# Danish: altmuligmand/alt mulig mand



## Alxmrphi

Hi,

There's a video I'm watching, in Icelandic, but the title is in Danish and it is "Alt Mulig Mand", a funny video, in a sort of weird-superhero kind of thing, but not really. His superpowers include knitting lopapeysur, catching fish, changing babies, fixing cars, etc. Anyway, all I can read is "Everything possible man", but I know often Germanic compounds come into English as sounding quite odd, and we have a completely different way to express it.

So, I'm looking to see if there is a better translation anyone might be able to think of.

Alx


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## hanne

"alt muligt" basically translates as "anything", all sorts of things. So an "altmuligmand" (one word, I'll fix the thread title) is a man who does all sorts of things, odd jobs, a handyman kind of guy.


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## sendintheclowns

"Jack-of-all-trades" is a common term used to describe such people, although it sometimes has a slightly negative connotation because of the continuation "...but master of none."


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## Alxmrphi

hanne said:


> "alt muligt" basically translates as "anything", all sorts of things. So an "altmuligmand" (one word, I'll fix the thread title) is a man who does all sorts of things, odd jobs, a handyman kind of guy.



But the original source wasn't one word, it was all separated, as the vid title, in the introduction, and on the gravestone in the middle of it.
Maybe best to add "/ Alt Munig Mand" ?


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## sendintheclowns

Alxmrphi said:


> But the original source wasn't one word, it was all separated, as the vid title, in the introduction, and on the gravestone in the middle of it.
> Maybe best to add "/ Alt Munig Mand" ?



Ah, I see ... so it has a double meaning. That's very clever! And quite impossible to translate...


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## Alxmrphi

sendintheclowns said:


> Ah, I see ... so it has a double meaning. That's very clever! And quite impossible to translate...



Hey! What's the double meaning?


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## sendintheclowns

Alxmrphi said:


> Hey! What's the double meaning?



Oh, that "altmuligmand" means jack of all trades (i.e. somebody who fixes things and takes care of stuff, or possibly somebody who dabbles in a lot of things, like art, music, cooking and geology for example), while "Alt Mulig Mand" could mean somebody for whom everything is possible. (Haven't seen the movie so I don't really know.) Maybe even "Everything's possible, man."


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## Alxmrphi

Ah, that's the answer I was looking for!! 
Thanks.

"The man that can do anything/everything" is how, I think it would be best put in English.


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## hanne

I think it was a plain error (splitting words that should be written in one is a common mistake), not an intended double meaning. I can't see "alt mulig mand" being intended to mean a man for whom everything is possible.


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## hanne

Well, I've seen the video (thanks for the PM Alex), and it does look like it's supposed to have the meaning of "everything's possible" (more instead of, than in addition to the handyman meaning, in my opinion).

I still think it's an odd joke though, and I don't think a native speaker would have come up with it (the author of this story line is apparently Icelandic, so it's quite likely that his Danish wasn't native). To sound "right" in Danish, I think the word should have been "alt-er-muligt-manden" - leaving out the verb just sounds off to me. Then of course we'd lose the (probably intended?) play on altmuligmand.

I'm sure some other Dane will be around and offer another opinion in a while.


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## sendintheclowns

...and as I pointed out (I don't know why my message was deleted, it must have been the youtube link) the tombstone says: "Alt Mulig Mand. Hann var þúsundþjalasmiður." The subtext means "He was a jack of all trades" in Icelandic. So I'm also sure there was a double meaning there.


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## brikken

hanne said:


> I'm sure some other Dane will be around and offer another opinion in a while.



Okay, I'll do that. I see the double meaning in this, and I don't think it's completely off native language. I know it's incorrect to spell it in three words instead of one, but that's what you would classify under artistic freedom.

He's definitely an altmuligmand, with all the stuff he knows how to do. But considering all the events in the video, everything is possible with him around as well. So I give it a 98% native double meaning seal of approval


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## hanne

brikken said:


> Okay, I'll do that. I see the double meaning in this, and I don't think it's completely off native language. I know it's incorrect to spell it in three words instead of one, but that's what you would classify under artistic freedom.


It's not so much the spaces in the word that bother me, it's the lack of a -t and a verb. The desired meaning is "alt-er-muligt" - with the -t and -er- missing, I think the phrase becomes so ungrammatical that it loses sense.

I also don't really think he's an "altmuligmand" - that's usually more to do with practical (male) jobs in my book - fixing cars and building houses and the like, but not changing diapers .

I guess all of the connections are just too far-stretched for my taste.


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## NoMoreMrIceGuy

I can see the lack of the -t, but is the lack of a verb really make this phrase unnatural? Isn't there just a subtle difference?

Alt er muligt mand/Everything is possible man, meaning no task is unperformable by this man.

Alt muligt mand/Everything perceivable man, meaning the guy can take every perceivable role.

At least when I translate it into Icelandic my brain is seeing a clear difference between the two ways I've written it.


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## swellbox

Alxmrphi said:


> Hi,
> 
> There's a video I'm watching, in Icelandic, but the title is in Danish and it is "Alt Mulig Mand", a funny video, in a sort of weird-superhero kind of thing, but not really. His superpowers include knitting lopapeysur, catching fish, changing babies, fixing cars, etc. Anyway, all I can read is "Everything possible man", but I know often Germanic compounds come into English as sounding quite odd, and we have a completely different way to express it.
> 
> So, I'm looking to see if there is a better translation anyone might be able to think of.
> 
> Alx



The only correct form of the Danish word is "altmuligmand" ( in one word), and the corresponding English term is "factotum".


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## swellbox

Icelanders would probably say "handyman"


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## Alxmrphi

swellbox said:


> The only correct form of the Danish word is "altmuligmand" ( in one word), and the corresponding English term is "factotum".



Never heard _factotum_ in my life


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