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NORWEGIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Norwegian word of the day: Friluftsliv 

Today’s Norwegian word of the day should hopefully shed some light on Norwegians’ love for the outdoors.

Norwegian word of the day.
Caption Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash / Nicolas Raymond/FlickR

What does it mean? 

Friluftsliv isn’t a super hard nut to crack when it comes to the meaning of the word. Friluft means open air, and liv means life. 

When you combine the two words, you get outdoor (rather than open-air) life. This concept should perhaps be as (if not more) synonymous with Norway as concepts like hygge. Like hygge, frilustliv can comfortably stray into cliché territory. 

Norwegians are well known for their love of the outdoors, which extends all year round. So come wind, rain, snow or sunshine, they tend to make the most of getting out and about. 

Another saying which exemplifies this approach to outdoor life is “Det finnes ikke dårlig, bare dårlige klær” which means there is no bad weather, just bad clothes. 

This shows that there is no excuse worthy of stopping you from getting out there and enjoying an outdoors lifestyle. 

Norwegians invest heavily in weather-proof and weather-appropriate clothing for year-round activities. Many Norwegians are far more impressed with sports clothes and equipment than they would be a designer items costing a similar amount. 

On social media, there are plenty of groups for people in Norway’s big cities for people looking to enjoy the outdoors life with others. 

These people, or anyone who enjoys spending more time outside than inside, can be referred to as friluftsmenneske- meaning outdoors people. 

Use it like this. 

Norge er kjent for godt friluftsliv.

Norway is known for good outdoor life.

Nina er et friluftsmenneske, hun elsker å gå på ski og tur i skogen.

Nina is an outdoors-person, she loves skiing and going for walks in the woods.

Friluftsliv er viktig for meg.

Outdoorslife is important to me.

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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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