Датское сленговое слово «røvsyg» означает «скучно до смерти»

What is røvsyg? An adjective formed from the words syg (‘sick’ or ‘ill’) and røv (‘arse/ass’), røvsyg (thankfully) does not indicate some kind of illness affecting the posterior. Instead, it is a very informal slang word for ‘bored’ or, to quote the dictionary, “extraordinarily boring”. A similar slang word, also used to mean ‘extremely bored’, is the equally graphic dødssyg, literally ‘death-bored’, although this can also be used in its literal and bleak sense to mean being so critically ill that your life is at risk. Why do I need to know røvsyg? We’ve previously written about the use of nouns in compound words to enforce regular adjectives. Røvsyg is an example of this and not the only one that deploys røv as the element that strengthens the meaning of the word. There’s also røvirriterende (‘very annoying’), røvkedelig (also ‘very boring’) and røvdårlig (‘very bad’) to give some examples. The latter can also be expressed in a shorter form, so to describe something as røv is to give a withering assessment of its merits. It can also be used in a positive sense: food and people alike can be described as røvlækker (‘very tasty’ or ‘very attractive’). One thing that sets røvsyg aside from these other examples is that it changes the meaning of the original adjective, from ‘sick’ to ‘boring’. Example sentences Jeg kan ikke se X-factor mere. Hvert afsnit er det samme, det er så røvsygt. I can’t watch X-factor anymore. Every episode is the same, it’s just incredibly boring. Ej, regner det igen? Det er for røvsygt. Oh no, is it raining again? What a drag.