Comments on: Your favourite Norwegian words

By: andy

andy — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:27:12 +0000

Tongue twister of the day
Høyesterettijustitiarius, High court justice person!

yougottabekidding!

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 22 Dec 2017 21:19:59 +0000

I’m new to the language and have little vocabulary to speak of yet, but I like “like ikke”. My wife cracks up when inject this phrase during mealtime. Selvfølgelig is another one I like as it translates in my head as being pronounced “Self-ugly”. No where near the meaning but fun to say as well. I also find verdensrommet to be a fun one only because of how it translates over to english.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 22:46:27 +0000

In reply to Kate Pendry. That's just what it is in German: Handschuhe, hand shoes.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 20:17:35 +0000

Billedhugger is my favourite of the moment

By: Cindi

Cindi — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 17:37:31 +0000

Several of my favorites are listed — ikke (but *not* with the Bergen-area pronunciation), hyggelig, and tusen takk (my first phrase too) — but “elsker” and “jeg elsker deg” is my favorite word/phrase as it’s the first one I figured out how to put together on my own, after a few norwegian classes. As an American who struggles with languages, the look on my Norwegian husband’s face sealed that one as my all-time favorite!

By: An expat in Oslo

An expat in Oslo — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 13:40:18 +0000

“Ikke sant”

By: Eirik E

Eirik E — Thu, 08 May 2014 05:04:44 +0000

Thanks for an interesting post! Your blog strikes a chord with me as well, a Norwegian expat in the US.
I have many favourites (or favorites, as my neighbors (sorry, neighbours!) would spell it). Especially the ones that sound funny or awkward when translated literally.

Take lollipop, for instance, “kjærlighet på pinne” (love on a stick). Normally just called “kjærlighet”. The older version, borrowed from Danish, “slikkepinne” (licking stick) is so straight to the point. There is also a Christmas confectionary from Nidar called “Kolibripølser”. It is a marzipan bar covered in chocolate and sprinkles. I think the English version sounds much more scrumptious: Hummingbird Sausages.

My favourite by far, though, is “ja på innpust” (saying yes while drawing your breath). If I remember correctly, it was once voted Norway’s National Word in the TV show Typisk Norsk.

By: Pete Story

Pete Story — Thu, 01 May 2014 07:32:16 +0000

In reply to Audrey Camp. I agree, the sound is great (and has so many variations). There's a wonderful phrase from a Linguaphone language course which I took 35 years ago that just rolls off your tongue ... "som vi ikke bruker for øyeblikket"!

By: Ruth Teschke

Ruth Teschke — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 08:44:05 +0000

Dagligvarerforretningen. Is a shop when I learned how to write it I figured out nobody is using it, they say say simply butik……..

By: Kate Pendry

Kate Pendry — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 06:48:51 +0000

Stovsuger (dust-sucker), and håndske (gloves) which for years I mispronounced as ‘hånadsko’ (hand shoes), because that made sense to me. Friends and family never corrected me because they thought it was ‘so søt’ (so cute) 🙂 I am still convinced ‘håndske’ was originally ‘hånd sko’ somewhere back in the day. Has anyone seen my hand shoes? It’s bloody freezing out there! (Great newsletter David, thanks 🙂