# Why do pedestrian crossings in Oslo have two red men? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2008, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916 "2008-11-29T11:27:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/21 "2008-11-30T14:34:37Z")
Started a new topic for Oslo Dopers, over [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10511385#post10511385), to avoid hijacking the thread completely. (Or just Dopers who want to talk about Oslo, or Dopers who are currently or in the near future visiting Oslo, etc) ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/22 "2008-11-30T14:49:58Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > Missed my ETA window, but we also have the Custom Creature, the Fire Creature and the Police Creature. > > Norway’s custom-designed service providing creatures are soon available for export. It all sounds very cute. I will import them them to Scotland, please. Really, though, it sounds so fun, I suddenly want to take up learning Norwegian. Hmmm, I bet there’s some stuff online. New project for Celyn. 🙂 Ooh, random thought - is it true that the Norwegian word for vacuum cleaner is something like “Stoorsuiker”? Someone said that once and it amused me, “stoor” being a word for dust here too. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/23 "2008-11-30T15:56:10Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > It all sounds very cute. I will import them them to Scotland, please. > > Really, though, it sounds so fun, I suddenly want to take up learning Norwegian. Hmmm, I bet there’s some stuff online. New project for Celyn. 🙂 > > Ooh, random thought - is it true that the Norwegian word for vacuum cleaner is something like “Stoorsuiker”? Someone said that once and it amused me, “stoor” being a word for dust here too. It’s spelled Støvsuger. The closest I can make it for pronounciation without going into the phonetic alphabet (that I don’t know) is stuv-soogerr. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/24 "2008-11-30T16:20:48Z")
To get to the other side? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/25 "2008-11-30T16:29:08Z")
I blame Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/26 "2008-11-30T17:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=Gukumatz] Sekshundregangen ftw. (Of all the places to meet a GBer, why am I not surprised it’s this one?) When was your day? [/QUOTE] Just missed me, I moved out in the summer of 2007. I lived two years i Sekshundregangen (618, based on which you could probably track me down if you wanted to) and a year in firehundregangen. Whick was actually quieter, believe it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/27 "2008-11-30T22:31:19Z")
> [@Septima](#): > > Just missed me, I moved out in the summer of 2007. I lived two years i Sekshundregangen (618, based on which you could probably track me down if you wanted to) and a year in firehundregangen. Whick was actually quieter, believe it or not. . . . Guess which room I’m in. _Guess_. Hint: It’s straight under the fire alarm bell. I share a shower with 620. And firehundregangen being quieter? You must’ve missed Geir and Hiller. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/28 "2008-11-30T23:41:19Z")
Duh. It’s two red men because it’s Norway, one of those communist Scandahoovian countries… ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/29 "2008-12-01T04:15:13Z")
I googled for an answer before I posted this thread. On another messageboard I saw the same question but no answer. Someone posted (with an appropriate smilie): “Dude, you can’t call them “red men” now. They’re Native Americans.” ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916/30 "2008-12-01T04:17:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m still unclear as to whether the two red men under discussion here are on a sign or an illuminated signal - if the latter, could it be that there are two of them, independently illuminated, for redundancy - i.e. if one bulb fails, the (important) stop signal still happens? I thought of this but rejected it as I thought it would be easier to just put several independantly wired bulbs behind the red man than to have two complete red men, if redundancy were your goal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pedestrian-crossings-in-oslo-have-two-red-men/474916.md?page=1)