not only its sharkey instance seems to be affected, but also its lemmy instance …

  • @Lost_My_Mind
    link
    English
    193 days ago

    I still don’t know what a blahaj is. It sounds like someone tried to ask for a blowjob, but had a stroke midword.

    • It’s Swedish(?) for “blue shark.” I don’t know how, or why, but Ikea started selling stuffed blue sharks and they got incredibly popular in the trans community and is like their mascot.

    • southsamurai
      link
      fedilink
      English
      29
      edit-2
      3 days ago

      Blahaj is a shark.

      More specifically a stuffed shark plushie sold by IKEA.

      The word supposedly means blue shark, or shark in Swedish, but I don’t speak the language, so take that as you will.

      Also supposedly, the shark being a rather gentle pastel blue and pink, which matches the trans flag, it became a favorite symbol within segments of the trans community, a sort of mascot. While I can’t guarantee that’s why it became a symbol, it is definitely popular among the trans community. Enough so that I don’t know any trans people irl that don’t partake in the knowledge and joke of it, and we’re half a day’s drive from the nearest IKEA store.

      It’s a fairly popular gift for trans folks that are coming out, or making a significant step in transition, or even just because.

    • kate
      link
      fedilink
      English
      43 days ago

      shark pillow from ikea. he is soft and he loves hugs

    • palordrolap
      link
      fedilink
      93 days ago

      Well, it is pronounced “blow high” (or something pretty close). And to continue the fun facts, English used to have the word “haye” which is related to the Swedish word, but we stopped using it in favour of “shark”. Since it sounds like a greeting (as does “high” for that matter) as well as a common feedstock for animals (hay), we’d probably use the alternative “hayefish”, with or without the ‘e’, if we hadn’t dropped it altogether.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        6
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        In Dutch, “haai” (shark) sounds very similar to “hi” (the English word), same for “hooi” (hay) and “hoi” (hi). Which leads to this hilarious comic I saw once where a shark meets a bale of hay edit: somehow I typed bay of hale