| BondiTram
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| 135269. Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:41 pm |
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| Hans Mof wrote: | The Norwegian 'hell' translates as 'luck'.
'Hell' in Norwegian is 'helvete'. |
Would that explain why I saw few dyslexic Norwegians when I was in Switzerland (Helvetia)? |
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| King of Quok
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| 135278. Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:08 pm |
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| I can't find a Heaven on earth anywhere. The nearest you can get is 'Havana' or 'Milford Haven' or a place in Sweden called 'Havan' (with an accented first 'a' of the sort this keyboard cannot do), though the locals may disagree with you. |
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| simonp
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| 160628. Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:24 am |
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| simonp wrote: | I have a similar picture of me, Mrs P and our car underneath that sign :-)
Actually Hell doesn't have much else going for it other than the station, or so it appeared when i was there |
thats not me in the blue car. my car is the one behind. I got the photo off ebay as my mate is selling the blue car and wanted to show that it wasnt a total piece of rubbish. BTW i also own a fiat 126 but i'm not stupid enough to try and drive it to norway |
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| eggshaped
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| 214014. Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:21 am |
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| Quote: | | I can't find a Heaven on earth anywhere. The nearest you can get is 'Havana' or 'Milford Haven' or a place in Sweden called 'Havan' (with an accented first 'a' of the sort this keyboard cannot do), though the locals may disagree with you. |
There's a "heavener" in Oklahoma, five paradises in USA (and one in Guyana), a Bliss in Idaho, a Utopia in Australia's Northern Territories and a Valhalla in New York State.
s: Times Atlas of the world. |
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| Menecairiel
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| 347010. Wed May 28, 2008 8:29 pm |
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Norway had the (dis)-pleasure of being one of the only countries in the world with a priest as a Prime Minister.
Hel, yes with one l, in Norse mythology was where people went when they hadn't died in bloody battle. It was considered a very dull place indeed, not like Valhall, where people killed each other every day, got drunk and had wild sex...
Sounds like the world today actually. Apart from people don't tend to come back when they're dead. Unless they are on American TV shows. Or Torchwood/Doctor Who. |
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| suze
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| 347242. Thu May 29, 2008 6:35 am |
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Oh dear Menecairiel, you could start me off there ...
So yes, Norway had Kjell Magne Bondevik, a Lutheran minister and Christian People's Party (i.e. Conservative) politician, as Prime Minister between 1997 and 2000 and again between 2001 and 2005.
But who else has there been?
The first one that came to mind was Ian Paisley - who as First Minister, is the nearest it gets to being Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He is also a minister of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, much as there some doubt as whether he has ever actually been legitimately ordained.
I then wondered about Presidents of the USA, and it turns out that there has been one who was also a minister - James Garfield (President for six months in 1881) was a minister of the Disciples of Christ, although he left the priesthood and became a lawyer. |
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| Tas
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| 347243. Thu May 29, 2008 6:37 am |
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Presumably so he could screw people and not get turfed out, yes?
:-D
Tas |
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| The Great Prickly of Pear
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| 347244. Thu May 29, 2008 6:40 am |
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| And the current president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, used to be a bishop. And he is the first president since 61 years who isn't a member of the Colorado Pary |
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| suze
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| 347254. Thu May 29, 2008 6:53 am |
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Yup, good hit TGPoP. Señor Lugo asked to be laicized (removed from the priesthood) before he ran for President, but the Vatican said that bishops can't be laicized. Since he is therefore still a priest, he wasn't actually allowed to run for office under Paraguayan law - it's not yet clear how that one will be resolved.
He's a socialist and ran more or less as an Independent - his party affiliation is purely nominal. Incidentally since he is of course unmarried, Paraguay's First Lady is his sister.
Another one. Canaan Banana was President of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 until fired by Mugabe, and also a Methodist minister. He was later defrocked after being imprisoned for sodomy; while this was politically motivated, Banana's wife confirmed that he was gay. |
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| samivel
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| suze
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| 347334. Thu May 29, 2008 8:57 am |
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Thanks samivel, I'd looked for such a page but hadn't thought to use the word "pastor".
I've met Bill Blaikie, one of the Canadian MPs who gets a mention there. A good old fashioned socialist from a liberal church - so liberal, in fact, that its Moderator even got away with saying that he didn't believe in the Resurrection! |
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| TubewayAndy
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| 347380. Thu May 29, 2008 10:17 am |
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| I worked in Trondheim for a couple of weeks in 1990. So yes I have visited Hell |
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| CodJohn
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| 477446. Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:41 pm |
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Around 1959-1960, angry parents burned their childrens textbooks because they were not satisfied with the grammar and language in general. In 1959 a reformation of the Norwegian language took place, strongly suggesting a "merging" of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokm%C3%A5l]Bokmål and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nynorsk]Nynorsk.
A lot of people on both sides of the conflict did not approve of this, and among the protests were burning of new textbooks.
Unfortunately I can not post a source on this forum. I read this in a book I find credible (The Norwegian Broadcasting Company is behind it), but I was unable to find an internet source. |
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| suze
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| 477463. Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:55 pm |
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The proposed merged form was given the name Samnorsk, but the government finally abandoned the idea in 2002.
And yes, wonderfully mature behaviour by the Norwegian Young Conservatives (Unge Høyres Landsforbund). That body prefers Bokmål and filmed an election broadcast which showed the burning of the Nynorsk dictionary. Not that you'd ever otherwise associate a Conservative party with seeking to deny rights to minorities ...
That burning is covered in this article from the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. (The article is in Norwegian; I think it's Bokmål.) |
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| Dix
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| 625545. Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:04 am |
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One possible version of Norwegian for "Heaven" would be "Himmel". There a several of these in Europe. According to Google the nearest one is in Sweden, approximately 100 km from the Norwegian-Swedish border.
Tourists will be flocking.
A propros mass migration over that border: Python's "Life of Brian" was censored in Norway. Entrepreneuring Swedish cinema owners marketed the film as "so funny it's not allowed in Norway".
Wars may be a thing of past history in that corner of the world, but they still take the p*ss whenever possible. |
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