Kveðjur frá Íslandi

[vonZwicky]

A hearty welcome, from warmer, more geologically stable (albeit hurricane prone) lands!

 

[RagnarArdal]

So what is the Icelandic word for "blond chick with enormous hooters and kick ass butt?"

Gnomie is wondering.

PTN

I'd go with:
Stórbrjósta og rassgóð ljóska
(Big hootered) (and) (well-assed) (blonde)
I can't personally think of a single word for that but someone else might

Cool sounding language (all Greek to me though ). I have a book about the English language ("Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue - The Untold History of English" by John McWhorter). It's been a while since I read it, but I recall that he said that of all the Germanic languages, Icelandic is the least changed from the old original language (Proto-Germanic, I think it's called) from which all the other members of the family developed, and English is the most changed. It's easy to see similarities between, for example, German and English, but much harder to see that Icelandic and English are both members of the same language group.
BTW - what's going on with that volcano - the news reports make it sound pretty serious.

Oh, and before I forget - welcome!

Thank you for the welcome

You correct
Our language is the closest you'll get to Old Norse. Oddly enough our language did not develop dialects (to speak of) even if we were so few and widespread around the coastline. That is partly thanks to Althingi, the event everebody attended once in a while, which evened out any diallects.
That is not to say Icelandic hasn't changed at all, it's just changed much less than you whould imagine. Icelandic also recycles words or tries to invent new ones by stringing words together rather than just taking them directly from some other language. We've done this a lot to meet the demands of the modern world, here are some examples:
Phone = Sími (Old word for string)
Screen = Skjár (Old word for window)
Movies = Kvikmyndir (Moving pictures)
Car = Bifreið (Moving carriage, or so I believe)

But some foreign words have fitted so well to the Icelandic inflection system that we've just taken them up (Largely unchanged). There's also stuff like fruits, spices and other foods. Those include:
Internet
Printer (Prentari)
Banana (Banani)

Icelandic has also withstood some attacks from other languages such as Danish ( cursed be their ungodly tongue ). Unfortunately, we are still mandated to learn it in schools causing immeasurable pain to children all around Iceland.

Actually, just from the top of my head I can remember some words that the English speaking use still today:
Knife = Hnífur
Sky = Ský (Our word means clouds tho')
Husband = Húsbóndi (Sort of means Farmer of the house but we use it as "Master"... hehe)
Tidings = Tíðindi
Likely = Líklega
Wrong = Rangur

Here are some fun articles on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_vocabulary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Icelandic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_norse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_grammar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_purism_in_Icelandic

And now, regarding the volcano!
YES! IT IS VERY SERIOUS! O_O
Even if people aren't being directly killed by the volcano, we are having ashfall and flash floods from the glacier:


Listening to the latter brit trying to pronounce the name is pure gold to me!

Look at the size of that flood! Thankfully, the good people of the last century made canals and stuff to divert the floods away from farms. They've held up very nicely:
http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/popup/mynd.html?imgid=528208;nid=1484806

Air traffic is also down in western Europe because of the ash:
http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/popup/mynd.html?imgid=528151;nid=1484658

http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/popup/mynd.html?imgid=528197;nid=1484783
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE63E1TM20100416

But the real threat is that Katla could erupt, the floods from Katla whould be 50-100 times as big and the cloud of ash could ground air traffic worldwide! There's a reason why Katla is referred to as the entrance to hell! (Well, at least I've heard that somewhere)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katla
Check the See Also articles on that one

I'm sorry that my answer is so short and bad but I had made a huge essay of a post and submitted it only to find out that I had been outomatically signed out of the forum!

Later

A hearty https://www.homebrewtalk.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2008515&nojs=1#communitywelcome, from warmer, more geologically stable (albeit hurricane prone) lands!

Thank you! I prefer volcanoes Hurricanes are a scary destructive power that you can't really avoid, right? I mean, we can just not build houses on the hills of a volcano!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

There is an excellent TV series "How the Earth was Made" on the History Channel. Iceland features quite frequently. There are some full episodes on Hulu. Iceland is certainly an extremely interesting place geologically.

I am currently watching the one on Loch Ness, which tells about how Scotland was once part of North America until England stole it (For the first time) and then ran off with it. I LOVE that series!

 

[KevinW]

Ragnar, welcome to HBT and of course to the homebrewing obsession!

I have enjoyed your responses to the posts here and I hope you will share some Icelandic brewing history(and recipes) with us!

Wool underwear, ha, I like that one!!

 

[RogerK]

Welcome Ragnar!

Goðr forð ásjó

Good voyage, if I remember my Old Norse correctly!

 

[DeafSmith]

Ragnar - thanks for all the info. and links and videos. Sorry that your earlier reply was lost, but this one was very interesting. I browsed through the links on the Icelandic language - it appears quite complicated. And what a bowl of spaghetti it must be, tracing the links between all these languages! I was interested to see that Old Norse and Old English were fairly closely related. To me, Old English is a totally foreign language (might as well be Icelandic, for all I can understand it ), so I wonder if someone who speaks Icelandic and not English might be better able than I to understand Old English, at least a little bit? How ironic that would be.
Impressive videos of the volcano, and I'm certainly glad I'm not a newscaster and don't have to try to pronounce that name. Yes, it certainly seems that if Katla blows, it could be very bad. We have one in the USA that I worry about a little, though the chances of it going off anytime soon are small:

http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera

Also, like KevinW, I would like to hear about homebrewing in Iceland.

 

[vonZwicky]

Thank you! I prefer volcanoes Hurricanes are a scary destructive power that you can't really avoid, right? I mean, we can just not build houses on the hills of a volcano!

When comparing natural disasters, the advantage in dealing with hurricanes over volcanos is that there is usually several days of warning... plenty of time to evacuate, cross your fingers, and hope that your house is still standing when you come back home. Volcanoes are scary because you can't really predict the moment of eruption. It could rumble a bit, get everyone worked up, and then go quiet for 50 or a hundred years before it decides to take out your grandchildren.

Most hurricanes aren't as epic in scale as a Katrina or an Andrew. I tend to want to stay home and ride them out. It helps to be prepared to be without electricity and other modern amenities for a while. I don't think I'd want to try riding out a pyroclastic flow.

Most of the volcanic activity in Iceland is the slow, oozing kind right? Not the explosive Vesuvius/Krakatoa type?

 

[tghtrkk]

Hey guys,

I am trying to brew wine in my home but i am confused that how long will i rack it?? Can somebody help??


Golden girls show

 

[passedpawn]

Hey guys,

I am trying to brew wine in my home but i am confused that how long will i rack it?? Can somebody help??


Golden girls show

Please post wine questions in the wine forum on this site.

 

[shadowgirl]

Natural disasters such Volcanic eruptions,earthquakes and climate changes occurs anywhere as it comes...It will test ourselves and how we are prepared in times of this phenomena exists..thank you


Dark Shadows

 

[passedpawn]

Natural disasters such Volcanic eruptions,earthquakes and climate changes occurs anywhere as it comes...It will test ourselves and how we are prepared in times of this phenomena exists..thank you


Dark Shadows

It's the fault of scantily-clad women... proven by the peer-reviewed boobquake experiment:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/26/maybe-cleavage-does-cause-earthquakes/

 

[paulthenurse]

Iceland was, without a bit of a doubt, the coolest place I've ever been. The mountains, the valleys, the fjords, the glaciers, the volcano, the drop dead gorgeous girls, the reindeer, the midnight sun, the Arctic Circle, the fish, the endles succession of dazzeling waterfalls, unlimited visibility while scuba diving, the lambs, the puffins, the rainbows, the Kamikaze terns, the Pearl, the Cathedral, the single lane tunnels thru miles of mountainside, the community swimming pools, the hot dogs, the Blue Lagoon ... Did I mention the drop dead gorgeous girls?

(The Ha'karl I could have done without, but I can go to my grave knowing that I've eaten the single nastiest thing on earth and didn't throw up... The 25% tax on everything needs to go, too.)

Best vacation of my life, Ragnar. I'll definately be back.

PTN

 

[kristfin]

velkominn raggi,

i suggest that you check out http://www.fagun.is which is the icelandic homebrewers community.

we just had our first national competition (ever) 2 weeks ago.

beer was just made legal in 1989 so we have a lot of caching up to do

 

[paulthenurse]

We visited the microbrewery in Arskogssandur while we were up there. Not bad beer at all. Pretty estery for a lager but I bought a rack to bring home. (It took some doing, you can't buy the beer at the brewery and have to find one of the state liquor stores to buy it. I couldn't find it in any other stores.)

One semi cool thing about Iceland is you can buy beer anywhere but it's "light" beer. "Light" as in 2.5% ABV. If you want anything stronger than that you have to go to the state run stores where they presumably charge more in taxes for the higher percentage ABV.

Anyways, here is a picture of the brewery. Unfortunately, the brewer knew less English than I knew Icelandic so our conversations were limited to grunts, hand gestures and smiles as we sampled several pints of their different brews. Still, I'd enjoy having a few more pints with the guy, he seemed like a cool dude.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

velkominn raggi,

i suggest that you check out http://www.fagun.is which is the icelandic homebrewers community.

we just had our first national competition (ever) 2 weeks ago.

beer was just made legal in 1989 so we have a lot of caching up to do

Unless you guys manage to attach a translator service to your website I doubt you'll get much traffic from over here. But if you do, I'll join in the discussions since I'm definitely going to return to Iceland and I'd love to know a few guys.

PTN

 

[kristfin]

it was mainly for raggi to know about the website.

but it sure is good to know that you can think warmly about iceland. most of the publicity now is about how we are fu**ing up the international flight paths and the fact that our banking system managed to create a larger fraud than ENRON. bear in mind that the population of iceland is mearly 300k.

but if any of you brewers come to iceland, be sure to contact me (kristfin.at.gmail.com) or any of the icelandic home brewers. it would be an honor if you would like to pay us a visit and taste our stuff and perhaps brew a batch with us.

(and specially if you would let us know before hand so you could bring some supplies for us )

 

[passedpawn]

Unless you guys manage to attach a translator service to your website I doubt you'll get much traffic from over here. But if you do, I'll join in the discussions since I'm definitely going to return to Iceland and I'd love to know a few guys.

PTN

I use Google Chrome as a browser, and it automatically translates their entire site (Chrome pops up a "want to translate this - Islandic -> English?" bar at the top of the page). I was reading through their forum this morning. Surprising familiar threads and posts. They even use SWMBO in their posts.

 

[paulthenurse]

I'll definitely do that when we come back. Might not be for a year or so but I am SO going back there. We made a promise to each other that even if we're heading to somewhere else in Europe we're going to get there by way of Iceland and spend a day or three there, either on the way there or on the way home. And while I don't see myself dragging along a 50 lb sack of malt I'm sure I can find room in my suitcase for a pound or two of hops.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

I use Google Chrome as a browser, and it automatically translates their entire site (Chrome pops up a "want to translate this - Islandic -> English?" bar at the top of the page). I was reading through their forum this morning. Surprising familiar threads and posts. They even use SWMBO in their posts.

Way cool.

And a SWMBO is universal.

PTN

 

[kristfin]

the more the merrier.

but this signature is hillarious. "Big breasted ass friendly blonde!"

 

[Brewdouche-RuBrew]

Welcome Rag.

My buddy Noah met his wife Svetlana while stationed at Raykovich in the navy. He's told me many a story of your wonderful country. Although she tried to stab him in his sleep and left him when then they got back here... but I digress.