Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Alisha: Expressions That Come From Sailors
Alisha: Hi everyone, and welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. I'm Alisha.
Patrick: And I'm Patrick!
Alisha: This is Must-Know Norwegian Slang Words and Phrases, Season 1, Lesson 25. In this lesson you'll learn expressions that come from sailors.
Alisha: Norway has a rich history of seafaring and merchant sailing. Here are some expressions that have originated from ships and sailors over the years.
SLANG EXPRESSIONS
Alisha: The expressions you will be learning in this lesson are:
Patrick: å ta en spansk en
Patrick: stopp en hal
Patrick: kløpper
Patrick: skippertak
Alisha: Patrick, what's our first expression?
Patrick: å ta en spansk en
Alisha: literally meaning "taking a Spanish one." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "to take the easy way out."
Patrick: [SLOW] å ta en spansk en [NORMAL] å ta en spansk en
Alisha: Listeners, please repeat.
Patrick: å ta en spansk en
[pause - 5 sec.]
Alisha: Use this slang expression when you are saying that you or someone else took a shortcut or an easy way out. On sailing ships, when hoisting a sail, there were different kinds of pulleys one could use, and the easiest one to use was known as a "Spanish pulley."
Alisha: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Patrick: [NORMAL] Jeg tok en spansk en. [SLOW] Jeg tok en spansk en.
Alisha: "I took the easy way out. "
Patrick: [NORMAL] Jeg tok en spansk en.
Alisha: Okay, what's the next expression?
Patrick: stopp en hal
Alisha: literally meaning "stop a half." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "now just wait a minute, take a step back."
Patrick: [SLOW] stopp en hal [NORMAL] stopp en hal
Alisha: Listeners, please repeat.
Patrick: stopp en hal
[pause - 5 sec.]
Alisha: Use this slang expression when you need someone to stop what they're doing. On old sailing ships the crew would sometimes call out "stop and haul" when they needed to check if the rigging was tight enough. Instead of properly translating this to Norwegian, Norwegian sailors just started saying
Patrick: stopp en hal,
Alisha: which sounds similar.
Alisha: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Patrick: [NORMAL] Hei du, stopp en hal! [SLOW] Hei du, stopp en hal!
Alisha: "Hey you, wait a minute!"
Patrick: [NORMAL] Hei du, stopp en hal!
Alisha: Okay, what's our next expression?
Patrick: kløpper
Alisha: literally meaning "clipper." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "being really good at something."
Patrick: [SLOW] kløpper [NORMAL] kløpper
Alisha: Listeners, please repeat.
Patrick: kløpper
[pause - 5 sec.]
Alisha: Use this slang expression when you want to compliment someone for being really good at something. Crews on old clipper ships were called
Patrick: kløppere
Alisha: in Norwegian, and they were famous for being good at what they did.
Alisha: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Patrick: [NORMAL] Han er en skikkelig kløpper på gitar. [SLOW] Han er en skikkelig kløpper på gitar.
Alisha: "He's really, really good at playing the guitar."
Patrick: [NORMAL] Han er en skikkelig kløpper på gitar.
Alisha: Okay, what's the last expression?
Patrick: skippertak
Alisha: literally meaning "captain's effort." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "all-out effort."
Patrick: [SLOW] skippertak [NORMAL] skippertak
Alisha: Listeners, please repeat.
Patrick: skippertak
[pause - 5 sec.]
Alisha: Use this slang expression when you want to say that you had to give an extra effort. On ships, captains famously let the crew do all the work, but when something serious needed doing the captain would pitch in and do his part.
Alisha: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Patrick: [NORMAL] Kom igjen, ta i et skippertak nå. [SLOW] Kom igjen, ta i et skippertak nå.
Alisha: "Come on, give me your best effort."
Patrick: [NORMAL] Kom igjen, ta i et skippertak nå.
QUIZ
Alisha: Okay listeners, are you ready to be quizzed on the expressions you just learned? I will describe four situations, and you will choose the right expression to use in your reply. Are you ready?
Alisha: You realise that your friends are about to make a mistake, and you stop them.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Patrick: stopp en hal
Alisha: "now just wait a minute, take a step back"
Alisha: You have a lot to do at work, so you try to find a shortcut.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Patrick: å ta en spansk en
Alisha: "to take the easy way out"
Alisha: Some tasks are so hard that everyone has to help.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Patrick: skippertak
Alisha: "all-out effort"
Alisha: John always learns and becomes very proficient at everything quickly.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Patrick: kløpper
Alisha: "being really good at something"

Outro

Alisha: There you have it; you have mastered four Norwegian Slang Expressions! We have more vocab lists available at NorwegianClass101.com so be sure to check them out. Thank you everyone, and see you in another series!
Patrick: Ha det bra!

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