Have It Norsk-style

I admit to being linguistically challenged.  I speak some Danish, but Norwegian has been very hard for me to conquer.  I understand much of it, except the jokes and when discussions turn to subjects such as filtration rigs at work.   I should probably have taken lessons on pronunciation right away, but now it seems beyond the point. When I try to speak Norwegian, it sounds kind of Danish and not nearly as melodic as it should, and I get lots of blank looks.  I end up just repeating it in English which nearly everybody understands immediately.   Most of the Norwegians I know seem to speak English pretty well -- and I mean American English and not the British kind. Ok, they still use "trapezium" for "trapezoid," but their diction and sentence structure seems to be more American in flavor (or should I say flava).

Ode to the friendship bracelet

Much of the television here is from America including the latest hits (American Idol, How I Met Your Mother), repeats of some of our favorite Gilmore Girls, and even occasionally old episodes of MacGyver and Magnum PI all complete with Norwegian subtitles.  The culture doesn't seem to like dubbing and economically it would be expensive to do for all shows in such a small country.  Only the children's programming seems to be dubbed into Norwegian.  The upside for me is that the Norwegian Disney channel is unwatchable for the girls with funny Norwegian accents coming out of their favorite "stars."  What a blessing to experience a whole year without Zack and Cody and Miley. 

There are actually two official forms of Norwegian language:  bokmål (a derivation from Danish and the Danish rule of Norway from 1396 to 1814) and nynorsk. However, it seems like everyone has some special dialect from their own region of Norway that sounds unique to me. 

Goodbye is "Ha det" throughout Norway though.  It is a version of "Have it good (Ha det bra)" shortened to just "have it."  It's nice to tell someone to "have it" when you part.  It's kind reminds me of the Latin "Carpe diem" -- seize the day.   "Have it", dude.

The girls are learning Norwegian in school and Melita, in particular, seems very fond of the language.   Here is a sound clip of Melita reading her Norwegian lesson. You can really get a flavor for the unique beauty of the language.
https://www.box.com/s/61ee8bb16e38c0002996

Annaliese is a bit more reserved about speaking the language, but she has been verbal in other ways.  She learned to type properly in school and has been coming up with lists of words that she can type all with the left or right hand.  She found over 140 words that can be typed only with the left hand -- the longest being "aggravated." 

In the same spirit (we are related after all), I came up with the following poem with some help from Anne last week.  I wish I could say we had had one too many beers when we wrote this one, but sadly no.   I recommend any underage readers close your ears tightly at this point and apologies upfront.

 

Ode to the right hand.

I'll join him upon my pink plump hill.

I'll link him in my oily lip.

I'll lull him on my yolky boil
My only milky hump

If any of you feel inspired, come up with some "handed" poems and send them my way.  We could start a revolution.  "Ha det."