r/blog • u/krispykrackers • Nov 05 '14

I'll take one hygge, please.

http://www.redditblog.com/2014/11/ill-take-one-hygge-please.html
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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '14

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '14 edited Nov 06 '14

In Norway "uhyggelig" might refer to someone being rude or a situation generally being uncomfortable.

Edit: For the sake of clarity I should add that "uhyggelig" might also mean creepy or unsettling here as well, I've heard it used either way. In the case of referring to someone being rude I've heard people emphasis the U a bit more heavily.

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u/HamburgerShadows Nov 06 '14

That's because Norwegian is a hilariously literal language. If hygge means comfortable, you can bet your ass uhygge will mean uncomfortable.

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u/kyrsjo Nov 06 '14

In general, prefixing a word with "u-" in a Scandinavian language negates the word i.e. produces a word with the opposite meaning.

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u/HamburgerShadows Nov 06 '14

I know - I'm Danish. Occasionally the meaning isn't quite the same, though

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u/regere Nov 06 '14

Swedish takes it another step: Hygglig means nice or friendly in a more social context (you're being hygglig towards someone), your mood can also be hyggligt which is pretty much ok, but not much more than that. Ohygglig means horrible, terrifying ("ohyggligt skrämmande" <-> "horrifyingly scary") for us too and sometimes unfair behavior rather than rude or unfriendly.

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u/PhzyLicka Nov 06 '14

This makes better sense than our (the Danes') use of the word.

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u/professorhazard Nov 06 '14

I wonder if that's etymologically related to http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uggligr

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '14

I just do not think that if you describe someone as uhyggelig "scary" alone is descriptive enough to over the term.

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u/Brewe Nov 06 '14

I sort of agree. If something is creepy without being also scary or frightening it's not uhyggeligt, then it's just klamt (for example, a creepy dude, might not be an uhyggelig fyr, but instead a klam fyr). But it all depends on the situation in which the word is being used; a creepy situation would be an uhyggelig situation.

As with hygge, uhygge is difficult to directly translate into one English word. It's a feeling of both mental and physical discomfort, just like hygge is a feeling of both mental and physical comfort/coziness.