Word Of The Issue: Stranded Idiot

The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time

On the last Monday of September, many a traveller found themself either stuck in Iceland or stuck trying to get to Iceland because Icelandic low-fare airline PLAY announced they were bust. These people became, in Icelandic, strandaglópur, which is the go-to Icelandic term for being stranded or marooned somewhere. But what does that word really mean?

A 13th-century example of the word in use is taken from the saga of the Sturlungs, found in the context of a man who sees a boat he was supposed to be sailing on sailing away from the coast, making him a strandarglópur. The spelling here adds an -r to the word, and it means someone who is on the beach (strandar), staring (glópur/glápa) at something. The word is meant to emphasise that one is stranded or marooned, due to no fault of their own, staring at what should have been.

For many of those who travelled with PLAY, this is exactly the case. They became, through no fault on their part, marooned somewhere, many probably within Iceland. Sure, you can point out that PLAY’s financial problems in the past few months were no secret. But that news hardly made much impact outside of Iceland, thus leaving international travellers mostly unaware of the risks of buying flights with that airline.

Be that as it may, many Icelanders, well-versed in the Icelandic news cycle, also found themselves marooned somewhere when the airline became bankrupt. This writer included. It is harder to sympathise with those people who chose to fly with an airline in dire financial straits. But worry not. For those people, the word strandaglópur, can be applied too, even though etymologically the application is wrong. This is because the word glópur also means a fool or an idiot.

So if you were following the Icelandic news, and you nonetheless decided to buy a flight with PLAY, and if you did find yourself marooned for that reason, you alas, became a stranded idiot.

Learn more Icelandic words hér.