# Ask the person from a small, but not \*really\* tiny country (Norway) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 22, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653 "2012-02-22T19:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/41 "2012-02-23T16:46:14Z")
How widely is english spoken? If I were hiking in some of the wilder areas would I expect rangers or shop keepers to speak basic english (or better), or would I need to rely on learning enough of the language to get by? ---
**Author:** ![spankthecrumpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@spankthecrumpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spankthecrumpet)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/42 "2012-02-23T18:00:03Z")
> [@Septima](#): > > Ah, sorry then. I assumed you were American, that’s were those question usually come from. I admit I am in a slight minority in that I moved country because I hate tax so much. I view it as morally and ethically evil for a variety of reasons. Although I do understand that, pragmatically speaking, it seems to be the lesser evil - but I hope some day there is a way found to make it entirely voluntary. Just some figures for comparison here: A newspaper report on my country’s latest budget came out yesterday. The government spends £10,600 per head (men, women, children) of which £3070 goes on benefits, £1992 on health care (which here isn’t great but a lot of the serious stuff is done in the UK so it is subsidised to an extent) £1153 on Education… and those are the main bits. 44% of the revenue comes from value added tax and 36% from income tax. We do not have corporate tax here (well we do, but it’s 0% currently) and income tax is capped at £120k, and is 20%. VAT is 20%. That seems enough to me. Taxes are evil as I said, being fundamentally theft, and so it is important to minimise the evil as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![hildea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ebca7d/32.png) [@hildea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hildea)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/43 "2012-02-23T19:32:18Z")
Another Norwegian checking in 🙂 > [@GreenElf](#): > > And what’s your lefse recipe? Pick up a box of [ready-made lefse](http://www.vestlandslefsa.no/) at the supermarket, follow the directions on the box. > [@Odesio](#): > > How many people in Norway eat whale meat? There’s whale meat at the local supermarket, so I guess there must be some demand for it. But I don’t think it’s eaten very often – I remember having it for dinner as a kid (thirty-something years ago), but it wasn’t very good. > [@Odesio](#): > > How do Norwegians as a whole feel about whaling? Not very strong feelings. Perhaps a touch of “Those stupid foreigners are irrationally sentimental about whales.” (Somewhat related: I have a [personal conspiracy theory about why Norway started commercial whaling again](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3895862&postcount=45) 😃 ) > [@spankthecrumpet](#): > > Actually, why on earth do you put up with insane taxes anyway? Like the others who’ve posted here, I like the stuff that the taxes pay for, and I like being part of a society that ensures that everyone can get their basic needs covered. > [@spankthecrumpet](#): > > What in the mind of the average Norweigan (or yerself :D) most differentiates Norway from the other Scandinavian/Nordic countries? The webcomic “Scandinavia and the world” (made by a Dane) is pretty spot on, in my opinion. (Link warning: There’s a probably-not-safe-for-work drawing of sister Sweden in the sidebar.) Some of the best ones: [Here We Stand - Scandinavia and the World](http://satwcomic.com/here-we-stand) , [Mixed Feelings - Scandinavia and the World](http://satwcomic.com/mixed-feelings) , [Norway in Denmark - Scandinavia and the World](http://satwcomic.com/norway-in-denmark) , [Girl's Night - Scandinavia and the World](http://satwcomic.com/girl-s-night) > [@ralph124c](#): > > Why are you guys down on the Swedes? I guess we see Sweden a bit like a big brother. When we were younger he used to beat us up, but now we’ve got the oil and are filthy rich and he’s not - muhahahaha! The epitome of Norwegian sportsmanship is “The important thing isn’t to win, it’s to beat the Swedes.” > [@Wallenstein](#): > > How widely is english spoken? Very widely. Everybody (except maybe very old people) have learnt it in school. And lot of films, music, and computer games are in English, so we hear it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/44 "2012-02-23T19:57:25Z")
> [@spankthecrumpet](#): > > I admit I am in a slight minority in that I moved country because I hate tax so much […] I think you made your point well enough in your previous post. For the future, please note that this is the “Ask the Norwegian” thread, not another “Are taxes evil or good?” thread. Mmmkay? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/45 "2012-02-23T20:22:23Z")
This might not be just Norway, but why don’t you have drinking fountains? I never found a single one in my time there. What do Norwegians do, drink out of the bathroom faucet or pay US $5 for each bottle of water? Re: English. TIMEkspressen bus drivers sure can’t speak English. Hmm… I wonder if that isn’t intentional…? ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/46 "2012-02-23T20:49:56Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > This might not be just Norway, but why don’t you have drinking fountains? I never found a single one in my time there. What do Norwegians do, drink out of the bathroom faucet Yep, why not? It’s the same water. Or we fill our water bottle from the faucet instead of buying a new one. > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > or pay US $5 for each bottle of water? That, too. :smack: Some people are quite happy with paying 20NOK for a half liter bottle of water, but scream and whine about paying 15NOK for a liter of gasoline :smack: > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Re: English. TIMEkspressen bus drivers sure can’t speak English. Hmm… I wonder if that isn’t intentional…? Or just plain animosity towards the world in general and their passengers in particular :rolleyes: No, srsly, some Norwegians, particularly those with little or no education, don’t speak English. Even if they’ve been taught English from first grade in elementary school. But most of us, especially the young’uns, have a decent knowledge of English. These days, they start with English already in first grade. Then we’re taught a second foreign language (usually German, French or Spanish) from eight grade through tenth. If you attend the type of high school which prepares you for college[sup]\*)[/sup], you’ll have two foreign languages at least through your freshman year. [sup]\*)[/sup] We can choose between a high school preparing you for college or a high school training you for a job directly without college ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/47 "2012-02-23T21:09:32Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Re: English. TIMEkspressen bus drivers sure can’t speak English. Hmm… I wonder if that isn’t intentional…? Yeah. It’s not “can’t” so much as “won’t”, sometimes. Sort of like how Danes, when they figure out that I’m an American trying to speak Norwegian to them and understand their Danish, often try to be helpful by speaking slowly and distinctly, stopping to check that I’m following them, particularly with numbers. Then along comes my Norwegian husband and they fully expect the poor guy to understand every word of normal Danish, as he is, after all, a fellow Scandinavian 😃 About the water fountains: we have them at the high school where I teach. The buttons are broken on every single one of them. I’ve asked some of the more veteran teachers, and no one remembers when the dang things ever worked. The students bring bottles and fill them from the tap in the cafeteria. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/48 "2012-02-23T21:15:12Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Then along comes my Norwegian husband and they fully expect the poor guy to understand every word of normal Danish, as he is, after all, a fellow Scandinavian 😃 Well, it’s better than some Copenhageners I’ve encountered, who switch to English about two sentences into the conversation. :smack: I routinely explain politely that it’s quite OK if they speak Danish, because I understand Danish very well, but thanks for your concern anyway 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/49 "2012-02-23T21:51:24Z")
> [@hildea](#): > > The webcomic “Scandinavia and the world” (made by a Dane) is pretty spot on, in my opinion. (Link warning: There’s a **probably-not-safe-for-work drawing of sister Sweden** in the sidebar.) > [@ralph124c](#): > > Why are you guys down on the Swedes? > [@hildea](#): > > I guess we see Sweden a bit like a big brother. When we were younger he used to beat us up, but now we’ve got the oil and are filthy rich and he’s not … If that drawing is any indicator, you’d seem to have a very different reason for being down on the Swedes. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/50 "2012-02-23T21:55:29Z")
Anders Breivik was such a shock because I’ve regarded contemporary Scandinavia as relatively free of right-wing wingnuts. Have you detected an uptick in far-right crazytalk in Norwegian society in the past few years? What kind of relationship does contemporary Norwegian society have with Norse mythology? Does it play into any kind of national identity or is it so far removed that it seems like it’s from some other land? How about the same question applied to the Viking Age? * * * _I’m half Norwegian and my last name is a bastardization of [Sørum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8rum). Beyond that, I haven’t been able to uncover much about my roots._ ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/51 "2012-02-23T23:45:16Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > IMO, the best Norwegian rock and pop bands sing in Norwegian, so they have a limited audience abroad. But I can give a few samplers. Note that I’m an old fart, so I know less about contemporary Norwegian music than the oldies. And the era of decent Norwegian rock was more or less started by the “great four” of the 80s, _i.e._ Jokke, DumDum Boys, Raga and deLillos. > > … But the big thing among Norwegians is the vacation cabin or vacation house. At the sea, in the mountains or close to a winter resort. Sometimes it feels as if half of Norwegian households have two homes; the ordinary house/apartment and the vacation cabin/house. I haven’t even heard of any of the “great four”, so I’ll go through the list and see if there’s anything I may be interested in. Thanks for the links. I am very much into Garbarek and Terje Rypdal. Maybe you could help me with the pronunciation of those two since I listen to them quite often. Is it roop-dahl or rup-dahl or ripe-dahl? Also, do you pronounce “jeg” as rhyming with hi or with hay? I’m waiting for the new edition of Rypdal’s Odyssey album which will include the “Rolling Stone” song that was cut from the CD release. I’ve heard of those Norwegian vacation homes. Norway is the premier country for alpine sports, as can be seen every four years in the winter olympics. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/52 "2012-02-24T07:06:15Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > Anders Breivik was such a shock because I’ve regarded contemporary Scandinavia as relatively free of right-wing wingnuts. Have you detected an uptick in far-right crazytalk in Norwegian society in the past few years? We’re probably getting into IMHO territory here, but anyway: The Norwegian right wing party, “Fremskrittpartiet” (The Progress Party), has seen a steady increase in popularity since the early 90s. They have been playing the immigration/xenophobia card for a long time, probably getting some of the increased popularity from similar tendencies in the Norwegian society. That way, I guess that Norway isn’t particularly different from other Western European countries. And due to the law of averages and statistical variation, it’s natural that with increasing xenophobia we get more people sharing Breivik’s totally insane delusions. Breivik probably didn’t get his opinions in a vacuum. We had a surge of explicit neo-Nazi activity in the 80s (including some killings and attempts at terrorist bombings), but the Norwegian Police did very good work in breaking up those groups and preventing recruitment. The problem with today’s xenophobic nuttery is that it’s less visible to the ordinary policeman or politician. We only see it when nuts like Breivik appear, or when [young immigrants are killed in hate crimes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Benjamin_Hermansen). tl/dr version: IMO, yes. That typical Euro kind of right-wing nutttery has increased lately ☹ > [@B.Serum](#): > > What kind of relationship does contemporary Norwegian society have with Norse mythology? Does it play into any kind of national identity or is it so far removed that it seems like it’s from some other land? How about the same question applied to the Viking Age? It’s still a part of our national identity, but not a major part you can see every day. But historical artefacts like the Viking ships at Bygdøy are proudly displayed, we like to show them to tourists, and we’ve recently had a debate on the localization of that museum, being an important part of our national heritage. One problem we have with Norse mythology is that during WW2, the Nazi party of Norway tried very hard to appropriate those symbols. They managed to take the [sun cross](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_cross), which they used alongside the swastika and which is still seen as a Nazi symbol in Norway. Because of that history, we are somewhat reluctant to use our own national symbols and heritage. There’s always the risk of being seen as promoting Nazi sympathies. On the more tasteless side, there was a minor scandal last year (?), where it was discovered that Norwegian troops in Afghanistan had used “To Valhall!” as a battle cry before going out on patrols or into action. I guess you can see that as an indication that Norse mythology still lives at the bottom of some Norwegians’ minds. And with the history I told you about in the previous paragraph, you probably can understand why this wasn’t universally approved by Norwegian army authorities… > [@B.Serum](#): > > \*I’m half Norwegian and my last name is a bastardization of [Sørum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8rum). Cool. > [@GreenElf](#): > > I am very much into Garbarek and Terje Rypdal. Maybe you could help me with the pronunciation of those two since I listen to them quite often. Is it roop-dahl or rup-dahl or ripe-dahl? I guess roop-dal is the best bet. Or perhaps ruup-dal. I’ve always had a slight problem with semi-phonetic English spelling 😕 The “y” is pronounced as in “why”, and it’s netiher particularly long nor short. > [@GreenElf](#): > > Also, do you pronounce “jeg” as rhyming with hi or with hay? More as rhyming with “hey”. But it varies a little with the dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/53 "2012-02-24T08:05:46Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Maybe you could help me with the pronunciation of those two since I listen to them quite often. Forgot the pronunciation of Garbarek, sorry. :smack: “Gar” as rhyming with “bar” “bar” also as rhyming with “bar” “ek” with a short “e” as in “let” ETA: And don’t forget to roll the "r"s 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/54 "2012-02-25T14:59:04Z")
> [@trupa](#): > > Hello From Canada, > > Had a chat with our snowshoeing guide this weekend, and while we were pretty sure you guys invented what we call “cross-country” skiing, we were wondering if a form of showshoeing had been used by your original native inhabitants, or if your ancestors just used skis to avoid sinking into deep snow when out hunting & trapping? To expand on **2square4u** ’s answer, In general, snowshoes are a Native American, not a Native European thing. The oldest complete skis in the world come from Northern Sweden, and date back some 5000 years. There are many other Stone Age ski finds from Finland and Western Russia, the oldest fragmentary specimens, at about 7000 - 8000 years old, coming from the latter region. Almost certainly, Norwegians (or more precisely ancient populations living in the area of present-day Norway) did not invent cross-country skiing. All in all, there are hundreds of prehistoric bog ski finds from Northern Eurasia, and no snowshoe finds, although snowshoes were historically known and used on a limited basis in Russia, Finland and Sweden. Based on the evidence, it is safe to say snowshoes were never a big thing over here. Under most North Eurasian snow conditions, skis are a vastly superior mode of transportation: much faster and more energy-efficient than snowshoes, while handy enough for general chores around the dwelling site. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/55 "2012-02-26T07:57:27Z")
What percentage of Norwegians regularly post on English-language message forums? ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/56 "2012-02-26T18:11:20Z")
You _do_ understand that the data needed to provide that statistics aren’t easily found and most probably doesn’t exist? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/57 "2012-02-26T18:48:04Z")
100% of the Norwegians in this thread have posted in an English-language forum at least once. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/58 "2012-02-27T00:17:06Z")
Is Frydenlunds Beer any good, now? I used to buy it here-it was pretty good. Is Norwegian akvavit better than Swedish? ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/59 "2012-02-27T05:46:20Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > You _do_ understand that the data needed to provide that statistics aren’t easily found and most probably doesn’t exist? 😉 I did phrase the question too precisely. :o Another question. Reading the Wikipedia article for Mike Oldfield, I noticed that several of his albums charted only in the U.K. and Norway, so I guess he’s more popular in Norway than most countries. What other English language musicians have a comparatively large following in Norway? ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653/60 "2012-02-27T07:13:38Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Is Frydenlunds Beer any good, now? > I used to buy it here-it was pretty good. Still is. I prefer their “draft” in dark blue cans to the ordinary lager in green cans. (\WTF is this thing the Norwegian breweries have with selling aluminum cans with “draft” beer? If it’s in a can, it’s not draft, dammit!\). Even better than the Frydenlund is Aass (no, it’s not pronounced “ass”. “Aass” is an archaic spelling for the place (and person) name “Ås”, the vocal is longish and pronounced as in “fore”). Generally, Norwegian industrial lagers are on the decent side of average by international standards. Even better are the many microbrews we’ve seen emerging the last ten-or-so years. > [@ralph124c](#): > > Is Norwegian akvavit better than Swedish? Hell, yes! 😉 We Norwegians often like to point out that while the Swedes serve their aquavit chilled, our aquavits should be served at room temperature, since they’re mellower and richer in taste. To serve a good Norwegian Aquavit like the Linje or Gammel Reserve cold, is sacrilege 🆒 > [@GreenElf](#): > > What other English language musicians have a comparatively large following in Norway? There are a few. For many years, hasbeens like Smokie, Nazareth or Johnnie Logan have had successful tours in Norway, playing on local fairs and public dances. Some of us Norwegians call them, more than a tad ironically, for “Norgesvenner”, a term coined by some Norwegian journalist some years ago. In the ironic sense, the term can’t be translated to get the full meaning through, but the literal meaning is something like “friends of Norway”. There are other artists who seem to have a better market in Norway than internationally, at least percentage-wise, but again since I’m an old fart, I don’t follow the lists closely these days and just can’t remember any names right now. If you’re able to to read a little Norwegian, you can search the top 20 singles and top 40 albums for any week, month or period of any year back to 1958 in [this webpage](http://lista.vg.no/liste/topp-40-album/2/dato/2012/periode/vinter). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-from-a-small-but-not-really-tiny-country-norway/613653.md?page=4)