Letter from Iceland #80
The "very essence of the Icelandic national character" edition
Sæl öll!
It is the Friday before our Verslunarmannahelgi weekend, the biggest travel weekend of the year, that unofficially marks the end of the Icelandic summer. A summer that, incidentally, we didn’t really get this year. 😔 The weather has been awful; we have barely seen the sun. Here in the capital we had 70 sunshine hours short of the average of 110 for July, and parts of west Iceland had record rainfall. Honestly, I feel like this was July:
Meanwhile, all those peeps looking forward to their end-of-summer adventures this weekend are likely to be disappointed, at least where weather is concerned, since the outlook for this weekend looks pretty dire as well.
A good time to stay at home and read a book if you ask me.
Anyways
Today in our Little Book of Icelandic* installment we’ll look at some words or phrases that are quintessentially Icelandic, or that describe a quality that the Icelanders consider among the greatest virtues. For example being hress, and dugleg/duglegur.
There is, as always, a sound file with me reading those words/phrases, and explaining how they are typically used.
The full post is for paid subscribers, but the part about the most quintessential Icelandic phrase is open to all. I am speaking, of course, of the iconic ÞETTA REDDAST.
Listen here:
Paid subscribers, read on for the full post.
Have a great weekend, everyone, and if you are in Iceland: STAY DRY!
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