Words by

The Reykjavík Grapevine and Andie Sophia Fontaine

Photo by

Art Bicnick

The word of the issue this issue is sko. This is a tricky one to translate directly. Some Icelanders use it to punctuate the end of a sentence, some use it to punctuate a phrase within a sentence. It’s less a word than a point of emphasis: you will frequently hear Icelanders pepper their speech with this word, in much the same manner that English speakers might use “like” or “so.”

Used in a sentence:
“Þeir fara sko ekki í þetta. Það er alveg á hreinu.” (“They are so not getting into this. That is quite clear.”)