Helvítis fokking fokk

Protests at Austurvöllur, 17 January 2009, including a placard (centre) reading Helvítis fokking fokk!!

Helvítis fokking fokk (translated by Eiríkur Bergmann as 'God Damn, Fucking Fuck',[1] Roger Boyes as 'What the Fuckety Fucking Fuck',[2] and by Michael J. Casey as 'Bloody Fucking Fuck'[3]) is an Icelandic neologism which became a widely used expression of discontent following the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis.

History

The phrase was coined by the artist Gunnar Már Pétursson, who painted the message on a placard while protesting outside the Icelandic parliament.[4] The phrase was further popularised in a comedy sketch performed by Jón Gnarr and broadcast on the traditional New Year's Eve comedy revue, Áramótaskaupið, in 2008.[5] In the sketch, inspired by Gunnar Már's story,[6] Jón played a strait-laced middle-aged protester participating in the kitchenware revolution struggling to express his indignation at the crisis and eventually coming up with a sign reading Helvítis fokking fokk!!

The phrase swiftly became widely used in Iceland in relation to the Crisis, as an expression of widely felt anger at corruption and mishandling of the economy.[7][8] People even made real-life signs bearing the phrase which they took to the protests on Austurvöllur;[9] it was also printed on T-shirts.[10] According to Sóley Björk Stefánsdóttir, the two biggest Facebook groups relating to the Crisis were 'Icelanders are NOT terrorists' (17,188 members) and 'Helvítis fokking fokk' (9,396 members).[11] Describing the city-centre office of the Borgarahreyfingin party, Georg Fornes mentions that 'both inside the place and outside you could see various items from the demonstrations, including pots, cake-tins, and dirty placards with the slogan Helvítis Fokking Fokk!’[12]

Although usually an interjection, the term is also attested as a substantive, referring to the situation surrounding the financial crisis in general.[13]

Appearances in art and literature

A picture of the artist Gunnar Már Pétursson holding his own placard reading Helvítis fokking fokk! appears on the cover of Guðni Th. Jóhannesson's history of the crisis.[14]

The title of the Crisis-themed concept album Helvítis fokking funk by the Samúel Jón Samúelsson Big Band is a pun on Helvítis fokking fokk.[15][16]: 191–92 

The usefulness of the phrase is discussed by characters in Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir's novel Hjartsláttur.[17] It is also the favourite phrase of the character Guðni in Ævar Örn Jósepsson's 2010 novel Önnur líf.[18]

The phrase became part of the title of a literature course at the University of Iceland, taught by Jón Karl Helgason in 2014-15: 'Helvítis fokking fokk: Hrunið í íslenskum bókmenntum' ('The Crash in Icelandic literature').[19][20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Iceland and the International Financial Crisis: Boom, Bust and Recovery (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), p. 142.
  2. ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009).
  3. ^ Michael J. Casey, The Unfair Trade: How Our Broken Global Financial System Destroys the Middle Class (New York: Crown, 2012), p. 239.
  4. ^ 'Helvítis fokking fokk á forsíðu Hrunsins', Vísir.is (5 June 2009).
  5. ^ Youtube clip of Áramótaskaup sketch; 'Helvítis fokking fokk á forsíðu Hrunsins', Vísir, 5 June 2009, http://www.visir.is/helvitis-fokking-fokk-a-forsidu-hrunsins/article/2009112316069; Auður Inez Sellgren, 'Ekta upplifun? Orðin ekta og gervi skoðuð með tilliti til mannsins', unpublished BA dissertation, Icelandic Academy of the Arts, 2014, p. 13, http://hdl.handle.net/1946/22190.
  6. ^ 'Helvítis fokking fokk á forsíðu Hrunsins', Vísir.is (5 June 2009).
  7. ^ Auður Inez Sellgren, 'Ekta upplifun? Orðin ekta og gervi skoðuð með tilliti til mannsins', unpublished BA dissertation, Icelandic Academy of the Arts, 2014, p. 13, http://hdl.handle.net/1946/22190.
  8. ^ Eiríkur Bergmann, Iceland and the International Financial Crisis: Boom, Bust and Recovery (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), p. 142.
  9. ^ 'Helvítis fokking fokk á forsíðu Hrunsins', Vísir, 5 June 2009, http://www.visir.is/helvitis-fokking-fokk-a-forsidu-hrunsins/article/2009112316069; Margrét Tryggvadóttir, Útistöður ([n.p.]: Hansen og synir, 2014), p. 27.
  10. ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009); Georg Fornes, 'Mótmæli. Perspektiver på finanskollapsen i Island', unpublished MS thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2011, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ano%3Antnu%3Adiva-15773, p. 48.
  11. ^ Sóley Björk Stefánsdóttir, 'Er Facebook hið nýja almannarými? Greining á upplýsingamiðlun og samskiptum á Facebook', unpublished BA thesis, Háskólinn á Akureyri, 2009, p. 17, http://hdl.handle.net/1946/3186.
  12. ^ 'Både inne i lokalet og utenfor kunne man se forskjellige gjenstander fra demonstrasjonene, kasseroller, kakebokser og tilgrisede plakater, en med slagordet Helvítis Fokking Fokk!': Georg Fornes, 'Mótmæli. Perspektiver på finanskollapsen i Island', unpublished MS thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2011, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ano%3Antnu%3Adiva-15773, p. 52.
  13. ^ Einar Már Guðmundsson, Bankastræti núll (Reykjavík: Mál og Menning, 2011), p. 7.
  14. ^ 'Helvítis fokking fokk á forsíðu Hrunsins', Vísir, 5 June 2009, http://www.visir.is/helvitis-fokking-fokk-a-forsidu-hrunsins/article/2009112316069; Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Hrunið: Ísland á barmi gjaldþrots og upplausnar (Reykjavík: JPV, 2009).
  15. ^ Samúel Jón Samúelsson, Helvítis fokking funk ([S.l.] : Sjsmusic, 2010).
  16. ^ Alaric Hall, Útrásarvíkingar! The Literature of the Icelandic Financial Crisis (2008–2014) (Earth, Milky Way: punctum, 2020), ISBN 978-1-950192-70-0, doi:10.21983/P3.0272.1.00.
  17. ^ Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, Hjartsláttur (Reykjavík: Mál og Menning, 2009), p. 29.
  18. ^ Ævar Örn Jósepsson, Önnur líf (Reykjavík: Uppheimar, 2010), pp. 51, 91, cf. 193.
  19. ^ '10 áhugaverðir áfangar í HÍ', Morgunblaðið (22 August 2014).
  20. ^ 'ÍSL607G Helvítis fokking fokk: Hrunið í íslenskum bókmenntum' (accessed 5 October 2018).