What do you know about Norway?

[Saregon]

Also the Norwegians were the first people to dig up The Thing.

THANK YOU! That was probably the thing I was most eager to see here, and it's even on the first page.

Damn it. How did I remember "bokmål" over "nynorsk"? The latter seems far easier to remember. What does "bokmål" mean? "Book words"? "Book letters"? "Book speech"? Not even close? Fuck.

"Bokmål", literally translated means "book tongue", but seeing as how "tongue" is pretty much only used about languages in literature, "book language" or "book speech" would be accurate, so you're not far away at all!

Also, pretty much everything, having been born and grown up here, and having an above average interest in our history and a fair interest in politics and a general how-does-this-work attitude to life. So yeah, I would go into more detail, but I'm guessing you don't want a huge rant about it.


Also, it's the best country that ever was in the history of everything... ever.
(I'm a huge patriot, if you couldn't tell).

 

[Boris Goodenough]

THANK YOU! That was probably the thing I was most eager to see here, and it's even on the first page.

Also, pretty much everything, having been born and grown up here, and having an above average interest in our history and a fair interest in politics and a general how-does-this-work attitude to life. So yeah, I would go into more detail, but I'm guessing you don't want a huge rant about it.


Also, it's the best country that ever was in the history of everything... ever.
(I'm a huge patriot, if you couldn't tell).

It's still weird though, year after year the snow still surprises you guys and you still get into accidents at the same rate as the year before, how is that?

 

[twohundredpercent]

The food there sucks.

Hey you know they don't teach geography in most American schools anymore? True story.

 

[Saregon]

Snip

It's still weird though, year after year the snow still surprises you guys and you still get into accidents at the same rate as the year before, how is that?

Well, compared to other places with regular snowfall each winter, we're not that bad. And it's mostly because of laziness and inattention on the driver's part, the government and road authority spend tons and tons of money on campaigns each and every year to change to winter tires and such, but some people delay it until the very last second (Read: when the snow is already fallin), but they still need to go places, and of course, this being that kind of people, they will still use their car, because they're good drivers and don't get into accidents. I kind of also want to point out that I have never been in an accident, after something around 200 000km in 5 years, around half of those in snow, and quite a few in a truck/lorry in the northenmost part of the country. It's kind of a point of pride for me right there.

Captcha: hoagie roll. No, captcha, that has no bearing on this whatsoever.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Well, compared to other places with regular snowfall each winter, we're not that bad. And it's mostly because of laziness and inattention on the driver's part, the government and road authority spend tons and tons of money on campaigns each and every year to change to winter tires and such, but some people delay it until the very last second (Read: when the snow is already fallin), but they still need to go places, and of course, this being that kind of people, they will still use their car, because they're good drivers and don't get into accidents. I kind of also want to point out that I have never been in an accident, after something around 200 000km in 5 years, around half of those in snow, and quite a few in a truck/lorry in the northenmost part of the country. It's kind of a point of pride for me right there.

Captcha: hoagie roll. No, captcha, that has no bearing on this whatsoever.

I meant why isn't the average better.

Like with all statistics, what is true for the average isn't necessarily true for the individual.

 

[Saregon]

Snip

I meant why isn't the average better.

Like with all statistics, what is true for the average isn't necessarily true for the individual.

As I mentioned, it's not perfect, but still better than most places with regular snowfall. Why it's as high as is the case I'm not sure, but the average Norwegian who has accidents due to snow is this: middle-aged and older man, who has driven for half his life or more, and lives in the city. The reason for it is a combination of factors, such as overconfidence in their personal skill as drivers, overestimating the authorities' ability to remove the snow from the road, overestimating the amount of time they have before the first snow falls (which is when the majority of the accidents happen), and stress, or having to get somewhere and not having the time/inclination to change to winter-tires first.

There is also documentation to support windy, narrow, poorly maintained (though usually well cleared of snow) roads being a major cause, as well as the Norwegian car park, due to extremely high taxes on car purchases, being on average more than 20 years old, so no ESP, often no ABS, etc.

As for why it's not lower, I don't know, maybe people are simply too set in their ways. The government is constantly pouring money into awareness campaigns, and the punishment for not changing your tires in a timely manner is quite strict (heavy fines, or if involved in an accident, heavy fines and possibly jailtime, depending on severity, as well as the insurance company refusing to pay for damages due to neglect). Also, the statistics are improving every year, so there's that.

 

[Playful Pony]

snip

As far as I have understood, isn't Spanish a pretty relevant language in the States? It's rather intersting that Norway is actually quite far down on the list of best education systems in Europe.

Damn it. How did I remember "bokmål" over "nynorsk"? The latter seems far easier to remember. What does "bokmål" mean? "Book words"? "Book letters"? "Book speech"? Not even close? Fuck.

Interestingly enough, the state that I live in has a very high Scandinavian population, especially those of Norwegian ancestry. Apparently our climate is quite similar, although it definitely doesn't snow as much, but it's fairly temperate.

Apologies for the huge walls of text.

Bokmål would indeed translate into something like Book Speech. Bok is our word for book, and mål means speech/dialect, depending on the context it is in. New Norwegian is very heavily based on words from a few dialects, while bokmål takes a much more general stance, and is heavily influenced by the Danish language. As such, most people in Norway are comfortable with and use bokmål, only about 10% use New Norwegian on a daily basis. We all learn it though...

I think Minnesota and Wisconsin has the highest population of Norwegian people? We learned this in school I remember =p.

[quote="mrhappy1489" post="18.388623.15572023"EDIT: I had a look and it appears that the Norwegians were the Scandinavian whore and were also in a union with the Swedes. The Norwegians sure know how to get around.[/quote]
Being raped doesn't make you a whore! *runs away crying*

 

[Suijen]

I don't know much about Norway except it has an extremely high standard of living, excellent social services, and the recent massacre by the right wing radical.

 

[Yopaz]

They like to eat nasty fish dishes and speak an entirely incomprehensible language. Also, they take daily swims in their oil money, which is why they're all tall, sexy blonds.

Wait... wait... wait... You've got it all wrong here. How are our fish dishes nasty? Is there anything nasty in preparing fish using drainage cleaner? Is there anything nasty about burying a fish in the sand in order to ferment it?

Yeah, it it's nasty.

OT: I am Norwegian so I know a lot. I suck at geography or history though so I can't say I have the best knowledge...

 

[Shraggler]

As far as I have understood, isn't Spanish a pretty relevant language in the States? It's rather intersting that Norway is actually quite far down on the list of best education systems in Europe.

Yes, Spanish is fairly important, especially on the border states with Mexico. I'm on the opposite border, with Canada. Despite that, this state has been termed a "sanctuary state" as it is rather lenient regarding illegal immigration and immigration documentation, so there are a decent number of native Spanish speakers in the state (obviously not just for that reason).

I think Minnesota and Wisconsin has the highest population of Norwegian people? We learned this in school I remember =p.

Yeah, that's true. The northern mid-west states have the highest populations of peoples with Scandinavian decent. There's just a rather surprisingly large population here too.

 

[clayschuldt]

Norway fishing ships are all over the globe.
You guys have that Midnight Sun thing going on in the Summer.
During WWII Norwegian Resistance Fighters killed A LOT of Nazis and there is a museum dedicated to this fact.
Various Norse Mythology
High Life Expectancy

 

[mrhappy1489]

What language do they speak in Norway?

Norwegian. It's close to Swedish and Finnish, I think. Probably somewhat similar to Danish. I dunno, they may also be speaking English there as a second language. Or it's close enough to a second language.

What is the capital of Norway?

Oh, man, I utterly suck at geography. Erm...Oslo? Or Reykjavik (OK, I looked up the spelling, I didn't cheat otherwise)? I am 90% sure it's one of the two.

Norwegian is actually closer to danish and from what I've read it's mutually intelligible. Oslo is the capital, Reykjavik is the Capital of Iceland, which I think was also a part of Norway at some point in history. It was once in a kingdom with Denmark for a long period of history. Most other things that I know have already been said.

Sweden. It was part of, and later in a Union, with Sweden. Not Denmark. Nothing good ever came out of Denmark.

Norwegian is much sillier than Swedish, but less silly than Danish. Nobody understands danish. Not even the Danes. ESPECIALLY not the danes. Here is my source, in case you're disputing my facts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-mOy8VUEBk&list=FLJbnd7-RILMi_LMyAF8zhdA&index=5&feature=plpp_video

I'm afraid you're wrong, Denmark and Norway were in a union, it was called Denmark-Norway. Sweden had Finland, but Finland was considered simply a part and not give the distinction of having its name in the union, all though I think that had more to with the fact that it was a loose group of tribes that were unified under the Swedish. I know most people don't like wikipedia but I think it can be used as a most truthful source in this instance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_norway

EDIT: I had a look and it appears that the Norwegians were the Scandinavian whore and were also in a union with the Swedes. The Norwegians sure know how to get around.

As part of the Pimps of Scandinavia [Sweden], I know the history. I just stuck to the most recent and thus, imo, the most relevant part. Sweden and Norway was in a Union until about one century ago. Long before that, the nordic is a clusterfuck of conquest, unions and just shenanigans in general.

You still can't deny that Norway gets around though. Everybody's had a turn with the Norwegians. Also it wasn't that long ago that they were in a union with the Danish, 200 years ago I think, which in the Grand scheme of things isn't very long, although it is still older than the Sweden union.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Not too much, I admit. The first things that come to my mind are Nordic raiders on a longship and black metal. Also, large winterlands and pure, clear ice.

Pretty typical, I know, but hey.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I know part of my family came from there and that some great aunts of mine were in the resistance during WWII.

Oh and I know of their love of fish and that a Martian lives there.

 

[Angie7F]

Norway = good salmon. Rosy cheeked santa claus looking men on fishing boats catching samon.

well, its either the americans dont know about your country at all or think they knwo but have the wrong idea.
I am scarded to see how much people still think we wear kimono in japan.

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

I know that if you flip the entire nation the tip would land in Morocco. Yay for useless infomation!