". And in some countries (e.g. Hungary, Iran, Slovenia, Poland, Romania) it is called "French key".

In the United States, the term crescent wrench is often used by the general public as a generic term to indicate any adjustable spanner. In actuality, the Crescent brand of hand tools is owned and marketed by the Cooper Tools division of Cooper Industries. In some parts of Europe they are often called a Bahco, which is a genericized trademark as well.>>

[Ann]

Mickey Mouse is actually "Musse Pigg" in Swedish. "Musse" means "little mouse" in the same way as "kitty" ("kisse" in Swedish) means "little cat". And Pigg means... you know.

As for the word "leg", it is a Swedish abbreviation of "legitimation", which means, among other things, ID. We Swedes so rarely abbreviate words, but when we do, we feel really cool and proud of ourselves, at least if the abbreviation is short and snappy. And what could be shorter and snappier than "leg"? It sounds totally English - hey, it must be English! I'm sure I've heard this word before in English! This particular word! So this must be how you say "legitimation" in English - you say "leg"! How cool! Officer, do you want to see my leg?

Ann

[BMAONE23]

We do have a similar word for a close but not identical use,
Legitimate (le·git·i·mate: being in compliance with the law) which we short to Legit.

[neufer]

We do have a similar word for a close but not identical use,
Legitimate (le·git·i·mate: being in compliance with the law) which we short to Legit.

Both the above, of course, are adjectives (with short "i" sounds).

In the form of a noun (with a short "e" sound) we say that:
"one doesn't have a *LEG* to stand on"
which may (or may not) conflate the two ideas.
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*PEG* , n. [OE. PEGGE; cf. Sw. *PIGG*, Dan. *PIG* a point, prickle,
and E. peak.] 1. A small, pointed piece of wood, used in fastening
boards together, in attaching the soles of boots or shoes, etc.;
as, a shoe *PEG*

2. *A wooden pin* , or nail, on which to hang things, as coats.
. Hence, colloquially and figuratively:
A support; a reason; a pretext;
as, a *PEG* to hang a claim upon.
----------------------------­­--------------------------
. Joseph Campbell's Creative Mythology:
http://www.gravity.org/mytholo­­gy/myth_iframe2_5.html
.
<<With a *BLOW* of his hoof, the winged horse *PEGASUS*
. - i.e. the Phoenix - causes the Hippocrene stream to
. spring forth from Mt. HELICON. "*PEGASUS*" stems from
. Greek words: *PEGE* ("fountain") + SUS ("up, sweet").>>
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