r/norsk • u/dwchandler • Sep 06 '20

Søndagsspørsmål #348 - Sunday Question Thread

This is a weekly post to ask any question that you may not have felt deserved its own post, or have been hesitating to ask for whatever reason. No question too small or silly!

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u/Koekoeksklok Sep 06 '20

Hva betyr 'som bare rakkern'? Jeg leser Harry Potter i Norsk, Ronny sier: 'Hvis jeg hadde hatt ei padde, hadde jeg mista'n så fort som bare rakkern'. Jeg tror det står 'If I had a toad, I would have lost it as quick as....'. Finnes det en god oversettelse for de siste ordene?

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u/Royranibanaw Native speaker Sep 06 '20

Pretty much "as fuck" (but not as vulgar). "Rakkern" refers to the devil, but seems to originally have meant a person doing the dirty work for an executioner or removing animal carcasses etc. In Norwegian you could write "så fort som søren" or "så fort som bare det" instead, if you are familiar with those phrases.

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u/Koekoeksklok Sep 07 '20 edited Sep 07 '20

I wasn't, thanks! Søren as in 'the south', or does it have a different meaning here?

Funny use of the word 'bare' in these sentences. Would it also work without 'bare'? E.g. 'så fort som rakkern'

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u/knoberation Native speaker Sep 07 '20

It has nothing to do with south, in this expression Søren is a name. Seems to be a derivative of Satan.

You would never say "søren" if you're talking about something to the south, it would instead be "syden".

You could also say "så fort som rakkern".

FYI both "rakkern" and "søren" are very mild expletives and I don't think you would use them naturally too often unless you are actively trying to avoid swear words. I personally don't use these words at all. This will obviously vary wildly with personal preference.