this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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With the Norwegian government recently deciding to massively increase the US military presence in this country, I just really want to have some derogatory way of referring to Usonians in the Norwegian language. The problem is that I cannot find any good word for this: existing words fall short; foreign words I'm familiar with either don't translate well, or don't sound good when loaned, or aren't easily understood; and I'm having a hard time coming up with a brand new word to fill this gap myself.

I'm hoping that by asking here that I might be able to find some inspiration, or perhaps even be enlightened about a Norwegian-language term that I didn't know before.

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[–] thirtymilliondeadfish@hexbear.net 31 points 4 months ago (4 children)
[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)

"Seppo" is my favorite when speaking English, it felt kinda weird to use at first because it looks vaguely Japanese or Finnish (indeed Seppo is a Finnish name and {説法|せっぽう} means "preaching") but I quickly grew fond of the word.

[–] oregoncom@hexbear.net 20 points 4 months ago (2 children)

oh shit there's a furigana markdown for lemmy.

[–] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago

Also great for {汉语拼音|hàn yǔ pīn yīn}

[–] davel@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)
[–] Findom_DeLuise@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

{ anakin-padme-3 | anakin-padme-1 } { anakin-padme-4 | anakin-padme-2 }

And it works with emojis!

[–] davel@hexbear.net 9 points 4 months ago (3 children)

It doesn’t seem to work for me:

[–] SerLava@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

That's weird I see 4

[–] Findom_DeLuise@hexbear.net 7 points 4 months ago

Oh, weird. Looks like a Chrome/Firefox quirk. It works in Chromium, but I just checked in Firefox and got the same result that you did.

[–] polskilumalo@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 4 months ago

AYO WHAT THE FUCK

[–] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

Rhyming slang is for some reason so funny to me.

{Apples and pears| stairs }

{Dead horse| tomato sauce }

[–] PointAndClique@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

I'll add Americ***s with the c word in the place of the asterices. I've never actually said seppo out loud, but I say yank/yankee all the time.

[–] Aradina@lemmy.ml 13 points 4 months ago

Both often full of shit

[–] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago

Septic is totally my favorite.

[–] kristina@hexbear.net 28 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I've definitely just heard people in Czech refer to Americans as burgers. not very creative of course

[–] Beaver@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You are what you eat pete-eat

[–] What_Religion_R_They@hexbear.net 19 points 4 months ago

наглосаксы naglosaxy, a play on the words наглый nagliy (petulant/insolent) and англосаксы anglosaxy (Anglo-Saxons)

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

As a commie, I don't think there's anything more insulting than calling me what I am: an american.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 months ago

Ppl from central and south america, and the caribbean, generally resent the Usonians usurpation of that term, because americas originally referred to both continents. ppl from Bolivia, Ecuador, or Haiti are americans.

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[–] Greenleaf@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

I’ve been told the origin of the word “gringo” comes from somewhere in Latin America, the people telling US soldiers to leave: “green” (the color of the uniforms), and “go”. That one seems topical but it’s unlikely many Americans will get in a huff over it, not really seen as a “bad” word.

Since I’m an American, I’m trying to think of words that the typical trooper would get offended at (but also not problematic). “Bubba” kinda works. Soldiers are also suuuper sensitive about the possibility that some other guy is screwing their wife back in the US, so maybe some Norwegian word that plays off that could work.

Edit: Also, American soldiers really get off on the idea that they are superior to normal Americans. Only natural, given how deeply Americans lick their boots. Maybe you can pick the most boring, normal “American” name you can think of like “Kevin” and call all of them that. I think that would get under their skin.

[–] Rx_Hawk@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

"Boot" for the troops specifically

[–] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Given that the word "gringo" almost certainly predates the existence of the United States, I'd question that etymology.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago

The most likely origin of "gringo" is from "griego", so the original meaning was basically "someone who speaks unintelligibly"

[–] WideningGyro@hexbear.net 7 points 4 months ago

A Mexican taxi driver once told me that "gringo" came from "green go" as well, but his explanation was that once you get your green card, you go. He definitely joking, of course, but interesting that there are two versions of the "green go" etymology.

[–] WaterBowlSlime@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why would Hispanic people say "green go" instead of "lárgate verdeños"?

[–] machinya@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

because they would ignore anything that is not in english

[–] WaterBowlSlime@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 4 months ago

They would ignore anything coming from a brown person either way.

Also this is tangential, but when I was a kid, my classmates and I would prank our not-Spanish-speaking friends by making them say "pink cheese green goes" without ever telling what it means. I'm sure this tradition comes from the diet of these green troops too lmao

[–] lorty@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 4 months ago

Gringo isn't usually used to refer specifically to usonians though.

[–] SexMachineStalin@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A surprising amount of people at my workplace (and in the mosque) very much know the Maoist Standard spelling AmeriKKKa.

Even in the Estonian language, the usual term is "jänki", quite literally meaning "yankee". Or rather, "YanKKKee".

amerikkka qin-shi-huangdi-fireball

[–] NoLeftLeftWhereILive@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago

In Finnish it's also "jenkki" as in a yankee. And AmeriKKKa itself is "Jenkkilä" which I suppose could translate as yankeeville or something.

[–] IvarK@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

In swedish we say “jänkare” as a derogatory term, you don’t have anything similar?

[–] CTHlurker@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Isn't that just Yankee pronounced in a swedish accent?

[–] IvarK@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 4 months ago

Sure is, still really fun to say

[–] kleeon@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Peendos (пиндос). And US is called Peendostan

[–] bbnh69420@hexbear.net 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] kleeon@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago

I don't know where this term comes from, but it does sound really funny. So yes, got your ass

[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

Gringo is evergreen

[–] Skeleton_Erisma@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

I've heard some ndns on the rez use pkweshgas which means cracker/crackers.

[–] Pisha@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Do you have "yankee" in Norwegian? A lot of Americans don't like being called that for some reason

[–] EllenKelly@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago

Gets called yankee
immediately thinks about doodle

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago

We do have yankee, I just think we can do better.

[–] polskilumalo@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Jankes, Amerykaniec pretty mild stuff. But I do like the british „seppo”.

Also, lol, lmao at this site

https://slurs.info/slurs/americans

EDIT: Honestly Krauts have it best, because they made a whole song lmao

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago

"Ami Go Home" was honestly kind of an inspiration for this thread

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

if you can find a word that sounds like and signifies "trash", it could be good. simple insults are good. "Yankee trash" etc. in the US being called "trash" (not garbage) is ainsult that catches people off guard (because it's not a cussword or gross) and plays into the ideology of certain people/families having a "culture of poverty" that makes them unable to rise in the totally-not-fake meritocracy. growing up, it's a scold families might use in private to sanction against styles of dress or poor manners. "don't be trash/trashy".

of course some people say it to friends in familiarity, but among strangers it would be... not good. I saw two middle aged women in a grocery store parking lot threaten to murder each other with it last winter.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

it's kind of funny, in dialectal Norwegian the word "boss" means "trash/garbage" but it's identical to the word "boss" as in one's boss or the boss in a video game.

People also do just straight up use the English word "trash" sometimes...

[–] Pat_Riot 5 points 4 months ago

As an American who has always called my supervisor boss, I love this.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 months ago (7 children)

This works for toki pona: ma jaki means "trash land" or "gross land" or "the land of trash".

Also kinda sounds like yanqui too so double points.

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