# Icelandic: sem að vit er í



## Alxmrphi

Hey all,

Taken from the lyrics for _Besti Flokkurinn_'s promotional video in the recent _kosningar_, there is a line that I am really struggling to get my head around:


 Við viljum borg sem flott sem er hrein og hlý,
 Og hágæða stöff sem að vit er í
 Ekki meira blöff, borgin mín hún þarf að vera töff,
 Við viljum gosbrunna, lestir og alls konar dýr.
 
 We want a city that is great, clean and *warm,
And high quality stuff sem að vit er í.
No more bluff, my city has to be tough,
We want fountains, trains, and all kinda of animals.​
The subtitled translation for that line is "_And topnotch stuff as a general rule_" but it's easy to see the English translated is (at times) with, well, actually it's not translated, they've made up a new rhyme that has nothing to do with the Icelandic, so I don't think I can believe this.

Another Icelander (hi sindri) suggested "which makes sense", but I wanted to look into the literal structure of the phrase, what do these words mean independently? (Like, what function is *að *carrying out? / Is *vit* a noun or a verb? /* er í* just baffles me). Can anyone use this in 2/3 more example sentences so I can better understand it.

*The subtitles translate *hlý* as cool, but its literal meaning is warm. Is this referring to temperature? Or is it like we use "cool" in English to mean, _very good_?

Thanks

Alex


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## Silver_Biscuit

I think maybe *hlýr* means warm in the sense of being *friendly*, which has been rendered *cuddly* in the translation. I think *flott* is the word that's been translated as *cool*. 
But I was similarly baffled by 'sem að vit er í'. Maybe 'as far as there is wit in it', or 'as far as it is feasible/advisable'?


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## sindridah

Ok the most simple answer is, Lets say that i wanted a new car and i would want a very nice and fast car but not some old crap car then i would say "Mig langar í bíl sem að vit er í" I want some real stuff = Mig langar í eitthvað sem að vit er í, I think it's almost impossible to give an direct English translation.

But my personal best translation would be sem að vit er í = Something with much knowledge/cleverness in it

It is used as a metaphor in Icelandic to let that person know that you want a real product(?) wich could be a new car or a new nike or a new computer and so on...

I hope i make sense!


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## Alxmrphi

Hey Sindri,

It does make sense, but it's still quite confusing. I'm trying to think of the best way to express what it is and what it's not through examples rather than explanations (always clearer).
Can you give a sentence that someone might say when they want / need something, then something that _*is*_ sem að vit er í, and then something which is *not*?

Like maybe:

_Ég vil að lesa spennandi bók, (bók) sem að vit er í_.
(action novel = yes) ................ (newspaper = no)

Does that make sense? Could you give a few examples like that, just so it's easier to see exactly what it means.


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## sindridah

It's not so complicated as you think it is.

Ég vill fá orðabók sem að vit er í = i want a dictionary wich is very good / i want a dictionary wich has intelligence?? ( metaphor )

If you walk to a store in Iceland you can just choose wich lexis you wanna use, Lets say you wanted to buy a new laptop. You walk to the clerk with the intentions to let him know that you want a really good laptop, You say:

1. Ég vill fá einhverja almennilega ferðatölvu sem að vit er í

2. Ég vill fá einhverja mjög góða fartölvu

These two sentences has the exact same meaning.

Maður með gott "_vit_" is a man with a very good intelligence wich means something positive and good right?

So you want also something that you buy to be similar.

Maybe English example could be : I want some wicked laptop computer?

Where are the other Icelanders to help me out!!


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## Alxmrphi

Hey again...
Thanks for your explanation it's getting a bit clearer.

2 things about English though, you use the adjective intelligent with people, it's not a case of having _*an*_ intelligence (it's one of those adjectives where you don't use the _óákveðinn greinir_. You would say instead, _is intelligent_.....

Also, wicked = very cool

I wouldn't use_ wicked_ to describe a laptop unless it was informal and you wanted to say it was cool (like this laptop)

I think in English we'd actually just say, really good, (_thorough / detailed_ for a dictionary) or for a laptop, hmm I don't know, but I know what you mean, if there is a cheap option of something, then *sem að vit er í ekki*. (is *ekki *in the right place?)

It's, a good quality (hágæða) object, not some tacky useless thing that will break / fall to pieces.

Am I right?


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## sindridah

Yes exactly

Sem að ekkert vit er í


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## Alxmrphi

sindridah said:


> Yes exactly
> 
> Sem að ekkert vit er í



Ahhh gotcha!


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## kepulauan

After a little thinking I suppose we can say that it is the same idiom as 'make sense'. Both have rather obscure literal meanings:
_Vit er í = _has intelligence residing in it?
_make sense_ = create understanding?

Maybe another common use will clarify, solving a problem:

I'm adding values to a spreadsheet manually. But there are hundreds of rows to fill in. After the first fifty I say _„það er ekkert vit í þessu“ / „það er ekkert vit í að halda þessu áfram“ - 'there is no sense in doing this' / 'it makes no sense to continue this way'_ and so I look for a mathematical method.

Er eitthvað vit í því sem ég sagði? - Does what I just said make any sense?


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## Alxmrphi

Good example of usage (the spreadsheet one).
I think the clouds of obscurity are beginning to dissolve 

So in the example in question, it means high quality stuff that makes sense to have, not like really random high quality things, but of essential things?


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## kepulauan

Something like that yes. It seems to be more akin to the Sindri's sports car, the city is supposed to be trendy.

At least it works, but there might be some instances where it doesn't (substituting with 'make sense' that is).


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