ajabaja

Swedish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unknown; debated. First attested in 1952. Hypothesised to be older and may have evaded written form due to a status as basilectal or vulgar – cf. bajs (“feces”). Possibly compound of the common human warning signal "ajajaj..." plus baj (“punishing call”) as in "watch out! do not do that!", alteratively baj (“filth”) as in "watch out! filth!".[1]

Interjection

ajabaja

  1. (colloquial, to children) No, you are not allowed to do that!; punishing call; tut tut, tsk tsk
    Ajabaja!
    Do not do that!
    Ajabaja, inget godis före maten!
    Put that down, no candy before dinner!
    • 1952 May 18, Dagens Nyheter, page 12:
      […] effekter och upprepade lustigheter av typen ”Ajabaja, du!"
      […] effects and repeated jests of the kind "Tut-tut, you!"
    • 2011 April 7, Annika Persson, “Hilton stäms – behöll juveler värda 400 000 [Hilton sued – kept jewellery worth 400,000]”, in Aftonbladet:
      Ajabaja. Paris Hilton lämnade aldrig tillbaka lånade smycken och är nu stämd.
      Tsk-tsk. Paris Hilton never returned the borrowed jewellery and is now being sued.
    • 2022 September 14, Nellie Pilsetnek, “Camilla Läckbergs vinutmaning på Instagram fälls av RO [Camilla Läckberg's wine challenge on Instagram ruled against by the Advertising Ombudsman]”, in Resumé:
      Camilla Läckberg får ajabaja av RO som tycker att författaren borde ha reklammärkt ett inlägg om vin på Instagram
      Camilla Läckberg gets a “now, now” from the Advertising Ombudsman, which finds that the author should have labelled a wine-related Instagram post as advertising.

See also

  • baj (“fecal, filth, punishing call”)

References

  1. ^ Henrik Rosenkvist (4 November 2019) “Så tar barnen plats i språket”, in Språket‎[1], SR P1, retrieved 28 September 2021: “14 minutes, 15 seconds”
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