Fjortisar and Emos in school Posted by Katja on Jan 19, 2010 in Culture, Swedish Language, Vocabulary
During the last couple of years a term has entered the Swedish school, actually two. The first is “Fjortis” and the second “Emo”. Apart from starting endless fights, these terms have given many youths, who are searching for friends or themselves, a place to belong.
“Fjortis” originally comes from the Swedish word “fjortonåring” which means ‘fourteen year old’. It was used to describe the adolescent behavior of teenagers (tonåringar) a couple of decades ago and the term then progressed to a word which you would tease somebody with. Nowadays it has become something different; the English equivalent of the word would be an air head. A “Fjortis” is an airhead who has blonde hair, big breasts and is always thinking about being really thin. They are also stupid and have a shallow personality. This was at least the view a couple of years ago. That has changed somewhat because “Fjortisar” now have any colored hair, any sized breasts but usually follow fashion to 100% and can also be boys. You do not even have to be stupid, only act stupid. This has even progressed to calling certain kinds of music “Fjortis musik” and dressing in a certain way you can be classified as a “Fjortis” or “Emo”.
The term “Emo” comes from the English word emotional; an“Emo” is typically somebody who cuts themselves, wears goth-like clothing, lots of black make-up and is depressed, usually wanting to commit suicide. A common phrase heard in every junior high school is “Han/hon är Emo, kolla han/hon har kuttat sig själv!” This means “He/she is an Emo, look he/she has cut himself/herself!” (NOTE: Kuttat comes from the English verb to cut, after adding an a it becomes a commonly used verb. Sig själv literally means oneself, herself, himself or itself, but translated back and forth the best English word would be him-or-herself in this case.) By wearing certain clothes or make-up (smink) teenagers in high schools can be shouted after in corridors, and in some worst cases picked on or bullied etc.
A fear of being contaminated by a person with emo looks has become common! What does this say about understanding and empathy? How are youths going to become tolerant in adult society if they can pick somebody out from a crowd and say they hate them at the age of 13? This goes for not only teenagers but adults, although of course adults don’t behave quite this way, but there is still the disguised dislike for somebody who is different than you-
I doubt this is only occurring in Sweden… or is it?
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Comments:
Darcy:
Is fjortis like hipster?
dtsomp:
No, it’s not a Sweden-only phenomenon.
Greek kids seem to follow similar behaviour. “Trendies” (fashion trends followers) and emos often collide and sometimes there are even full-out street fights between teams of trendies and emos, much like the mods-rockers conflicts in the 60s.
katja:
Could you explain hipster? Like Hippie? More like air head…
Michael:
Katja, This is a language blog, and your entry is valuable for that, but I think you have said much more, and we have to recognize its value. Without being too dramatic, the questions you raise in your last paragraph are vital for all people no matter what language they speak. They really pertain to our entire world situation. Why are people hate (are afraid of) difference, and why do they not exercise compassion? The very fact that you are wondering this tells us about your character. Continue to ask and go with your best feelings. Yes, we are all the same underneath and hate wounds us all. Work against it.
doviende:
To me, fjortis doesn’t sound like hipster. While the definition of hipster seems to be fluid, the dominant ideas are that it’s someone who follows certain trends while thinking they’re a unique individual. Hipsters must know about certain obscure indy bands, must not wear well-known clothing labels, and must try to be intelligent. They pride themselves on being different than the mainstream, although the irony is that they tend to be rather similar to each other because they wear similar clothes, like all the same “obscure” bands, collect the same records (but only on vinyl), etc. Also hipsters make fun of the mainstream by doing certain “ironic” things, like wearing a foam-and-mesh cap that says “John Deere”, which would normally indicate a red-neck farmer…or a belt-buckle that says “keep on truckin” for similar effect. I think the overall impression is that a Hipster tries too hard to be different, but ultimately tends to conform to another stereotype.
Hipster is unrelated to hippie.
Luke (Sydney):
I would have been an emo in my youth had my parent been rich 😀
I think this happens to teens in all eras, let alone the boundary of borders…but a good post, Katja.
Gimena:
Ah hahaha. this reminds me of our loooong talks in Jokkmokk when they tried to explain the term “fjortis” to us 😛
Good times, good times 😀
katja:
Thank you Michel, nice to hear. I love to hear peoples responses to thoughts/questions, it seems to give a wider perspective of things.
Doviende, Thank you for that explanation, it helped clear a lot of things up. Though I am a native speaker I grew up in a country that didn’t speak English so I don’t have all the cultural terms. I definitively agree that the “hipster” fashion becomes really just as bad as “emo” or “fjortis” though maybe less harmful in some way if knowledge is valued. Though the prospect of hating somebody because they are different causes a lot of problems.
Gimena, have you lived in Jokkmokk? One of my friends family lives there. He says it is a wonderful place. What did you think?
Ebba:
Hipster and fjortis is not the same thing at all.