# Swedish / Danish: Slipsnisse/Slipsedreng



## pickarooney

Hi,

I'm working on translating some subtitles (for the Danish TV show 'Dicte' if anyone knows it). It's just a hobby project, nothing important, and I'm translating from a Swedish source, itself translated from Danish, so perhaps not ideal.

Anyway, I'm stuck on this term 'slipsnisse' which comes up a few times and I can't quite grasp the concept. I get that it's a kind of pejorative term for someone who wears a suit and tie, but what exactly that entails escapes me. Can anyone help with the following couple of lines? They're discussing an old case where a robber was convicted on his own confession and someone in the courtroom found out exactly how he committed the crime and copied it years later.

_Tror du nån slipsnisse som han kan ha gjort det? De tjänar ju massor.
Man vet aldrig.
Man kan inte lita på nån. Min fru stack med en riktig slipsnisse.
_
I think in the first line it's referring either to the lawyers or jurors but in the second case I'm not sure, especially the 'riktig' bit as 'a right lawyer' or 'a real suit-wearing guy' doesn't make any sense. It would probably help if I could get hold of the Danish source text, so I'll have a hunt for that.

Cheers
P


----------



## Ben Jamin

I understand the word "slipsnisse" (bloke with a tie) as pejorative term for "bourgoisie", upper middle class, upper class, lawyers, finance people, snobs, all the classes that are not "common people" (folket, arbeidsfolket).


----------



## pickarooney

I was thinking just of 'a suit' but I'm not sure it has the same implication. Thanks for clarifying though, at least I know what it means now.


----------



## Wilma_Sweden

Ben Jamin summed it up well. It's often use pejoratively about any class of white-collar worker when the 'suit' in question is out of their depth, such as on a farm or in the forest ("Haha, look at those suits, getting hysterical because they stepped in a cowpie!"  I don't know which Danish term was used. You'll just have to try to think of some suitable pejorative term in English! And of course you despise them because they lure honest women away with heaps of money, shiny cars, pressed suits, after-shave etc...  That would be a "right slipsnisse" indeed, the worst kind!

In Swedish folklore, nisse is a term for a farm elf or house elf. They were usually benign helpers as long as they were fed and respected properly, and if not, they got up to some serious mischief. Subsequently the term was also applied to Santa's helpers. In restaurants (in the good old days), the most junior ranking apprentice waiter got the job title "smörgåsnisse" ("sandwich elf"). 

At the same time, Nisse is also a nickname for someone called Nils, in this case it is not pejorative.


----------



## bicontinental

pickarooney said:


> I was thinking just of 'a suit' but I'm not sure it has the same implication.



_A suit_ is a perfect translation for the derogatory term _en slipsenisse_. 
Bic.


----------



## DerFrosch

bicontinental said:


> _A suit_ is a perfect translation for the derogatory term _en slipsenisse_.
> Bic.


So "_slipsenisse_" actually exists in Danish?


----------



## bicontinental

DerFrosch said:


> So "_slipsenisse_" actually exists in Danish?



I really can’t tell you how common it is in Danish... I personally have not heard it used, and a Google search gives just a few positive results; it’s possible it could be in cases of Swedish ‘influence’. But based on the context and the explanations it would be what we would typically call ‘a suit’ in English. 

Bic.


----------



## DerFrosch

Sorry, but I'm not quite following you... We don't know which term was used in Danish – the explanations in this thread concerns the Swedish word "_slipsnisse_".


----------



## piccando

I have never heard "slipsenisse" used and I don't think it exists in Danish. The derogatory term used in Danish is "slipsedreng".


----------



## Wilma_Sweden

Thanks, piccando! As has been mentioned earlier, the question was about the Swedish term *slipsnisse* in a translation from Danish, and the OP didn't know which Danish word was used originally, but presumably it would have been 'slipsedreng'.


----------



## Mellanmannen

Hi there

I wouldn't say "a suite" is quite equal to "slipsedreng" and "slipsnisse", since those are diminishing. "Dreng" means boy and "nisse" is also something small (like one of Santa's little helpers would be "Tomtenisse"). Having said that I don't know if there is a better translation.


----------



## Wilma_Sweden

bicontinental said:


> ...based on the context and the explanations it would be what we would typically call ‘a suit’ in English.






Mellanmannen said:


> Hi there
> 
> I wouldn't say "a suite" *suit* is quite equal to "slipsedreng" and "slipsnisse", since those are diminishing. "Dreng" means boy and "nisse" is also something small (like one of Santa's little helpers would be "Tomtenisse"). Having said that I don't know if there is a better translation.



I don't think this makes much difference, the use of diminishing terms serves as an insult and makes the term pejorative. Since it has already been confirmed by a native English speaker, I am inclined to accept 'suit' as an appropriate equvialent of 'slipsnisse'/'slipsedreng'.


----------



## Mellanmannen

Wilma_Sweden said:


> I don't think this makes much difference, the use of diminishing terms serves as an insult and makes the term pejorative. Since it has already been confirmed by a native English speaker, I am inclined to accept 'suit' as an appropriate equvialent of 'slipsnisse'/'slipsedreng'.



Yeah, sorry 'bout the spelling, my fingers are faster than my brain (doesn't take much...). I'm sure "suit" is fine. It is to my knowledge also the best alternative. I'm just saying it's not quite the same, there's a slight difference in what the insult implies (empty shell/somewhat inhuman as opposed to someone small and ridicolous, or something like that, anyway that's how I interpret it). 

I'm not questioning your translation, just clarifying for any non-Swedish folks that might be interested.


----------

