# Norwegian:  snillingere



## Paquito2910

Hello people,

So, I am translating this text from English to French. However, it happens that the text contents a few Norwegian terms as "snillingere" in "Eventually, some snillingere changed their mind". 
I looked it up but found nothing reliable. I had found "genius" but it doesn't fit in that context.
 Could anyone give me a hint or the notion it carries?

Thank you very much


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## mosletha

Well, I'm not convinced this really is Norwegian. But if it is Norwegian, the only thing I can think of is that it is an (incorrect) plural form of the (incorrect) verb _snilling_, which would mean "one who is kind". The "correct" plural is _snillinger_, and its antonym would be _slemming_ (one who is mean). These words are used almost exclusively by young children. 

So I would translate it as: 

"Eventually, some nice children (?) changed their minds."

But again, this might not be Norwegian at all.


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## Segorian

The form does indeed seem to be wrong, at least if this is supposed to be Norwegian.



> I had found "genius" but it doesn't fit in that context.


 Could you perhaps provide us with some of that context?


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## Paquito2910

Good morning,

There is the whole story: I am actually checking this translation so it is already in French and I don't have the original text.  What I know is that the text was written by Bruce Bawer who lived in Oslo when he wrote this book about the rise of Fundamentalism in Europe, specially in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Netherland. 

The term _snillingere _appears in the paragraph about Norway. It says that Norway is balanced between a blind Swedish multiculturalism and a new Danish reform spirit. Then, it says that few _snillinger_ eventually changed their minds. What follows is a list of people reacting more or less differently regarding immigration and Islam. The people cited are Petter Skauen, Gry Larsen, Berit Thorbjornsrud and Thomas Hylland Eriksen. 

Maybe the translator misspelled the word or it's not Norwegian...

When I googled it, the first result was a Norwegian - French translation dictionary that did not help (that's why I'm here). It also came with _snillinger _and_ snillingur_ (from Icelandic: genius). Given the positions of the people mentioned in the text, I had thought some weaker synonym of genius would work but not sure.

Thank you, have a nice day.


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## raumar

The context explains it: Mosletha is right -- "snilling" would mean "one who is kind". It has nothing to do with "genius" (which is "geni" in Norwegian). 

Bruce Bawer thinks that many Norwegians are too kind and generous towards foreigners, especially Muslims. He presumably uses "snilling" as some kind of derogatory term for those Norwegians, more or less like the English term "do-gooder".


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## Ogago

First of all, it is not a Swedish word, and if it is it doesn't follow Swedish grammar. We can rule out a Swedish origin.

When I googled "snillinger" it gave me a lot of hits from the Norweigan language, mostly meaning "kind people", not only children. Like "Jeg trenger hjelp til fliser på kjøkkenet, snillinger".


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## Paquito2910

Thank you all!


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## Cerb

You should find a lot of hits on "snillisme" which I assume "snillinger" is derived from. It fits the context and was more widely used from the 70s and into the early 90s. The wikipedia article doesn't give a very good description in my opinion, but it does have to do with being too nice due to naivety and letting something that should have been confronted pass.

If it's a good or accurate term to describe the situation you are reading about is of course another question entirely. It does give me some associations to how "socialist" is used as slander in American politics, but it's not really considered that extreme. It has still become a pretty loaded term due to being (mis)used to label any liberal opinion on immigration however.


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## Havfruen

I googled the term "snillingere" and came across an article in Norwegian reviewing a book by Bruce Bawer which may be the same one Paquito is translating: http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentarer/article1301741.ece#.UvHv2LS2xTE It specifically mentions several errors in the text, including the misspelling of "snillinger" as "snillingere":

"Boken skjemmes også av feil, som å kalle Nobelinstituttets direktør Geir  Lundestad for journalist, snillister for "snillingere", Åslaug Haga for  Åslaug "Haug", Erling Borgen for "Erlend" Borgen, og å påstå at Hilde  Haugsgjerd ("Haugsjerd") har vært redaktør i Klassekampen, hvilket hun  ikke har."

My translation follows:
The book is also marred by errors, like calling the Nobel Institute Director Geir Lundestad a journalist, spelling "snillinger" as "snillingere," Aslaug Haga as Åslaug "Haug", Erling Borgen as "Erlend" Borgen, and asserting that Hilde Haugsgjerd ("Haugsjerd") has been editor of Klassekampen, which she has not.


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## Segorian

> spelling "snillinger" as "snillingere,"


 Just to point out that the Norwegian text says '"*snillister*" as "snillingere,"'.


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