#03

"I was taught that it was only knaves or fools who had ready answers for every question", (id: 170).

#02

“If someone asked how anyone was, we invariably replied: “Oh, he's fat enough” – which meant he was well, or, as they say in Denmark, that he was happy. If someone was not well, one said: “Oh, you can see it on him”; and if the person under discussion was more dead than alive, one said: “Oh, he's a bit low.” If someone was dying of old age, one said: “Yes, he's off he's food these days.” About someone who was on he's deathbed, it was said: “Yes, he's packing his bags no, poor fellow.” Of a mortally ill youngster it was said that it did not look as if he would ever have grey hairs to comb”, (Laxness, 2001: 48).

LAXNESS, Halldór (2001). The Fish Can Sing. Translation by Magnus Magnusson. London: The Harvill Press.