# Norwegian immigrants? just say Nei! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2018, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509 "2018-01-13T03:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/21 "2018-01-13T14:54:04Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Actually: > > [Trump Wishes We Had More Immigrants From Norway. Turns Out We Once Did | Iowa Public Radio](http://iowapublicradio.org/post/trump-wishes-we-had-more-immigrants-norway-turns-out-we-once-did#stream/0) > > It’s hard to understand why this would be true: wouldn’t traveling across the Atlantic be very expensive (in relative terms) back then? If you both poor and are living paycheck to paycheck (and the paychecks not all that regular)–or are a farmer mostly living on a subsistence level how could you save up the money for the trip? Shrug, when I moved to the US for graduate school I had exactly: the money for the one-way plane ticket, for one month of housing, and 150USD. Well, I also had the amazing ability to make 150 USD feed me for a month with 50 dollars left, and I did have clothes, and being a TA came with a stipend which, while lower than what an American with a BA got, was enough for me to live on. But I didn’t get the first payment until the end of the first month. > [@jtur88](#): > > That already happens. It is getting harder and harder for US expats to find a country that will accept them. Americans are seen as health-care refugees, wanting to cash in on somebody else’s universal health car systems. Don’t forget about the banking crap. The US’s insistence in behaving as if they’re the government of the whole world is something the rest of the world tends to dislike for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/22 "2018-01-13T15:44:12Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > It’s always been people from shitholes who want to come here. Hey! Stop ragging on Lithuanians! Anyway, if you let lots more Scandinavians in, we’ll wind up doubling the populations of Minnesota and South Dakota, and no one wants that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/23 "2018-01-13T15:58:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > How can this be? Norway is a social democracy, and indeed can fairly be called a “welfare state”. Wouldn’t Sven and Hendrik _ **want** _ to get away from that socialist shithole? 😃 > > Well, maybe not … > What is it, though, that makes the Scandinavians so different? Since the Democrats can’t tell you and the Republicans wouldn’t want you to know, let me offer you a quick introduction. What Scandinavians call the Nordic model is a smart and simple system that starts with a deep commitment to equality and democracy. That’s two concepts combined in a single goal because, as far as they’re concerned, you can’t have one without the other. > > **Right there, they part company with capitalist America, now the most unequal of all the developed nations, and consequently a democracy no more. Political scientists say it has become an oligarchy, run at the expense of its citizenry by and for the superrich.** Perhaps you’ve noticed that. > [https://www.thenation.com/article/after-i-lived-in-norway-america-felt-backward-heres-why/](https://www.thenation.com/article/after-i-lived-in-norway-america-felt-backward-heres-why/) I highlighted a part of the article you quoted, because that bit stood out to me even before I read the article you linked to. That bit right there is, to me, the entire point of the article, the rest is supporting data. I’ve thought this, said this to friends and family for the last twenty years. Forget Norwegians coming here, how do I convince the government of Norway to let me go there? Is it too early to claim some sort of refugee status? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/24 "2018-01-13T17:15:13Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Hey! Stop ragging on Lithuanians! > > Anyway, if you let lots more Scandinavians in, we’ll wind up doubling the populations of Minnesota and South Dakota, and no one wants that. :smack: From six citizens to eleven? Oh, the horror. 😉 Isn’t Norway shaped like a coke spoon? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/25 "2018-01-13T17:36:21Z")
I don’t think there are long lines of people outside the US Embassy in Norway queueing up to get immigration papers to the US. If we end up making English fluency more of a requirement, that’s going to be a big plus for the few Norwegians who might want to move here. I spent quite a bit of time in Norway and was floored by how virtually everyone I met seemed to speak excellent English. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/26 "2018-01-13T19:58:56Z")
We already have new Norway. It’s called North Dakota (Minnesota is more Swedes). They could be fleeing the $13 for mediocre beer though. And as usual, the Simpsons has a relevant episode. > **[Coming to Homerica](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_to_Homerica)** > > "Coming to Homerica" is the twenty-first and final episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 17, 2009. The episode title is a parody of the 1988 film Coming to America. The storyline is a pick on illegal immigration to the United States, complete with self-appointed vigilantes and building a fence to prevent it. Tying in with the episode's subject of Norwegian-descended settlers, i > [@SeniorCitizen007](#): > > The shape of Africa can be seen as someone sittng on a toilet … what does Scandinavia look like? Google Image Search isn’t cooperating for me, but Norway and Sweden and Finland look like a T Rex trying to eat Denmark. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/27 "2018-01-13T20:40:59Z")
The other day I was in a diner that I’d never been in before, and I mentioned to the waitress that I was thinking of moving to Norway. “A-ha,” she said, “you’re one of those.” “One of those what?” I said. “A-ha,” she said again. “A-ha?” I said. “Yes,” she said. At that point I gave up. I wasn’t going to get myself trapped in one of those Who’s-on-First? conversations. She then handed me something and left. I thought perhaps it was a passport or a visa or a plane ticket or something that would help get me to Norway, but it turned out to be just a comic book. I opened it up to look through it, but I only got as far as the first page when a hand (that looked like a cartoon drawing) reached out and pulled me into it. I looked around and saw that I was in this weird room with a pretty young woman. She introduced herself. “I’m Bunty Bailey,” she said, "and you’re - A-ha? “What?” “A-ha,” she said again, and I was afraid I was going to get into that ridiculous skit again, but then she said, “You’re Morten Harket.” “No, I’m Wendell Wagner,” I said. “You’ve pulled me into here,” she said. “No, I didn’t. You pulled me in,” I said. Then everything really got weird. Bunty and I found ourselves on opposite sides of a screen which alternately turned her and me into cartoon drawings. Meanwhile, music played in the background (with, strangely, someone singing in falsetto), and I began to catch flashes of rock musicians playing. The song was in English though, not in Norwegian. Then a motorcycle gang armed with wrenches attacked us, so Bunty and I ran away. At one point we came up against a blank wall, and somehow I was able to smash through it. Then Bunty disappeared from my view. Suddenly I was in a hallway, but I was still a cartoon drawing. I went crazy and began hitting my head against the walls, and I slowly became a real person again while sprawled on the floor. I looked up and saw Bunty standing over me. I was about to get up and kiss her, but I began to think, “Do I really want a relationship with a crazy woman?”, so I got up and ran out of the apartment building I was in. I had run several blocks before I thought to myself, “Of course I want a relationship with her. I’m desperate. I’ll take a relationship with any woman, let alone one this pretty.” So I tried to go back to that apartment house, but I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t find the diner where I’d been in either. I was within walking distance of my apartment, so I just went home. Anyway, can someone send me the comic book I’d been looking at or whatever drug somehow got into my system to make me think I was with that woman? I’d just fly to Norway to look for her, but it’s got a lot of fjords where I might get lost and never find her. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/28 "2018-01-13T20:47:12Z")
A-ha vs ABBA. _Quien es mas macho?_ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/29 "2018-01-13T21:09:34Z")
Well, in the original meaning of the word, A-ha is three machos vs. ABBA having two. So, A-ha wins by number and by verb. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/30 "2018-01-13T21:24:51Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Well, in the original meaning of the word, A-ha is three machos vs. ABBA having two. So, A-ha wins by number and by verb. But by the _SNL_ rules, the obvious answer is: Neither of those groups is macho! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/31 "2018-01-13T21:29:43Z")
Pipe wrench fight \> Queens, dancing only makes it worse ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/32 "2018-01-14T14:57:31Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Actually: > > [Trump Wishes We Had More Immigrants From Norway. Turns Out We Once Did | Iowa Public Radio](http://iowapublicradio.org/post/trump-wishes-we-had-more-immigrants-norway-turns-out-we-once-did#stream/0) > > It’s hard to understand why this would be true: wouldn’t traveling across the Atlantic be very expensive (in relative terms) back then? If you both poor and are living paycheck to paycheck (and the paychecks not all that regular)–or are a farmer mostly living on a subsistence level how could you save up the money for the trip? I think that study has some major flaws, although that’s based on a surface layman’s reading. A substantial portion of the emigrants might be low on personal wealth and had low prospects, but their family might have the wealth to fund them, assuming this would improve their prospects. Norway was 90% farmers at the time, experiencing strong population growth and running low on readily available farms, so a second, or third, or fourth son might take their share of the inheritance and buy a ticket to America instead of overpaying for a poor farm or clearing the land previous generations hadn’t bothered with. To a lot of people the motivation wasn’t to escape extreme poverty, it was to have a future as a farmer in a country where the culture still focused heavily on land ownership as symbol of status. A lot of poorer people did go though through various methods. Poorer families could, as have been mentioned, pool their resources and send one kid over. And in some regions the municipal charity board paid to send the poorest welfare recipients to America, figuring it was cheaper than paying them for years. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/33 "2018-01-14T15:20:58Z")
More people in America advocating for universal health care? Sounds good to me. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/34 "2018-01-14T20:35:04Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Norway was 90% farmers at the time, experiencing strong population growth and running low on readily available farms, so a second, or third, or fourth son might take their share of the inheritance and buy a ticket to America instead of overpaying for a poor farm or clearing the land previous generations hadn’t bothered with. In the 1800s, there really wasn’t much unused, farmable land left in Norway. A quick look at a Norwegian farm name book will tell you that almost all of them had been around for centuries. Not many people actually owned the land they farmed on. Better off people (or the church) tended to owned a lot of it. Some was owned by lesser farmers who passed the farm down to the oldest son. The large majority of farmers were cotters or some such. They had the right to farm a part of a farm (and such rights could be inherited). These parts got subdivided over the centuries and could be quite tiny. Too tiny to live off of in many cases, esp. after paying rent on their plot. So many cotters did outside work: fished, cut wood, etc. Note that for basic farmers, there was no “inheritance” that was usable for buying a ticket to emigrate. The oldest son might try to sell his farm rights, but that was going to be an issue and then some with the rest of the family. A few people had enough resources to move to America on their own. They’d then send money back for more family members to come and from there it cascaded. It was viewed as an important family obligation to help others emigrate. There were also business people who paid passage for servants to come to America in return for a set amount of servitude. A lot of tales of young women coming to America to be maids, promising their families that they’d return once they had enough money for a good dowry. And of course they found a Norwegian bachelor farmer, got married and stayed. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/35 "2018-01-14T23:38:55Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Do these people in those shitholes expect us to hold up a lamp to some kind of golden door to America just so they can send us a bunch of huddled, homeless masses? What the hell are we supposed to do with all that human refuse? I know what we should do but I’m not at liberty to say. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/36 "2018-01-14T23:55:24Z")
Come on, you Weegies would love it here. You can lose your house because you got cancer. Income inequality is as bad as Argentina. Conservative politicians are anti-democracy extremists and both parties work for the rich. The president is an embarrassment. Leave your homeland and come live here. You shant regret it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/37 "2018-01-15T00:08:33Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Come on, you Weegies would love it here. > > You can lose your house because you got cancer. > > Income inequality is as bad as Argentina. > > Conservative politicians are anti-democracy extremists and both parties work for the rich. > > The president is an embarrassment. > > Leave your homeland and come live here. You shant regret it. I know, America is such a shithole. We’d be doing Mexicans a FAVOR if we put up a wall. Right? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/38 "2018-01-15T00:42:29Z")
Are there any statistics available on how many Norwegians have actually immigrated to the US in the last, say, 10 years? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/39 "2018-01-15T01:04:12Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I know, America is such a shithole. We’d be doing Mexicans a FAVOR if we put up a wall. > > Right? We have very serious problems compared to many developed nations. Our health care sucks, plutocrats rule the country, a good chunk of the public and politicians are insane. Saying ‘we’re better than Mexico’ isn’t saying much seeing how we are much wealthier and more educated. Mexico recently implemented universal health care. They may need a wall to keep out all the people traveling to get medical care. > **[Mexico achieves universal health coverage, enrolls 52.6 million people in...](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/mexico-universal-health/)** > > August 15, 2012 — Despite periods of economic downturns and crisis, Mexico recently achieved a significant milestone – enrolling 52.6 million previously uninsured Mexicans in public medical i… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509/40 "2018-01-15T01:29:05Z")
In 2016, 1,114 Norwegians emigrated to the U.S. and 1,603 Americans emigrated to Norway: > **[More Americans migrated to Norway than the other way around in 2016](https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-norway-trump-20180113-story.html)** > > Norwegians generally live longer than Americans. There's a generous safety net of health care and pensions. And although it's pricey, the country last year was [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-immigrants-just-say-nei/806509.md?page=3)