The Icelandic Brilliance of “Nenna”
One of my favorite aspects of traveling and immersing myself in new cultures is learning words in other languages that sum up entire philosophies and moods but have no literal translations in English. On a recent trip to Iceland, I was introduced to the Icelandic brilliance of “nenna.”
I was in Reykjavik to do a presentation for some college students, and even though it was the middle of summer, it was only 39 degrees and fiercely windy outside. After finishing my presentation, a few students invited me to continue the conversation over lunch at a restaurant about five blocks away. They were putting on their coats, hats, and gloves (in the middle of summer!!), and I hesitated as I considered the invitation. I wanted to go to lunch with them but did not want to battle the bitter cold.
One of the students laughed at my hesitation and said, “Ah, nenna or no, eh?” When I looked at him in confusion, he tried to explain what “nenna” meant. “Nenna is a vibe. It’s a mood. It’s when you don’t want to do something, but you will do it because it’s important or because someone asks you. You nenna something when you will do it but you are making it clear that you don’t really want to do it.” Another student chimed in, “If you don’t nenna it, you are saying don’t even bother asking you because even if you want to and you can, you won’t.”
“You nenna the walk meaning you can do the walk in the cold, but you don’t want to walk in the cold, but you will do it because you want to go to the lunch,” explained yet another student who joined the conversation.
“So, what if I say I don’t nenna the walk?” I asked. They all laughed, and one of them said, “If you say you don’t nenna, that’s like saying don’t f’ing ask you to do it even though you can but you won’t.”
“If I say I nenna walk to lunch, I’m communicating that I want to go to lunch, but I don’t want to bother with the walk, but I’ll do the walk, but I want you all to understand that I really don’t want to do the walk,” I summarized. They nodded.
That’s absolutely brilliant! With just one word, you can communicate your mood, desire, willingness, and irritation about an action. More importantly, the Icelandic focus is not on all the stuff you feel about doing something; it’s about the fact that people can count on you to do it regardless of how you feel about doing it. As we walked to lunch (yes, I nenna walked to lunch), we talked about the importance of community in Iceland and the specific importance of being able to rely on each other to get things done. “You are my neighbor. I can count on you to help me. I can also count on you to be cranky because it’s cold but I can count on you to do it,” explained one of the students as others nodded. “It’s about counting on people and accepting that people have bad moods and bad days, but they still will show up for you.”
“I nenna.” I will even if I don’t feel like it because I know it’s important to do it because you need me to do it. The phrase is deeply human, celebrating the ways in which we show up for each other and allowing us to be fully human while we do it.
