--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>When I was in primary school, my generation borrowed US English
>ouch! from Huckleberry Hound & Co. Now kids and people in their
>twenties all say <wow>, which I can't bring myself to utter.
>
> Piotr
Here in Iceland, even with its strong tradition of inventing native
words or borrowing only words which fit into the phonological and
morphological system, there are quite a few English interjections
coming into use all the time.
"Halló" is used by more and more people on the telephone (although we
still call it "sími" not "telefone"), instead of the traditional
statement of the answerer's first name.
"Sorrý" is used more and more to replace the Icelandic "fyrirgefðu"
or "afsakið" for "pardon me".
"Wow" is also wide-spread in Icelandic, beside the borrowed
Icelandicized "vá".
But we still have two wonderful Icelandic interjections which are so
shocking to outsiders:
"ha!" said very loudly and sharply when someone doesn't understand
what another has just said. This shocks the bejeezus out of tourists!
"heyrðu!" said very loudly to anyone whom you want to grab (as in a
waiter, service person, bartender, etc). It literally means "hey,
you, listen here!". Most foreigners find this extremely rude and
shocking. The ones who don't think this usually just think that
everyone working in a service industry is named "Heyrðu". *chuckle*
Icelanders just consider it normal.
Chad