Jobbig, Seg, Larvig: Calling Things Annoying
Swedish complains precisely. Each of these picks out a different flavour of irritating.
The annoyance lexicon: jobbig's whole family, from tjatig to outhärdlig — twenty words English has to paraphrase.
- 1
jobbig
Hard work, wearing (of a person or task)
Tip: From jobb but nothing to do with employment. En jobbig dag = a rough day
- 2
tjatig
Naggy, always going on
Tip: The adjective from tjata
- 3
gnällig
Whiny
Tip: Of a tone as much as a person
- 4
seg
Slow, dragging
Tip: Of queues, films and chewy toffee alike
- 5
mesig
Wimpy, feeble
Tip: Mild insult for someone who won't commit
- 6
larvig
Silly, daft
Tip: Affectionate when said to a friend
- 7
fånig
Foolish
Tip: A shade harsher than larvig
- 8
tramsig
Childishly silly
Tip: trams = nonsense
- 9
sur
Grumpy — and what a flat battery is
Tip: Batteriet är surt, and so is your colleague on Monday
- 10
mallig
Full of yourself
Tip: Old-fashioned and very Swedish
- 11
kaxig
Cocky
Tip: Can be admiring depending on tone
- 12
påflugen
Pushy
Tip: Literally 'flown onto'
- 13
oförskämd
Rude
Tip: Strong word; Swedes reach for it rarely
- 14
stökig
Messy, chaotic
Tip: Of a room or a classroom
- 15
högljudd
Noisy
Tip: Literally high-sounding
- 16
tråkig
Boring
Tip: Also means 'sad' — Vad tråkigt! = what a shame
- 17
besvärlig
Awkward, troublesome
Tip: Of situations and difficult people
- 18
kinkig
Fussy, picky
Tip: Often of small children
- 19
outhärdlig
Unbearable
Tip: Formal register, for heat or people
- 20
pinsam
Embarrassing
Tip: Vad pinsamt! = how embarrassing