#varalitur

[hatari-translations]

Kappsmál (25.10.19) - translation

Kappsmál is a game show on RÚV about the Icelandic language; I think it started this year. The title itself is a play on words: kappsmál means an issue or aspiration of great importance to someone, but it's a compound of "kapp" (race/contest) and "mál" (which in the actual word means an issue, but also means language).

On October 25th’s episode, Matthías was one of the contestants on this show, his teammate being Alma Mjöll Ólafsdóttir, his housemate and one of his partners in the Little Kettle Theatre Company (Ketiltetur) in 2016, which I've translated an article about before. Thus, I have taken on the Herculean task of translating a game show about Icelandic wordplay. Oh boy. Strap yourselves in.

I'm not going to translate every word that is said; I'll translate Matthías and anything that provides context to something he says, but otherwise mostly give the gist of what's said. However, I will be explaining everything that's going on in the show, what the rounds are about and the words, wordplay and grammatical concepts involved. So this is going to be one for my Icelandic-curious readers!

The female host (Björg Magnúsdóttir) begins by introducing it as the show where Icelandic is "the alpha and the omega". She asks the male host, Bragi Valdimar Skúlason, what he's been up to tonight, and he says that he's been thinking about words that share the same letters and go together, which he calls "Siamese words", such as "traust sturta" (a sturdy shower). What kind of vehicle do you travel on between countries? "Iðulega galeiðu" (usually a galley).

Björg introduces the contestants, asking each one what they think is the most difficult Icelandic word. The first is actress and playwright Vala Kristín Eiríksdóttir, who says she was about to use "ströggla", which is slang, an Icelandicization of the English verb "to struggle", to describe her difficulties with the word "spúla", which means to wash something with a high-pressure water pump; some people say it's "smúla". Bragi agrees that people are divided on the matter; he grew up saying "spúla" but then he started working at a freezing plant and they'd say "smúla".

Her teammate is actress Júlíana Sara Gunnarsdóttir; the two of them form a comedy duo. Júlíana's most difficult word is declining the word "ær" (a female sheep). This word is one of a few that are infamously counterintuitive and people get them wrong all the time; the four cases go ær - á - á - ær. Björg says that, but then Júlíana challenges her on the plural, ær - ær - ám - áa. (The plural actually is more intuitive than the singular, but Björg still admits defeat.) Bragi quips, "Þess vegna var kindin fundin upp", or "That's why they invented the sheep", except that he's obviously referencing the word "kind", which also means a sheep but is easier to decline.

Matthías is introduced next, as a "playwright, hater [hatari] and of course Eurovision contestant. Matthías likes to fry asparagus in butter and garlic and enjoys boiling beans in a pot and putting into taco shells." His most difficult word is "ímyndunarveiki" - which is apparently officially defined as hypochondria, but in casual usage I've always felt it to mean being delusional or just overly lost in flights of fancy. Literally, this is a compound that means "imagination sickness", and Matthías says, "Because why is that a sickness?" He asks why it's not "ímyndunargleði", which is literally "imagination joy". When -gleði is used as a suffix, it tends be a word used to describe someone who enjoys something - e.g. "vinnugleði" for someone who's enthusiastic about their work - so "ímyndunargleði" would just mean "liking imagination".

Matthías goes on: "I think that's hard. Why is it a sickness to be imagination..." Björg suggests there's a kind of shame to it. "Yeah, it's a kind of imagination-shaming." Júlíana says, "That's how a playwright thinks." Matthías says "Yeah, isn't it? Why... I don't know. It seems very loaded, somehow. That's why I'd like to suggest ímyndunargleði."

Alma Mjöll, journalist, twin and author of opinion columns and stage projects, apparently likes to make guacamole for the aforementioned taco shells, because she and Matthías live together. Her most difficult Icelandic word is "brúðkaup" (wedding), which is a compound of "brúður" (bride) and "kaup" (purchase). She doesn't want to get married until this word has been changed, because of the dodgy connotations of that compound. Matthías nods. She also doesn't like "gifting" (marriage), which like in English implies the bride is a gift. Björg asks how she feels about "að ganga í hjónaband", another alternative that literally means "to go into a couple bond". Alma doesn't feel like that's neutral either, but some of the others suggest that's just a bond between individuals; she says she'll think about it.

Björg says "So you two just want to exterminate those two words." Matthías says "Yes. We're here to exterminate."

Next, the teams get names, which are created by Bragi by taking letters from their combined first names and making a word out of them. For Vala Kristín and Júlíana Sara, Bragi suggests Vínsala (a wine store), Snúllar (snúlla is a sort of general cutesy nickname, along the lines of "cutiepie"), Vínkjallarar (wine cellars) or Kínarúlla (Chinese roll), but ended up on Sjakalar (jackals). For Matthías and Alma Mjöll, he suggest Maísmjöl (corn flour), Tímatal (reckoning/calendar), Mjaltatíma (milking time) or Maltöl (malt beer, very popular in Iceland), but settled on Smjatt (the sound that you make when chewing loudly). Alma Mjöll gasps and calls it perfect. Matthías says something in response to this but I'm not quite sure what it is; it sounds like "Wasn't Smjatt going to come tonight?", but I'm not sure what he could be referencing there and I can't hear it super clearly.

Finally time for the actual game show! The first round is "The letter", where the contestants are given categories, and they're supposed to come up with as many words as possible that fall into this category and start with a given letter in ten seconds. For this episode, the letter is V.

Sjakalar go first.

The first category is "Men's names". They come up with Valur, Vignir, Vigfús, Valdimar, Villi and Víðir, all pretty common Icelandic men's names.

Next, they get "Animals" and only come up with "valur" again (which means a falcon in addition to being a name).

Next, "Verbs". Vaða (wade), velja (choose), vera (be), vakna (wake), vilja (want), vona (hope), and vita (know).

Then, "Cities". Varsjá (Warsaw), Vilnius, and “Volga no that's a river.”

"Jobs". Viðgerðarmaður (repairman) and verkamaður (labourer).

Next, they go over the answers. Bragi adds vatnabuffall (water buffalo), villisvín (hog) and vambi (wombat) to the animal category, and Björg suggests vampíra (vampire), though that one's obviously pretty dubious. They get 17 points all together.

Next, still a part of the letter round, they're supposed to see pictures of things that usually start with a V, only they're supposed to come up with new words for them that don't start with a V.

The first picture shows lipstick (varalitur). Vala comes up with "litastifti" (color stick). Júlíana starts to say "túss-" (marker), but doesn't manage to finish what was presumably meant to be a compound in time.

Next they get waders (vöðlur). Vala comes up with "vatnabuxur" (water pants), but unfortunately that also starts with a V. Then "buxnahlíf" (pants cover) and "fiskigræja" (fishing gear).

Then a flashlight (vasaljós), for which Vala suggests "ljósastöng" (light stick). Júlíana says "ljósapera", which is totally not a new word, it's just the word for a lightbulb. Vala comes up with "lýsiskaft" (lighting grip) and "ljósatæki" (light machine).

Next, a steamroller (valtari). Júlíana suggests "bílatrukkur" (car truck), Vala "vinnutæki" (work machine), then Júlíana "bílatæki" (car machine).

Finally, a vampire (vampíra). Vala suggests "blóðkona" (blood woman), "dauðadís" (death woman) and "dauðavera" (death creature); Júlíana "blóðmaður" (blood man).

Out of these, Bragi considers the lipstick, flashlight and vampire categories to have received valid contributions, with "litastifti", "lýsiskaft" and "dauðadís". I'm guessing this is judged subjectively. For this, they get six points, ending with 23.

Next up is Smjatt, still with the letter V, starting with the things that actually start with V.

For the category "Women's names", they come up with Vala, Valgerður and Vigdís, plus Matthías says "Vonheiður" and "Valheiður", which are not actually names but do sound like they could be, and Alma says "vinkona" (female friend) and "vorheiða", which are definitely not names.

Next, "Clothing". Matthías immediately says "vatnabuxur" (the water pants from earlier), but unfortunately doesn't come up with the original word, "vöðlur". Then "vínfatnaður" (wine clothes), and Alma says "vorklæðnaður" (spring clothes). Matthías adds "vorklæði" (spring clothes again) and "vorhúfa" (spring hat).

Then "Adjectives". Matthías says "vænn" (good), Alma says "vongóður" (hopeful), Matthías says "vær" (peaceful, as in sleeping peacefully), Alma says "veikur" (sick) and "veiklulegur" (sickly).

"Machines and tools". Matthías says "vísindaglas" (science glass, which is not actually what we call a vial).

"Companies". Matthías says "Velcro" (not Icelandic, but okay), Alma says "Valitor" (which is). Matthías says "Vinabær" (friend town), which actually exists and is apparently a place that hosts bingo. Alma says "Viss ehf.", a mobile phone insurance company.

Bragi thinks Vonheiður and Vorheiða should totally be names. When he gets to the machines and tools category, Matthías asks, "Can you help us a bit there?" Bragi suggests "vélsög" (chainsaw), "vélbor" (power drill) and "valtari" (steamroller). All in all, this got them 14 points.

Next, for the new words that don't start with a V:

First, a crib (vagga). Alma suggests "barnarúm" (child bed), Matthías "barnadýna" (child mattress) and then "barnadýnugrind" (child mattress frame), Alma "barnagrind" (child frame), which is very unlikely to catch on because it's frighteningly close to "barnagirnd" (pedophilia). Matthías says "barnahristir" (child shaker), which is hilarious, and "barnasvæfir" (child put-to-sleep-er).

Then, a glass of water (vatnsglas). Matthías says "glesill" (an actual proper non-compound neologism deriving from "glas" with a vowel shift), "drykkjarfang" (drinking utensil, already a word) and "drykkjarberi" (drink carrier).

Next, a waffle (vaffla). Matthías suggests "Belgíuskonsa" (Belgian scone), "Belgíubrauð" (Belgian bread), "Belgíuvinur" (Belgian friend) and "Belgíumatur" (Belgian food). Alma says "ekkipansa" (not a pancake), which is also amazing.

Then, some grapes (vínber). Matthías suggests "Ameríkurúsínur" (American raisins), and Alma starts to say Brazilian something but the time runs out.

Finally, an alarm clock (vekjaraklukka). Alma says "klukkuvinur" (clock friend), Matthías says "morgunhani" (morning rooster, also a term for an early riser) and "morgunfjandi" (morning devil).

Bragi judges "barnasvæfir", "glesill"/"drykkjarberi", "Belgíubrauð"/"Belgíuskonsa" and "morgunfjandi" to be valid, and thus they get eight points, ending with 22.

The next round is "Óorð", which can mean slander, but is literally "Un-words". In this round, they will see four words, of which one does not exist: it's an unword. The contestants need to guess which is the unword and what the other three words mean.

Sjakalar start again. The four words are "Draumhugi" (dream mind), "Draumsvæfa" (dream sleeper), "Svefnpungur" (sleep scrotum) and "Bliksvefn" (flicker sleep). They guess that the unword is draumsvæfa; svefnpungur sounds like it'd be fake, but something about it sounds familiar. They are correct. They also correctly guess that "draumhugi" is basically equivalent to the English word "dreamer" - someone who daydreams. Matthías suggests maybe such a person is ímyndunarglaður; Vala suggests "ímyndunarvirkur" (imagination-active).

For svefnpungur, Vala first thinks of a sleep mask but she knows that's not it. Júlíana suggests it might be similar to "svefnpurka", which is a gently derogatory term for someone who sleeps a lot, like "sleepyhead". Then she suggests maybe it's just a pillow. This is incorrect, so they ask Smjatt for their take. Matthías asks as an aside whether it's svefnpurka or svefnburka, but the answer is inconclusive (it's definitely svefnpurka, what). Alma suggests either it's where you put your money while you sleep, or it's somebody who's really grumpy in the morning. Bragi explains that it's actually just bags under your eyes. (I have never heard this word, but it makes a lot of sense.)

They guess bliksvefn is dozing off shallowly. That's wrong. Matthías suggests when you fall asleep suddenly. Bragi explains it's actually REM sleep (where your eyes flicker), which immediately makes sense to everyone. Icelandic compounds can be cool and transparent like that.

The next batch of words, for Team Smjatt, is "Næturgöltur" (night hog), "Náttsvín" (night pig), "Náttfilla" (night membrane), and "Blóðnætur" (blood nights). Matthías says, "I think it's suspicious that that filla doesn't have a y" - fylla is a common word meaning fill, filla is a word that I had to look up in a dictionary just now. Alma comments on how there's both næturgöltur and náttsvín; Matthías says "Yes, they're trying to trick us." At "blóðnætur" he just blinks and says "I have no clue. We are being lassoed into a trap." Matthías thinks the unword is "náttfilla", because what is a filla without a y. Alma thinks it's næturgöltur. They go with næturgöltur, but it's actually náttsvín. Alma thinks náttsvín sounds cuter than næturgöltur.

Now they're supposed to guess what næturgöltur is. Alma suggests someone who misbehaves in their sleep. Matthías suggests, "Someone who sleepwalks, makes noise, swears..." Then he suggests maybe it's a nocturnal animal, maybe in forests. This is wrong, so the question goes over to Sjakalar. Júlíana says it just makes her think of her husband, who snores a lot.

Bragi explains it's actually not "göltur" as in hog, it's a different word that means wandering - so næturgöltur is wandering in the night. Matthías asks if the animal is actually derived from this other word, which Bragi says it is!

Time for the mysterious náttfilla. Matthías and Alma jokingly pronounce it as if it were Swedish, then Matthías says, "I'm just going to admit that I have no idea." Alma suggests maybe it's a piece of clothing. Bragi throws it over to the other team; Vala says she thinks it's derived from "fullur" (full) and that it means when you get a full night's sleep, but as Bragi points out, she got confused there; if it were derived from fullur it would have a y. Vala can hear her mother's disappointment in her. Bragi explains it's actually a nighttime fog.

Finally, we're looking at blóðnætur. Matthías says "See, we had vampires, or night women, or what was it - death women. So that's where I'm at." Alma suggests, "Something bad happened this night." He agrees; "The blood nights, where a lot of people died. They were great blood nights." Bragi says they're on the right track, but not quite. Sjakalar suggest it's when the sky is red at sunset. My guess would have been that it means a period, as in menstruation, but no, apparently it's "the time just after a man has been slain, when the thirst for revenge is at its peak". #relatable, eh?

All in all, Sjakalar got seven points, and Smjatt got zero, leaving Sjakalar with 30 and Smjatt with 22.

The next round is "The Pump". In this one, a combination of letters is displayed, and then each contestant in turn has to name a word starting with this exact combination of letters in a few seconds; if they fail, they're eliminated. The letters are "Tja", and:

Vala: tjara (tar)

Júlíana: tjald (tent)

Matthías: Tjarnargata (Pond Street, a street in Reykjavík)

Alma: tjaldur (Eurasian oystercatcher, a bird common in Iceland)

Vala: tjasla (to patch something together)

Júlíana: "tjassa" (not a word; she's eliminated)

Matthías: tjatta (Icelandicization of "to chat")

At this, they stop. Bragi is doubtful. Matthías says "Young people do it every day." "Doesn't that have a ch?" asks Björg. Matthías says he thought the Icelandic version had a tj. "I thought it was such a progressive language." For what it's worth I agree with him; c is not a letter in Icelandic and if you're using the word at all it should be spelled with a tj. But it's not yet in the dictionary of modern Icelandic, so Matthías is out. We continue:

Alma: tjaldbúðir (camp)

Vala: tjaldvagn (wagon)

Alma: tjaldstöng (tentpole)

Vala: tjaldútilega (tent camping)

Alma: "That's not a word! tjald...aðu" (pitch a tent, imperative)

Vala: tjaldsvæði (camping ground)

Alma: tjarnarhringur (a circle around a pond; might be, for example, walking around the Pond in Reykjavík)

Vala: Tjarnarbíó (Pond Cinema, a theater near the Pond in Reykjavík)

Alma: tjarnardrulla (pond mud)

And at that Bragi stops her; it's not in the dictionary. With that, Sjakalar get five more points, jumping up to 35. Matthías says "I'm still in shock about the chat." Bragi says he has a certain sympathy for him.

The next round is "Þvers og kruss", which is an idiom meaning "all over the place" or "back and forth", but it's reminiscent of a crossword; þvers means across, and kruss is apparently a sailing term but sounds like kross (cross). It's basically like two simultaneous rounds of hangman, where the two words cross each other, and the teams take turns guessing a letter, which might help the other team.

Team Smjatt gets to pick which word they want; they pick across/horizontal. Björg asks why, and Matthías says with a shrug, "She asked what my feeling was, and I just..."

To help, they're told the words are both birds. (Matthías says something, but I can't make it out.)

For the first letter guess, Matthías and Alma guess T, which appears twice in the other word but not at all in theirs.

Team Sjakalar guess Ð, but there's no �� in either word.

Next Matthías says, "We want E." There is one E in their word, and Matthías says "Smjattið er ekki dautt", or "The chewing isn't dead," obviously referring to their team.

Sjakalar guess I, of which there is one in their word.

Smjatt guess S, of which there is none. Matthías says "Þetta er ógeðslega spenandi", which means "This is incredibly exciting." You may recognize the word "ógeðslegur" from Klámstrákur; it literally means "disgusting", but in this adverb form it's used frequently as a generic intensifier.

Team Sjakalar guess U, which is in their own word again.

For their next guess, Matthías and Alma are whispering to each other. Matthías suggests N, and Alma goes "Yeah... no!" Matthías says "But then we're just out." Presumably they're thinking of the fact it's very likely N is in Sjakalar's word as well (it's one of the most common letters in Icelandic). They end up going with K. Matthías says "We're still just shooting in the dark." Luckily, there are indeed two K's in their word.

Sjakalar guess Ú. (Note how U and Ú are considered completely separate letters in Icelandic.) There is an Ú in their word, and at this point I know it's "Turtildúfa" (turtle dove).

Smjatt is still having trouble. Matthías: "U...O?" Alma: "No, stop." Matthías: "I'm just saying, taking a shot, taking risks." Alma: "Okay, take risks. You do that." So they guess O, which is in neither word.

Sjakalar guess F. They've probably worked out their word too.

Matthías asks if they've guessed B yet, which they haven't. "We might maybe want to guess that." Bragi says "Very good letter, one of the best, but it's not in these words." Björg says "Það eru smá áföll að dynja yfir smjattið", which you might translate as something like "There are some setbacks raining down on the chewing."

Sjakalar guess L, which is of course also in their word.

Matthías is confused that there isn't an I at the end of theirs - a word ending in -ki would be pretty typical. (Their word is probably actually something ending in "kráka", or crow.) Matthías: "H!" Alma: "M!" Matthías: "Or M!" But then they both go with H, which is not in either word.

Sjakalar guess D, predictably enough, but it's also the first letter of Matthías and Alma's word. At this point I figure it's probably "Dvergkráka", or "dwarf crow" (Western jackdaw).

Matthías and Alma are still puzzled. Alma jokingly says "The bird Dekk", "dekk" being a car tire. Matthías says "We were just talking about this at home, Googling bird species. We didn't do it." Alma: "We didn't." Matthías: "Did you?" Alma: "I didn't." They go with R, of which there are two in their word, but unfortunately one overlaps with Sjakalar's.

This means Sjakalar have only one letter left, and they guess A and complete their word. Matthías says something like "Nú kannski kemur í ljós hvað þau voru... Fórnir til að ná árangri", or "Now maybe we'll find out what they were... Sacrifices for success”; not sure what he’s getting at. Bragi asks Team Smjatt if they know their word yet, but they look confused, and instead Júlíana guesses dvergkráka, at which Matthías and Alma clearly feel very stupid. Bragi calls it "A very nice bird, a friend to its friends."

Either way, Sjakalar have won the round and get ten points for it. They're now at 45 to Smjatt's 22.

For the next round, both teams have a bag with Scrabble tiles representing "Turtildúfa", except the D has been replaced with an S, and they're supposed to make a new word out of them, as long as they can, in sixty seconds. Bragi adds, "It has to be in the dictionary. No tjatt."

While the teams work on it, Björg and Bragi discuss how tjatt really should be at least in the slang dictionary, because people use it.

As the sixty seconds finish, Matthías asks, "Does it have to be in the nominative case?", which is the "default" case for words, the one you'd actually find in a dictionary - it doesn't. Their word is "súldar", which is the genitive case of "súld" (drizzle). Bragi muses it could also be the name of a country; Matthías says "The sultan of Súldar?" Sjakalar's word is "saltur" (salty). Alma: "Does that exist?" Matthías: "That exists." Alma: "I'm joking."

Bragi tells them they could theoretically have made the words "fúlastri" (a bit weird-sounding, but a form of "fúl" (grumpy/annoyed, feminine)) or "litfastur" ("color-stuck", something that doesn't change color easily). Matthías says "That would've been cool." "Trúlausi" (atheist) and "trúfasti" (faithful) are both also in there; Matthías says "Ah, we didn't see the 'trú'."

Either way, each team gets six points for making a word six letters long. They're now at Sjakalar 51, Smjatt 28.

It's time for another round of The Pump. Björg says "We're hearing groans of anguish from the contestants." Matthías: "It was so stressful last time." This time, rather than finding a word starting with the given letter combination, they must find a word with that letter combination in the middle of the word, but not at the start. The letters this time are "ölv".

Matthías: "Not the most pleasant word to start with, but ofurölvi!" (super drunk)

Alma: fölvi (paleness)

Vala: bölvun (curse)

Júlíana: völva (seeress)

Matthías: völvuspá (seeress prophecy; he makes a face at this, probably because he's actually thinking of the ancient poem Völuspá, but they give it a pass)

Alma: "ofurölvasssss... ohh!" She's out.

Vala: tölva (computer)

Júlíana: Sölva (masculine name)

Matthías: tölvuleikjaforritari (video game developer, I love him)

Vala: tölvuskjár (computer monitor)

Júlíana: mölva (smash to bits)

Matthías: "I'm just stuck on the computers. Tölvumús?" (computer mouse)

Vala: tölvuhleðslutæki (computer charger) - but she's too late and she's out.

Júlíana: tölvutækni (computer technology)

Matthías: tölvuleikjamót (video game tournament)

Júlíana: tölvutakkaborð ("computer button board" - she was obviously trying to say "tölvulyklaborð" (computer keyboard) but apparently this counts)

Matthías: tölvuleikjaleikmaður (video game player)

Júlíana: "Grölva?" Obviously just guessing, and this is not a word; she's out.

Thus, Matthías wins this round, and they get five points - 51 to 33.

The next round is called "Frasakássa", or "phrase casserole". They get a grid of letters and are supposed to find a line from an Icelandic pop song in it. After a few seconds Matthías asks, "They can be diagonal?"; they can be, but not backwards. Matthías and Alma end up getting it: "Haltu í höndina á mér og ekki sleppa" (hold my hand and don't let go), a lyric from the song Í síðasta skipti, which was apparently one of the Söngvakeppnin entries in 2015; I didn't follow the contest that year and don't think I've ever heard this song before.

They can get extra points by naming the songwriter(s). Smjatt guess Friðrik Dór [Jónsson]; Júlíana says Ásgeir Orri [Ásgeirsson] and Pálmi Ragnar [also Ásgeirsson; they are brothers]. They're all well-known songwriters, and it turns out all three of them worked together to write this song, so neither team gets points for that. Team Smjatt gets ten points for being the first to find the phrase, though, bringing them to 43 points. Matthías balks at getting ten whole points for this. Júlíana says yeah, it was hard, and Vala adds she'd started screaming a sentence from one of the Passion Hymns.

It's time for the final round of the night, "stafapressan" (Letter Press/Letter Pressure). They can choose a six-point, twelve-point or eighteen-point question. The way this works is that they get a phrase and a grammatical form to put it in; one team member has to say it out loud, and then the other has to spell it correctly.

Team Smjatt go first because they have fewer points. Alma says, "We could win." Matthías says, "You have to take risks to succeed. We did that for the last round." So they go with an eighteen-point question! Alma volunteers to spell, leaving Matthías with the task of declining the phrase correctly. When Björg asks if he's ready, he says "Oh my god."

His phrase is "velgja volgan elg" (to warm a lukewarm moose). They want this in the imperative singular superlative plural dative. (You may note there's both a singular and a plural in there. What they mean by it is that the imperative should be singular but the noun plural - that is, commanding one person to warm multiple of the lukewarmest moose. In Icelandic, the adjective is declined and pluralized along with the noun.)

Matthías doesn't take long to say, "Velgdu volgustu--" and then he pauses to decline "elgur" in the definite plural to be absolutely sure: "Hér eru elgirnir um elgina frá elgunum - velgdu volgustu elgunum." "Are you locking it like that?" "Yes." Very confident, and totally correct. Alma also spells it out without problems, and they get their eighteen points, putting them at 61 points, suddenly ten points ahead of Sjakalar. Bragi notes that "elgjunum" would also have been accepted.

It's time for Sjakalar to decide which difficulty they want. Júlíana notes that she's just thinking of winning, for which they'd need twelve points; Alma says "No, Vala, think of your mom!", referring back to Vala's earlier comment about how her mom would be so disappointed in her getting something wrong. But they decide to go with the twelve points, and Júlíana steps back to be the speller.

Vala's phrase is "sigggróið ilsig", or "a callused flatfoot", and they want the dative singular comparative definite form: the more callused flatfoot. With some difficulty, she comes up with "sigggrónara ilsigisins" - but unfortunately that's the genitive and not the dative, which she would definitely have known if she were putting it in a sentence, but it's confusing keeping track of all those grammatical cases under pressure. Júlíana panics at the looming time limit and also fails to correctly spell what Vala just said, and all in all they definitively lose the round, leaving them still with 51 points to Matthías and Alma's 61. Team Smjatt has claimed victory!

When Bragi explains Vala's error and that it should have been "sigggrónara ilsiginu", Alma quips, "A common mistake." Júlíana notes that she didn't think there was much of a difference between the difficulty of the twelve-point phrase and the eighteen-point phrase, which Matthías agrees with, and I have to agree too; I honestly think I probably would've had more trouble with sigggrónara ilsiginu than velgdu volgustu elgunum. (The latter was worth more points because it's three words rather than two.)

Vala says Júlíana's probably going to break off their professional relationship; Alma says it would've been worse if they'd lost, because they live together. "If I'd screwed it up in the final stretch with the moose..." Matthías: "Matthías, get out on the street."

Finally, for the viewers at home, they ask for social media suggestions for a word for the divider that you place on the conveyor at a store between your stuff and the people before and after you. Vala suggests there's already a word for that - "vöruaðskilnaðarferna", or "product separation cuboid" (or rather, presumably they're going for cuboid, but as it is the word "ferna" is exclusively used for cardboard containers around liquid, like milk cartons or juice boxes). This is an extremely, extremely awkward word and Matthías goes "Ugh!" Me too, Matthías.

As they ask for people to post their suggestions on the #kappsmál hashtag, they say "Just spray it out!", which just reminds me of Griðastaður, but that's probably not intended to be a reference.

[shadowynerdwitch]

Bless grímur, halló varalitur / goodbye masks, hello lipstick #trixiecosmetics (at Kópavogur) https://www.instagram.com/p/CaHj-wmgCkk/?utm_medium=tumblr

[mittlif-blog]

varir

[tekonur-blog]

Þegar tekonur setja á sig rauðann varalit....

[bjutiboxid-blog]

Nýi MAC varaliturinn minn

Jæja hér kemur, eins og ég talaði um í síðustu færslu, mynd(ir reyndar) af nýja MAC varalitnum mínum. Hann heitir Creme de la Femme og er með Frost áferð.

Svona er liturinn með flassi.

Hér er hann ekki með flassi.

Það sést greinilega að það eru glimmerörður í honum en mér finnst þær alls ekki áberandi þegar liturinn er kominn á.

Kominn á:

Finnst hann rosa flottur og hann gefur vörunum greinilega raka því ég verð ekki með "skorpnar" varir eftir hann. Ég notaði NN Cosmetics varablýant sem heitir Natural áður en ég setti litinn á, til að ýta varalínunni aaaaaðeins út (munið bara að ofgera því ekki, við vitum allar að Ásdís Rán fékk sér sílíkon eða kollagen eða hvað sem það var í varirnar, hún málar ekki bara alltaf aðeins út fyrir!)

Varablýantur gerir það að verkum að við getum leikið okkur meira með lögun varanna og þær verða meira "defined" - úff ég finn ekki rétta orðið á íslensku! Svo er gott að venja sig á að setja aðeins af varablýantnum inná varirnar, þá helst varaliturinn betur á og fer síður af í flekkjum.

xoxo

munið að like-a Bjútíboxið á Facebook!

[bjutiboxid-blog]

Snyrtivöruþráhyggja

Ég kíkti á Bobbi Brown kynninguna í Snyrtistofunni Lind á fimmtudaginn. Það var sérstaklega verið að kynna hyljarann nýja sem ég talaði um í færslunni fyrir hér fyrir neðan, en það var líka 20% afsláttur af öllum BB vörum. Ég stóðst auðvitað ekki mátið.....

Keypti mér þennan fallega varalit, það fyndna er að ég var búin að prófa annan sem var mjööög flottur - svolítið mikill litur fyrir manneskju eins og mig en ég ákvað að láta slag standa og vera villt! En svo kom ég út í bíl og leit á mig í baksýnisspeglinum og ákvað að ég vildi frekar kaupa þennan og nota hann þó allavega, heldur en að eiga hinn og þora aldrei að vera með hann! Liturinn heitir Bikini Pink :)

Svo keypti ég bursta sem heitir Touch Up og er tilvalinn til að hafa með í veskinu til að, eins og heitið gefur til kynna, laga meiköppið yfir daginn. Bæta við hyljara eða meiki, laga augnskugga og allt þar á milli.

Fyrir utan þennan 20% afslátt fékk ég svo gefins með prufu af Illuminating Powder, augnkremi sem virkar líka sem primer eða grunnur fyrir hyljara undir augun og Extreme Party maskara sem mig hefur lengi langað að prófa! Ég notaði maskarann um helgina og hann er mjög fínn - ekkert extreme reyndar finnst mér en ég ætla samt að gefa honum smá séns, sjá hvernig hann verður ef ég set nokkrar umferðir.

xoxo

p.s. Ég keypti alveg óvart varalit líka í MAC um helgina... geggjaðan lit, mynd væntanleg!

[bjutiboxid-blog]

Nokkur góð ráð!

Tók þetta af gömlu bloggsíðunni minni - vona að þetta hjálpi einhverjum!

- Þrífið gamla maskaragreiðu og notið hana til að halda augabrúnum á sínum stað. Ef þær eru mjög óhlýðnar getið þið spreyjað hárspreyi í greiðuna áður en þið greiðið yfir og brúnirnar verða pikkfastar! - Ef þið klínið maskara á augnlok eða kinnar, ekki reyna að þrífa hann strax af. Þá klínist hann bara út um allt. Klárið frekar förðunina, takið svo þurran eyrnapinna og strjúkið af. Þá hálfbrotnar þornaði maskarinn í burtu. - Þegar þið setjið fallegan varalit á ykkur er gott að hafa hyljara við höndina því ef maður klínir út fyrir varirnar er oft erfitt að ná litnum alveg í burtu. Svo ekki nudda þangað til húðin verður rauð, dúmpið frekar létt með hyljarabursta. (Best er að hafa varablýant þegar þið notið varalit því það kemur í veg fyrir að varaliturinn "blæði" út fyrir. Getið séð í færslunni Varir varir varir að ég notaði ekki varablýant og það koma smáar línur út fr�� vörunum - sem hefði ekki gerst hefði ég haft varablýant!) - Eyeliner er flottastur ef hann er alveg upp við augnhárin. Til að láta augnhárin virka þéttari, litið á milli þeirra með augnblýanti. Síðan er hægt að gera fína eða þykka línu, allt eftir tilefni og vilja. - Munið að nota hyljara í kringum nefið, það svæði gleymist oft og verður rautt í "hita leiksins":) - Ekki gera svarta línu alveg í kringum augun ef þið eruð með lítil augu. Gerið heila línu uppi en látið hana aðeins ná inn að miðju við neðri augnhárin. Flottast er að láta hana "fade-a" út inn að miðju.

Munið svo að ekkert er bannað og alltaf gaman að prófa eitthvað nýtt!

xoxo

[bjutiboxid-blog]

Varir varir

Hér kemur, eins og ég lofaði, mynd af Politely Pink MAC varalitnum! Ég er búin að nota hann á næstum hverjum degi síðan ég fékk mér hann, finnst hann sko bara betri og betri! Svo mjúk áferð (Lustre finish, það eru nokkur mismunandi "finish" á varalitunum hjá þeim) og hann nærir greinilega varirnar því þær verða aldrei þurrar eða "skorpnar" undan honum.

Svo sýndi ég ykkur Victoria's Secret Lip Balm sem ég keypti fyrir nokkrum vikum og talaði um hvað það væri örugglega flott að nota hann yfir minna glossy varalit. Prófaði hann því yfir þennan:

Þið sjáið hvað það munar miklu að hafa svona glært gloss yfir, varirnar virka fyllri og kyssilegri ;)

Svo langaði mig að sýna ykkur einn af mínum uppáhaldsvaralitum; Surprise Rouge Allure frá Chanel. Því miður fékk ég hann á útsölu því hann var að hætta - svo ég tími honum ekkert alltaf! En mér finnst hann mjög flottur og það er ekki að spyrja að gæðunum, Chanel stendur sannarlega fyrir sínu.

Svo fyrst ég var að þessu ákvað ég að prófa þennan líka með glossinu:

Gaman að prófa svona, ég held að ég eigi enga sérstaklega matta varaliti en það er samt greinilegur munur á þessum með og án glossins. Sjáið hvað smá "touch" getur gert mikið :)

xoxo

[bjutiboxid-blog]

Veiðiferð í borginni

Ég naut góðs af því að vera frá kallinum um konudagshelgina að því leyti að það var afsláttur í bæði Make Up Store og MAC í Kringlunni - 20% (=tax free) svo gjafabréfið sem ég fékk í afmælisgjöf kom sannarlega að góðum notum!

Ég keypti minn fyrsta augnskugga frá MAC (já, þið megið hlæja og benda núna, hef aldrei verið MAC-oholic gellan) og varalit! Gríðarlega fallegur litur sem heitir Sable og er rúst-bronsaður myndi ég segja, en mynd segir meira en þúsund orð:

Svo er það varaliturinn, Politely Pink, hrikalega mjúkur og flottur litur! Myndi segja að hann sé akkúrat liturinn sem maður getur verið með í vinnunni - smá litur, smá glossy, ekkert of. Ég veit að skærir litir eru málið, en mér finnst svo erfitt að velja þannig án þess að prófa á mér og það var hrikalega mikið að gera, svo ég vildi vera safe í bili. Hér með lofa ég því að næsti varalitur sem ég vel mér verði öðruvísi en allir hinir sem ég á! ;) Er eftir sem áður mjög ánægð með þennan!

Sýni ykkur hvernig hann kemur út á vörunum við tækifæri :)

Í Make Up Store nældi ég mér í augnskugga, Metallic Wave. Þau eru með tvær gerðir af augnskuggum og þessi heitir Cybershadow. Ég er ekki 100% en ef ég skil rétt þá er Microshadow (hin týpan af augnskuggum) með meira pigmenti - þ.e. maður þarf minna af vörunni til að fá mikinn lit. Finnst þessi samt mjög fallegur og alls ekki daufur litur. Svo er líka hægt að bleyta burstann ögn og búa til fallega eyeliner-línu með honum.

Svo er það Face Mist-ið, ég var svo heppin að fá síðasta brúsann! Ég ætla mér að finna minni spreybrúsa og hafa með mér veskinu, það fór nefnilega ekki vel síðast þegar ég hafði stóra flösku í veskinu mínu...! Ég hef séð svona lítil ilmvatnsglös til sölu í Body Shop, kannski ég skelli mér á þannig við tækifæri. Face Mist er "like a drink of water for thirsty skin" eins og segir á umbúðunum, þ.e. það má spreyja því yfir andlitið hvenær sem er dags og nætur til að gefa húðinni raka. Svo eru alls konar góð innihaldsefni í því sem næra og verja húðina. Ótrúlega frískandi og gott :)

Síðast en ekki síst, því ég er burstasjúk, keypti ég mér (vonandi) hinn fullkomna smudge-bursta. Mér finnst mig oft vanta góðan bursta til að ná að dreifa vel úr augnblýantinum og enginn þeirra sem ég á hefur heillað mig upp úr skónum svo ég hef haldið leitinni áfram. Vonandi er henni lokið hér með! Og svona lítur djásnið út:

Vona að þið skemmtið ykkur við lesturinn, takk fyrir innlitið ;)

Endilega finnið Bjútíboxið á Facebook!

xoxo