# Slovenian: The meaning of Let YU-985 in Jani Kovačič's song



## sokol

Hello all,

an All languages thread about how to read years brought up the memory of Jani Kovačič's song "Let YU-985" where, as I think I read in a songtext book then (unfortunately, not available to me anymore), "985" is _*not *_a flight number but actually supposed to mean "1985" (the song itself being a metaphor for the troubled times old Yougoslavia went through then, with hyperinflation and economic crisis).

In the song it is sung (in Slovenian) "(Let YU) devet-osem-pet", but of course this style of reading years is definitely not Slovenian.
Here two lines; note that the song is _not sung in standard language_ but colloquial speech of Ljubljana, but these lines are fairly standard:

Let YU-devet-osem-pet (Flight YU-985)
Je let proti bolši svet (Is a flight towards a better world/ (metaphorically) future)
(Unfortunately, I couldn't find the lyrics online.)
 
This should suffice to make clear that "let" is used in a metaphorical way. It isn't however _entirely _clear (from the text alone) that 985 should refer to the year 1985; that interpretation is only based on my memory, and also on confirmation of a Carinthian Slovene native speaker who knew the old Yougoslav state (that was in the 1990ies) - who (I think, if I remember correctly) said that this - 985 = 1985 - were Serbian.

(Note: "leto" means "year" in Slovenian, so this might also involve a play on words with "let = flight"; "leto = year" however only is changed to "let" in genitive dual and plural - so no exact match, unless there were dialects where "let = year" would be possible in nominative.)

*So my question:* is this true - is/was this used: 985 = 1985, and is it Serbian? (Or am I becoming senile? )

I guess now that we are in the 2000's it wouldn't be much used anyhow, but probably someone of the more senior members still remember this.

Thank you very much in advance!


----------



## Diaspora

I'm not exactly sure how to answer this but I''ll try.

Let YU-devet-osem-pet (Flight YU-985)
Je let proti bolši svet 

In Serbian:

Let YU devet osam pet
Je let prema boljem svetu.

In Serbian it's os*a*m but in Slovene it's os*e*m.

Sometimes, we do not say "hiljada" (thousand) infront instead we just say "osam deset pete" (85-ete). Or more rare 985. In music when singing and in casual talk, sounds in the beginning have a tendecy to be chopped off.

I hope this helps you find the answer.


----------



## Duya

Yes, the answer has everything to do with language economy, i.e. the tendency to drop elements perceived as redundant, and little with language syntax...

As Diaspora said, a common way to refer to a recent year is by last two digits only, i.e. "osamdeset pete". A formal way is to use full number ("hiljadu devetsto osamdeset pete"). Using only last 3 digits in colloquial speech is possible, but far from common; I could imagine it used for distant years, e.g. when speaking of 19/20th century turn: "Prvi svetski rat je počeo devetsto četrnaeste", but seldom for contemporary period. If it's needed to fit the meter of the song, that's also ok I suppose. (Well, this particular turn of the millenium is an exception, because it's normally spelled out full, i.e. "dve hiljade devete" because of possible ambiguity).

But again, I don't see it as anything special to Serbian, or BCS in general, and I don't see why it wouldn't be possible in Slovenian, or any language which uses <thousands><hundreds><last-two-digits> format for years. And I strongly doubt that it was "imported" from BCS into Slovenian because it's not particularly common way to refer to years.


----------



## stargazer

Hello, Sokol,

My guess is the author omitted "1" in "1985" for two reasons:
- so it wouldn't be too obvious what he was talking about (he could have been prosecuted if he had been too offensive toward the state/government/etc).
- because the additional two syllables in "ena" (=1) would mess with the metre of this song/poem.

Take care.


----------



## stargazer

Hello, Sokol,

Ignore my previous answer, because it's wrong. My father has just told me (and now I remember it myself) that 985 was a telephone number for anonymous tips on people who committed some anti-government/anti-state act, basically, a telephone number for informers.
If you're interested in the lyrics, let me know, I'll send you a copy. (Also available in Jani Kovačič's _Tretje oko_, a compilation of the lyrics to his songs, published in 1994).

Take care.


----------



## Duya

stargazer said:


> Hello, Sokol,
> 
> Ignore my previous answer, because it's wrong. My father has just told me (and now I remember it myself) that 985 was a telephone number for anonymous tips on people who committed some anti-government/anti-state act, basically, a telephone number for informers.



985 was the number of the _Centar za obaveštavanje (obavješćivanje) i uzbunjivanje_ (Information and alarm center). As far as I know, it had nothing to do with tipping off, but it was used to report occurrences of major disasters. I think that it was replaced with 112 in Croatia, but it is still used in Serbia (due to be also replaced with common European number 112).

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...+obavestavanje+i+uzbunjivanje+985&btnG=Search


----------



## sokol

Thank you all very much for your input!
(Also thanks for the translation though that wasn't my original question. )

This here:


Duya said:


> Using only last 3 digits in colloquial speech is possible, but far from common; I could imagine it used for distant years, e.g. when speaking of 19/20th century turn: "Prvi svetski rat je počeo devetsto četrnaeste", but seldom for contemporary period.


is exactly what I meant: 914 = 1914. (The wording in that Slovenian song of course is different as it is 9-8-5 while here you say "devetsto" = 900 + "četrnaest" = 14 -> 914 -> equals 1914.)

This is not possible in Slovenian for all I know, except that it is used in this song by Kovačič.

It is true that he might have done this purely to fit the meter of the song; but also note that the song was written in the mid-1980ies (sorry, I should have mentioned this earlier: it was on the Album "je'bent", 1987 - but probably written one or two years earlier): this was a time when Serbo-Croatian culture was much more present in Slovenia than it is now.
(Also, YU-rock was quite popular in Slovenia then.)

Whatever - we have now two theories : that this is due to the meter, and that it might be a BCS loan.


----------



## stargazer

Hello, everyone,

Well, you may believe what you will, but the text under the lyrics in a previously mentioned compilation, written by Jani Kovačič himself, speaks about informers. Those were different times and this telephone-line-for-reporting-catastrophes was just a front. (More importantly, the lyrics to this song are about informing.) To some extent, you are right: this line was set up for people to report fires, floods, etc., but it was also used for informing. It was a kind of an open secret.

Take care.


----------



## sokol

Hello stargazer,

for some reason I've missed your post above.*) 
So it's a phone number, and about informers. Sorry for the confusion, guys. (I'll change the thread title.) Obviously I've been wrong all the time; his texts are somewhat different to understand for me (plenty of colloquialisms).

(PS: I do own the CD, Tretje uho; I should have tried harder understanding the lyrics.)


*) Look at the timestams - we were cross-posting, that's why I missed it first.


----------



## Duya

stargazer said:


> Hello, everyone,
> 
> Well, you may believe what you will, but the text under the lyrics in a previously mentioned compilation, written by Jani Kovačič himself, speaks about informers. Those were different times and this telephone-line-for-reporting-catastrophes was just a front. (More importantly, the lyrics to this song are about informing.) To some extent, you are right: this line was set up for people to report fires, floods, etc., but it was also used for informing. It was a kind of an open secret.
> 
> Take care.



Well OK, I stand corrected . I did sort of wonder why they set up that number, when it's more logical to call firemen or police in case of a disaster... But I was young then...


----------

