Little Pixy Boots on Love: The Shovel's in the Ground!

Now that yours truly's Norwegian language standard has risen above the kindergarten level, I've started reading more and more newspapers and local magazines that I can get my hands on - from the leftover newspapers in the trains to local municipality magazines - I'm always hungry for more brain-food.

It is common to have a hut for kids (barnehytte)
built for the kindergartens in Norway. This one is the
kids' play-hut at Fredly kindergarten near Trondheim.

The most interesting observation to a city girl like me is the love that Norwegians have for nature, so much so that they use many farming terms and natural phenomenon to describe their daily life. Every time I discover a new expression, I chuckle and it brings a warm feeling to my heart that my adopted country has such down-to-earth closeness to their environment.

For example, I was flipping through my local municipal magazine when I came across this expression that puzzled me : "Spaden er i jorda!" I was thinking, ok, so the shovel's in the earth/ground.....so....?

Spaden er i jorda

I turned to my ready-made organic translator, a.k.a. Viking Man, next to me and asked him the significance of this term. Apparently this term expresses something new is on its way, a new beginning, a new project starting, which in this case, a multi-purpose hall is going to be constructed right below the new Vestby school. The hall will encompass "international goals" and there will be sports for everyone. What a wonderful open attitude towards incorporating foreigners in their midst!

Another place I came across the same expression "to stick a shovel in the ground", was news on the expansion of the Union Hotel - Swiss-style hotel in western Norway - which triggered one of last year's most inflamed architecture debates. The owners were ready to "stick the shovel in the ground" when they were informed by the National Heritage Board to build their planned expansion in the Swiss style - and not in a "modern way".

The Swiss-style Union Hotel Øye on the Hjørundfjord,
a favourite haunt of European royalty since 1891

Just so you know, Norwegians descended from a conservative farming background and they hold on to their traditions very fiercely, especially when it comes to architecture. Yet in the midst of preserving history, Norwegians also maintain a forward-looking stand on human rights for all. Most Norwegians remain positive to the incoming "aliens" into their midst, and embrace a socialist equal attitude towards them, although I hear that some politicians still remain xenophobic to the number of asylum-seekers and immigrants entering their country.


When I turned over a few more pages, I came across another article about the massive success of the Bauhaus megastore, something like IKEA in Tampines, Singapore but sells more of worktools, lights, bathroom, floor, wall tiles, garden equipment, plants and even inflatable water rafts. The caption under one photo went "Ikke høysesong for hage akkurat nå, men snøfresene går unna så det suser" (It's not high season for the garden now, but snow-blowers go as fast as it whistles).

Whistles?

Apparently it's a reference to how the wind "whistles" or "whizzes" when it blows fast by your ears. In this case, the snow-blowers "whistles" out of the megastore like the wind blowing a piece of tissue paper - quickly out of sight and out of mind. In America, I believe a similar expression is "selling like hot cakes".

In case you are wondering what a snow-blower looks like, here it is!

Like the grass-blower you use after mowing the grass, in Norway, they have snow-blowers so that one doesn't have to shovel after every snowfall.

The act of "blowing" by the wind is also used sometimes to mean a whiff of fresh air into something old and traditional. On the Moss Avis (avis = newspaper), I came across a headline which says:

Blåser nytt liv i strikkekunsten

(It "blows" new life into the art of knitting). The article features how ladies - grandmas amongst others - are teaching the art of knitting to fourth-graders or 9 year-olds. Click on the headline to see pictures of Norwegian schoolboys knitting and the full article.

A funny expression that relates to some Norwegian's love for fishing is slapp i fisken ("relaxed in fish", literally). It refers not to fish, but fat on a flabby person whose "rolls" of fat round their middle are probably as flabby and loose like a fish that is dead. Nice.

Some Norwegian expressions (also known as uttrykk) are similar to English ones, like se hvilken vei vinden blåser (see which way the wind blows) or se hvor landet ligger (lit. "see how the land lies", or "see how the cookie crumbles") which is means to wait and see how the course of future would turn out. They are a throwback to the times when a farmer needs to gauge the success of his crops by the weather changes and whether the land is suitable for cultivation.

Another interesting expression relating to sound and nature is the Norwegian equivalent of "you get what you asked for" - hva man roper i skogen, får man svar (What one call for in the forest, will be what they get a response (echo) of). Doesn't that bring to mind a very lonely vast forest where the only voice is your own? It sure gives a picture of the vast land that Norway has in comparison to its population (similar or slightly less than Singapore).


Their love for the sea and sailing is never far from their thoughts. Seile sin egen sjø translates to sailing in one's own lake, which means to be left to one's own devices. Which brings to mind that the Norwegian fish industry and local economy has recently been splashed with cold water by the country with the world's largest population...

Recently on Aftenposten, Norway's most widely circulated newspaper, the main headline screamed "Kina tar hevn" (China takes revenge). The blurb beneath reads, "Næringslivet merker en kinesisk isfront i kjølvannet av fredspristildelingen og ber om krisemøte med statsministeren" (The economy marks a Chinese ice-front in the wake of the Peace Prize allocation and requests for a crisis meeting with the Prime Minister).

A second cold war from a furious republic?

The list of expressions relating to the ice, wind, earth and water are endless. But what about animals? Here's some:

• ikke skue hunden på hårene (don't judge the dog by its hair)
  

English equivalent: don't judge a book by its cover

• ikke selge skinnet før bjørnen er skutt (don't sell the (bear)skin before the bear is shaken) English equivalent: don't count your chickens before they are hatched

Apparently this one harks back to the sport of hunting (which is still carried out by Norwegians today) where the bear might be shot but still alive, and the hunter might be trying to sell its fur and skin before it's dead. I think there must have been one or two such bears that jumped up and ran away before it could be skinned, hah!

• kry som en hane (be as full as a rooster) English equivalent: proud as a peacock

• kjøpe katta i sekken (to buy a cat in a bag) English: to buy a pig in the poke

Interestingly, this quote has similar expressions in many European countries, which originated in the Late Middle Ages, where tricksters would sell cats, rather than pork meat, in a bag as meat was scarce then. A more commonly used English idiom is "not to let the cat out of the bag", which refers to the same scheme because if the cat was out of the bag, the secret is out in the open.

I hope I have given a sense of how Norwegians' love for nature has infused their daily lives. Right now, many Norwegians are gearing up to cheer for their favourite skier and ski-jumper in the winter World Championship (VM - verdensmesterskap), including my boss who catches up on sports news on internet-tv during lunch breaks!

In the meantime, stay warm and we'll see how the wind blows the next time!

pixy