Poop needy?
Today I woke up with a slight hangover accompanied by that angst tinged feeling of trepidation that often follows a night of drinking. In Sweden we call that “bakfylleångest”.
One of the biggest differences between Swedish and English is that you can easily create new words in the former by simply putting two words together.
For example, “having to go to the toilet to do number two” has got one single word for it in Swedish: bajsnödig. It’s constructed of the words “poo” (“bajs”) and the adjective form of “need” (“nödig”). The result also doubles as an analogy for “having a stick up ones arse”.
This way of constructing words is the origin of “bakfylleångest”. (On another note, that angst is partly a result of chemical processes that alcohol starts in the body.) The word is created by taking “hangover” (“bakfylla”) and adding “angst” (“ångest”).
I’ve cured my bakfylleangst with two Advil and a shopping spree in Woodbury Common.
