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svinekjøtt Posted by kari on Aug 14, 2009
pork. pig meat. Growing up I used to really dislike it (parents made really fatty, dried out pork chops-svinekoteletter and other poorly made pork), but now that I live with a hog farmer (grisebonde) who loves to barbecue and grill (do you know the difference?) and makes amazing food, I love pork! Jeg elsker svinekjøtt! And…
lutefisk Posted by kari on Aug 12, 2009
Literally “lye fish”-the first word that comes to my mind is yuck. Lutefisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries (namely Norway, Sweden, and the Swedish-speaking part of Finland) made from dried or salted whitefish (klippfisk) or stockfish (air-dried whitefish) that goes through various treatments soaked in lye (lut). For those of you who don’t…
Lange ord Posted by kari on Aug 6, 2009
long words. Norsk is notorious for long words, most of which are conglomerations of several words. A professional linguist would probably be able to tell you why this is the case, but I can give speculation a shot-why create an entirely new word when you can use 2 or more existing words to describe something? …
begravelser Posted by kari on Aug 3, 2009
funerals. I know that this is a depressing topic, but I have spent the last week mourning the death of a very close friend and thus got to thinking it is a topic worth learning about in terms of language and traditions for people learning a new language. Begravelser in Scandinavian history were similar to…
Snus Posted by kari on Jul 30, 2009
Forskere friskmelder snusen. Researchers report that snus is healthy. The word friskmelder does not have an exact translation in English, but I suppose I wouldn’t say researchers think snus is ‘healthy’, but rather not unhealthy, not dangerous. For those of you who don’t know what snus is, it is a smokeless form of tobacco, also…
Transportmidler Posted by kari on Jul 28, 2009
Modes of transportation. Definitely something you want to know how to talk about when you are preparing to travel to another country. In Norway, you’ll want to know about biler (cars), busser (busses), tog (trains), trikken (the trolley), tbanen (the subway), ferger (ferries), og mer (and more). You will want to know how to get to…
1000. henrettelse Posted by kari on Jul 25, 2009
1000th execution. In the U.S. that is since it became legal å henrette (to execute) prisoners in 1977. Wow. That is 1000 in 32 years. Seems like a lot to me. I still don’t know what I think is the best method for punishing serial killers and rapists. Who am I to know if they…