Expressions

There are more than a few odd things about the Norwegian language.  After all the work we went through to learn the different tenses of verbs in my Norwegian class, we found out soon thereafter that if the verb is obvious, it can just be skipped altogether.

Why in the world would it be okay to leave out a key element in a sentence?

It’s very weird to hear someone say, “I can Norwegian,” (“Jeg kan norske.”) It’s allowed to leave out the verb “speak” because it’s obvious what goes there  - more obvious to some than others, I suppose. So it’s possible to hear people say things like, “I will the store” or “I must to class.” Why not just say “GO” right in there with the sentence, as it’s not a very big word, even in Norwegian? But then, Norwegians are known to be quite the conservers. They don’t even waste a breath, as they often talk while sucking in air.

It’s common when talking to someone, that they make a sound like they just choked on something. They suck in a breath at the same time they say, “Ja.”  It’s as if what they are agreeing to couldn’t even wait until their next breath was taken and their comment has to come out immediately.  I don’t get it, but then I don’t get a lot of things Norwegian - like the expression, “Kan du slå på tråden?”

Word for word that is translated as, “Can you hit the thread?” or “Can you punch the string?” – it could go either way as the words used mean both things. That’s the literal translation, but the meaning is something that could never be guessed: “Can you give me a call?”  It hails, I’m sure, from the days of the switchboard operator having to physically connect people’s telephone lines.  But with modern day wireless phones, you’d think they’d come up with another way to ask the question that’s a little more obvious, since the words “phone,” “ring,” or “call” are not even part of the sentence.  Newcomers to Norway haven’t a clue what’s being asked.

Another oddity I heard recently describes someone who is determined and knows what they want.  This person has a “bone in their nose,” (bein i nesa).  I needed a full explanation of that one since the word “bein” is also the Norwegian word for “leg” and I couldn’t figured out what they actually meant when they said that – a leg up their nose?  What?  It’s not thought to be a negative expression if someone is described that way, but it makes one wonder just how that expression came to be.  At least there are no verbs being left out of that description.