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NORWEGIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Norwegian expression of the day: Lønningspils

Need an excuse to grab a beer? Norway has plenty. Here's one of the most celebrated ones.

Norwegian expression of the day: Lønningspils
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need to know lønningspils?

Because, to Norwegian, this monthly event is nearly so sacred that it would merit a holiday of its own. Norwegian’s actually have a lot of different sayings which express scenarios in which they might want to sip a nice cold beverage. Whether it’s outside, on pay day, in the park or on a Friday “types” of beer in Norway, besides the usual line-up of lagers or IPAs. 

What does it mean?

Lønningspils means ‘pay day beer’. Lønning means ‘pay’ and pils is slang for øl, which means ‘beer’.

In Norway, people often celebrate that joyous occasion it is to see the fruits of your labour being virtually transferred into your bank account by going out for a drink with colleagues.

But why would you need that big of an excuse to go out for a beer with your colleagues? Don’t Fridays do it for people north of Denmark?

Well, yes, they do, we have fredagspils – Friday beer – too.

But remember that alcohol is terrifyingly expensive in Norway. An average pint easily costs you around €9. 

In fact, in the whole world, only Doha (Qatar) and Dubai (UAE) has higher average beer prices than Oslo.

So if you ask a colleague, skal vi ta en øl etter jobb? – want to grab a beer after work? – a couple of days before lønningspils, don’t take offence if they say, jeg ville gjerne, men jeg har så lite penger på kortet – I’d love to, but I have so little money left on my card (kortet is Norwegian slang for ‘bank account’).

Of course, they may be wriggling themselves out of your offer, but it could also truly be that they don’t have the money to go for a drink that day. 

But mostly, lønningspils is a concept invented so that people can grab a drink or six without feeling guilty about it after. You earned it.

Other kinds of pils

We like having an excuse to go for a pils in Norway. It suits our work-hard play-hard identity we like to think we have (we really don’t).

There are therefore several occasions reserved for pils:

Utepils – outdoor beer, for when the weather permits it

Pils i parken – beer in the park, for when the weather permits it

Fredagspils – Friday beer, just because, you know, it’s Friday

(Going for a pils is not necessarily synonymous with having a beer, you can have any kind of drink. Just like ‘grabbing a beer’ in English doesn’t necessarily imply your drink being a beer.)

While not a beer exactly, the expression lille lørdag, or “little Saturday” is seen as an opportunity to grab a bite to eat or go for a beer to mark the middle of the working week. 

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For members

NORWEGIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Norwegian word of the day: Middelmådig

Given that Norwegians don’t like to kick up too much of a fuss, they sometimes settle for less.

Norwegian word of the day: Middelmådig

What does it mean?

Middelmådig is the Norwegian word for mediocre. The word is borrowed from Danish, but this should come as no surprise.

Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are considered mutually intelligible, meaning users of the languages should be able to understand one another.

Norwegian, particularly, borrows plenty of words from Swedish and Danish. This was due to the country’s various historical unions with the other two nations.

This led to a large influence of Swedish and Danish on the Norwegian language, as Norway was typically the poorer and less influential country.

Things have changed these days , and the countries stand on a more even footing with one another, mostly thanks to oil. Still, the impact of Swedish and Danish has remained, despite various movements to make the language moreNorwegian

Back to the word middelmådig, Norwegians typically don’t like confrontation. Therefore, some may settle for mediocrity. This is most likely to happen at a restaurant when the food isn’t totally awful (helt dårlig), but it’s not great – or arrived colder than it was meant to. 

The word isn’t used just for mediocrity. It directly translates to the middle level or middle strength. Therefore, you can use the word to describe being adequate at something. In this sense, you would “være middelmådig begavet,” or “be moderately gifted” when translated to English.

Use it like this:

Mine fotballferdigheter er middelmådige.

My football skills are mediocre.

Kunnskapen min om dette emnet er middelmådig.

My knowledge of this subject is mediocre.

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