More Jelling Stones graffiti: Gelwane the Second and Web mining (original) (raw)

More Jelling Stones graffiti: Gelwane the Second and Web mining

Posted on February 18, 2011 Updated on May 30, 2016

I have previously written about the UNESCO World Heritage Jelling Stones graffiti vandalism. The graffiti appeared not only on the famous old stones but also on more mundane targets and in different colors. New graffiti also appeared on the mens toilet in the train station of Vejle at 1:25 Sunday night. This graffiti involved an image of a penis, the word “GELWANE” (or “GELWAN E”) and the letter “E” as well as the word P.E.R.K.e.r (derogative of middle easterns) also in green. In that case the police has found a can of spray paint. Also reported was that the words “Money over bitchez” appeared with media reporting that this was a clothing brand

Graffiti artists take no responsibility for the act, denouncing it strongly, and the enigmatic graffiti has led to a lot of speculation on the Internet with news media and police requesting people to contact them if they know anything.

I (as well as others I presume) have Web mined for clues. Wordnik gave nothing on “gelwane” or “gelwan”. English Wiktionary doesn’t give much either: gel (a jelly? Turkish imperative of “come”?) wane (decreasing?)… Some have pointed to “gel wane” in Kudish means “people” and “lesson”. So are we dealing with a Kurdish speaking person who want to give the people a lesson? Or a lesson from the people? Probably not.

Based on different information on the Web (Facebook and blogs) I concluded:

So we might be dealing with a fairly young guy from Jelling, not good at spelling, inexperienced in graffiti and in the possession of a PlayStation Portable (or related apparatus) and the Final Fantasy Tactic game with nothing else to do on a Friday evening.

Based on the “Money over bitchez” tag I would add that the young perpetrator has an interest in rap music (if the train station graffiti is made by the same person). “P.E.R.K.e.r” would indicate that he is a bit of a racist.

Now the latest news is that they have found the vandal. It is a 15-year old local boy. Whether he is a rap appreciator and the owner of a PlayStation is not revealed.

(spelling correction: 18. February 2011)

This entry was posted in society and tagged graffiti, jelling.