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Silent Letters in Norwegian Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 31, 2018
Ever thought about all the letters we don’t say out loud – like the h in ’hour’? Even though Norwegian is spelt in a more straightforward way than English, it also has its share of stumme bokstaver (silent letters, literally ”mute letters”). Hvem, hva, hvor og hvorfor? (Who, what, where and why?) The H of…
Feeling Bored in Norwegian Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 21, 2018
Kjedelig! (Boring!) Late summer is a time when some people start to get bored – kids are tired of their parents dragging them through verden (the world) on a busy sommerferie (summer holiday) and just want to go hjem [yem] (home), while the adults maybe have started longing for their quiet kontor [konTOHR] (office)! 🙂…
Hello Interjections! Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Apr 30, 2018
Ouch! Hitting your finger with a hammer hurts, and the interjection ouch helps you let out a bit of the pain and frustration. Yes! and um… are also interjections, small words that we use to express a feeling. They’re like their own miniature sentences, loaded with meaning. (The meaning of Yes! could be ”I’m so…
Olympic Gold for the Norwegians Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 28, 2018
For en glede! For en folkefest! (What a joy! What a celebration for the people!) Vinter-OL i Sør-Korea has come to a glorious end for the country known as skisportens vugge (the craddle of skiing). Rødt, hvitt og blått (red, white and blue – the colours of the Norwegian flag) totally dominerte seierspallen (dominated the…
Norwegian Homonyms Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 30, 2017
Good Knight! What would puns be without homonyms – words that have quite different meanings, but sound the same? Hjort [≈ gjort] er hjort [gjort] sa elgen og hoppet i elven og ble rein. (Deer [≈ done] is deer [done], the elk said, jumped into the river and became clean/a reindeer.) Here’s a list of…
Norwegian Candy Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 21, 2017
Er du en søtmons? (Do you have a sweet tooth?) In Norway, the nearest smågodt (sweets, candy) is never far away. Even small bygder (towns) usually have some kind of kiosk (pronounced ”shosk”) or butikk (shop) where you can buy søtsaker (sweets) to få opp blodsukkeret (”get up the blood sugar”) or simply create some kos…
“Sprek” Norwegians are Sporty Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 16, 2017
Are you a spreking (≈ fit person)? An Icelander told me about this stereotype of nordmenn (Norwegians): They are people who are always active, do a lot of sport, and speed up and down fjellsidene (the mountain slopes) with top-notch utstyr [OOTsteer] (gear). Even if this stereotype is vastly exaggerated – I’ve personally known several ”lazy”…