''Hatten är din'' (
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
for "The hat is yours") is an
Internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
from 2000. It is a
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
animation featuring the music of
Lebanese musician Azar Habib; the name of the song playing is "Miin Ma Kenti". The animation prominently features a hat, Swedish text, and an assortment of bizarre imagery.
Origin
In 1981, Habib recorded "Miin Ma Kenti" (Whoever you are), also known as "Habbaytek"/"Habbeetik" (I Loved You, or I Fell In Love With You) in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
for his ''Ya Malaki'' album; the tape eventually made its way to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. Nineteen years later, Swedes Patrik Nyberg, Johan Gröndahl and Pet Bagge noticed that the lyrics sounded like Swedish. With this in mind, they published an mp3 file and a text file with the "misheard" lyrics on their website. Shortly after this, another Swede, Martin Holmström, decided to make a flash video of the song, which he published on his site. It has been seen by millions of people around the world.
Details
The Swedish "subtitles" are not a translation of the Arabic, but rather a
homophonic translation
Homophonic translation renders a text in one language into a near-homophonic text in another language, usually with no attempt to preserve the original meaning of the text. In one homophonic translation, for example, the English "sat on a wall" i ...
of the lyrics into Swedish,
resulting in outlandish
non sequiturs such as ''Limma skinkbit, cooligt'' (glue piece of ham, cool-ish) and ''Man kan knarka och hamna i TV'' (You can do drugs and end up on TV). From the contents of these lyrics the
deadpan
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blun ...
site presented a Swedish drinking game involving the passing around of hats, which was sometimes taken at face value by viewers.
The accompanying images of the animation are ostensibly
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
ern men in hats; one of those hats floating among a party of people, who appear to be dressed in traditional
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
or Middle Eastern clothing; and visualizations of the Swedish lyrics such as "cool guy with soda in hand" and "borrow the
LP 'Hatten är din' ".
Reception
The song became famous in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
and, according to Nyberg, was often played at drinking parties. Copies were made and sold without the creators' permission.
[ (in Swedish)] The ''
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
'' newspaper of
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
even sent a journalist to get an interview with Azar Habib. Habib was apparently surprised by this mutilation of his song and the craze that followed, but liked the idea.
In the English-speaking world, the animation was also known as "Hatt-baby".
[
]
See also
* Animutation
Animutation or fanimutation is a form of web-based computer animation, typically created in Adobe Flash and characterized by unpredictable montages of pop-culture images set to music, often in a language foreign to the intended viewers. It is not t ...
* Mondegreen
A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes w ...
* Soramimi
is a Japanese word that in the context of contemporary Japanese internet meme culture and its related slang is commonly used to refer to humorous homophonic reinterpretation, deliberately interpreting words as other similar-sounding words for co ...
References
External links
Everything2 Hatten är din page, includes English translation of Swedish "subtitles"
Even further background from ESC!Webs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatten Ar Din
Drinking songs
Internet in Sweden
Internet memes
Viral videos
Homophonic translation