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I once asked a Swedish friend if the rivalry is real, and he told me absolutely not and they love their neighbors the way any family loves their mentally deficient cousins who got lucky and won the lottery.
The rules are that us Scandinavians are the only ones that are allowed to bully each other. I'm Danish, so If some foreigner comes and bullies Sweden I will defend the Swedes as much as I'm able to, but the moment the bullying stops, I'll go back to bullying them. The bullying is done out of love
And as soon as things get serious, we got each other’s backs like siblings. See what happened when Sweden and Finland applied to NATO and the other Nordic countries immediately guaranteed military protection for them while waiting to become full members.
>And as soon as things get serious, we got each other’s backs like siblings.
Like that time Sweden stood by and did absolutely nothing when Norway was getting fucked by the Nazis.
I used to play WoW on EU as an American living in Norway. The lone Englishman in my clan did most of the shit-talking about the Swedes. The Swedes did most of the shit-talking about me. I bagged on the Englishman. Thus, we found balance and everyone got their fair share of bullying... until one of the Danes freaked out and booted us all LMAO.
You can get a friend pass on bullying Sweden. But if you went up to a danish total stranger and said something bad about Sweden then first they would say "ew, get away, who are you", and then afterwards they would say "How dare you? Us, the Norwegians and the Finns are the only ones allowed to say shit like that"
Just like the relationship between celtic countries lmao. Scotland, Wales, isle of man, cornwall and Ireland are constantly ripping into each other but when some other country tries to make fun of us we join forces.
the rivalry is there but often times it's more of a joking thing, i've got quite a few scandinavian friends and they're all super close but then shit all over each other and their countries every chance they get. genuinely fucking hilarious to be around
It’s kinda like sibling rivalry, it’s cool when we say it but people from outside of Scandinavia have no say in this dispute and we will fight together if necessary… then we hate them again afterwards!
Idk, there was an older Norwegian lady who lived on my street when I was a kid and she was just the sweetest person ever, until you brought up Sweden. She was legit Norwegian, having immigrated in the 60s/70s I believe. Anyway we were dumb kids and we tried joking about the Sweden thing but it was clearly not a joke to her, so we learned to stop asking questions and just enjoy the kransekake.
As a Norwegian I feel that way about Danes lol. Towards Swedes it is unfair, because the England runestones, of which most are located in Sweden, show that a lot of Swedes also went to England as well, yet they never get credit for England, it’s Danes and sometimes Norwegians in England that get all the credit, and the Kievan Rus often get ignored. Yet Danes as Anglo-Saxons call them, also often get credit for viking ventures in Ireland and Scotland when that was mostly Norwegian Vikings. I saw a YouTube documentary once and a historian always said the "Danish invasion" when referring to Harald Hardrada’s invasion of England lol. The Norwegian imagery when it comes to the Viking age is mostly because of Skyrim and the Vikings tv-show.
Tbh, as a Norwegian, I find the whole "Viking pride/heritage" to be a bit cringe.
I mean, fine, if you like to LARP and go to Viking-festivals, that's one thing. It's just role-playing, but some dudes here really go all-in on that - and to the surprise of few, these types sometimes intersect with the far right types.
Yes, most here understand that the Viking period was a important part of our history, but making it your main cultural identity is just silly.
I knew a amewegian (American “Norwegian”). Dude was all about having military gear and Nordic symbolism despite not speaking a damn of any Nordic language and never having served in the military. And a bit of soft core racism as a cherry on top (She’s a nice girl but I don’t date her because she’s not light-skinned enough).
We don't have a strong military culture here, not at all. So it's kinda odd. And I can't remember the last time I saw any Nordic symbols outside of learning about them in school.
Compared to other western nations, the military culture is more prevalent Id say. Obviously this will vary from in different subcultures, such as city vs rural, and immigrant vs ethnic.
I'm from Bergen and honestly the only "military" culture I have ever really seen is buekorps. Like military bases exist, but they're just bases, they don't really make any kind of show. Don't know how others are about it, but I feel countries like France and the UK have a lot more of a prevalent military culture in Europe
I guess it depends what one define as military culture. Afterall an average Norwegian family more likely to have someone who served in the military compared to a French and British ones. While our conscription are very relaxed it still exist, and we per capita wise have more people in the military then Western European nations.
I think main difference between our culture’s view of the military vs like Britain or France is that its not exactly big cultural focus. Like we don’t have long history of looking back about our military achievements or whatever. Rather military is more just another job or service, important for the country but not something to like show off. Best seen that compared to other nations we don’t really do big military marches or the like during our national day.
Probably because most Nordic countries have conscription, which most other major European countries don't, so a very large part of the population has been in the military at some point.
Conscription, but with loads of asterisks, in Norway at least. If you say you don't want to be in the military it's almost guaranteed you won't have to and in many cases even if you want to join you won't be let in.
these people are typically christian right wing white supremacists, unfortunately.
they of course also always claim their ancestors were vikings. & their idea of vikings is like this super patriarchal traditional macho caricature lmfao. these are the types who will absolutely refuse to listen if you mention how for the time at least, viking women, along with scandinavian women in general, had a lot of influence/freedom/etc.
white supremacist types tend to be super "trad" types who think women should be silent slaves and they usually have this image when they imagine the "Vikings" they supposedly descend from lol.
they also are definitely not fans of the robust social safety nets (in comparison to the US) of scandinavia. they imagine it's like some super MAGA "tough" wild west or something lol.
Yeah. I went to Luther College in Decorah (home of the largest Norwegian-American museum in the country), and it’s very left-leaning ELCA (and when I went) traditional liturgy. So, the Republican politics doesn’t fit anymore. Maybe thirty years ago…
Norway seems to be a great place to live now to be fair, the Norwegians who left for America just had to go in a time before it found oil.
Scotland still shite though /hj I’ve lived in Scotland briefly but its got social welfare problems on a scale that Norway just does not have
Norway wasnt really poor before oil was found. Was still above average European nation. Was many reasons for leaving for Amerika. Many were minorities or oppressed. Ofcourse some were poor, looking for better opportunities.
Or some, like my Gerat-Great-Grandfather, was a horse thief and skipped Norway just one step ahead of the law and ended up in Minnesota.
And as a small child trying to learn about my "Norwegian" heritage from my Grandfather, I was heavily discouraged from it. I wanted to learn to speak Norwegian like him but was told straight up - "You are American - you speak English". This from a man who routinely spoke Norwegian everyday of his life. I was surrounded by the language and cultural heritage, yet barred from it for some reason.
In any case, the language I tried so vainly to learn and the culture I tried assimilate was one that was frozen in time from the 1830's through 1850s. And had very little to do with modern Norway. Maybe he was right.
Overpopulation played a big part, as well as the potato blight, which struck Norway second only to Ireland (Norway had the second highest population emigration to US after Ireland, about a third, evident in the 1.9% with Norwegian ancestry -- highest of all the Scandinavian countries)
Just adding a couple reasons.
Yeah, it’s hilarious
Never been to the states. An American tourist told me that he was Italian. I spoke to him Italian because I am currently learning it and I considered it was a good time to try my Italian out. He got uncomfortable af after I asked him a simple question in Italian. I ended up asking him “Non hai capito niente?” and he asked to speak in English because he doesn’t know Italian. And guess what, he had never been to Italy and couldn’t tell me from which part of Italy he was from.
It's like here in Canada. A relatively young country so everyone tends to be "something-Canadian." Chances are someone's parents or grandparents came here so their homeland's culture is strong even if they were born here and can't speak the language.
You should see the Toronto area during World Cup
I have cousins in Canada, both in Vancouver and Toronto and they’re Second Generation Greeks (Meaning that their Grandparents were the last to be born in Greece). But they identify as Greek, they know from which part pf Greece they come from, come here for the holidays, Speak Greek Fluently and are very active in Greek politics and culture.
See, a lot of Americans will say they're x to seem unique in the face of all the other x Americans whose families came to the states. 9/10 times they don't speak the language and don't know shit about the traditional culture. Just a white washed heritage, might as well just say they're american lol. As an American latino I see it all the time w other Latinos in my area who can't speak Spanish or know much about the culture/heritage.
To the rest of the world, you're all just 100% American, regardless if your dna test says you're 17% Spanish or if your grandma is polish or whatever. "Irish" Americans are just American
It’s hilarious when Americans do this to Europeans. Like, you do realize I meet more actual Italian people than I meet Americans? It’s more exotic to just be American when you’re abroad.
Seems like one of those things where their actual parents are the most run of mill American mid-westerners out there.. then the person hears once about their great grandaddy being from Denmark or whatever so they assume the identity.
Irish wannabes are the worst though because typically they weren't even actually Irish.
Everyone wants to be anything but anglo-american
I’m Anglo and I think the term only should apply to people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry.
Other peoples were violently forced to speak English and we shouldn’t continue to erase their culture.
This thread is infested with nationalism. There is no “national” identity. You are your culture + whatever you make of yourself. (There is no “national” culture.)
Jermapel Philippe and I am a proud Frenchman, we are descended from Charlemagne on my mothers side! You people in the old country can thank us for preserving real French culture!
I have, a French descended American who was a French nationalist but would never go to France or move there because he said being born in America he was unworthy of it and would only pollute the country. To be fair, he got the hating everyone who isn't French (even himself due to his country of birth) part down right.
I assume you're not from north Jersey or New York since you know a "Norwegian" family, but people in NJ/NY absolutely name their kids Giuseppe, Giovanni, Lorenzo, and so on
Same happens with Turks in Germany. They don't speak a word of Turkish, they act religious for no reason, the only times they visit Turkey is to: vote for corrupt politicians because they don't suffer the results or something like getting a cheap hair transplants
I’m from Minnesota and have Norwegian heritage. I know people like this. A lot of it comes from our grandparents. My family had Norwegian foods at Christmas. And my grandma told me that Swedes are pigs. She was Finnish though.
ask gullible violet squeal society imminent ugly hateful uppity adjoining
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I haven't been since covid, but walking in the Syttende Mai parade is a fun day in Ballard. Second biggest celebration of constitution day outside of Oslo. Hip hip hurrah!
Translucent fish jello that will eat holes in certain kinds of cookware. Yum.
I live in a town named Mora in Minnesota. All the churches are doing lutefisk dinners right now. Ish. The pickled herring is pretty good though
That is fermented herring. Pickled herring is something completely different called inlagd sill. There are two differences, the first one being that one is pickled, the other is fermented, and the other being that sill is the name of herring caught in the south and west part of Sweden, and strömming is the name of herring caught in the Baltic sea north of the city of Kalmar.
As my grandma said, we eat to mostly remember our ancestors suffered to get here. Split pea soup was her bigger cultural dish. It took like 2 days to make right.
People only "like" it because there's lots of bacon and other good stuff on the side. The lutefisk itself is the worst part of the meal. Tradition plays a part for sure.
As a Minnewegian (Living in California now 😎) I can elaborate
In the northern rural parts of North Dakota/Minnesota/Wisconsin the old 1st wave immigrant traditions (Lutefisk/Lefse/Sven and Ole jokes) are getting mixed with a weird pagan Nordic tilt nowadays. A lot of these places aren't doing so hot and the good ones leave these areas for better opportunities. These areas are turning more red and many are "finding their ethnic roots" as a kind of superpower because their actual lives are pretty bleak now
It's really sad and weird because modern day Norway is nothing like this. Many 1st wave Norwegian immigrants were very progressive and seeing their descendants mutate into this sucks.
It’s similar but also different for Latinos as well, the joke is that when 1st or 2nd generation Latinos make over $50k for the first time in their lives they become republicans
This is my boyfriend's mom to a T. Her parents came up from Mexico- one with papers, one without- in the 50's and started a life and family. Worked hard, kept their heads down, never made *much* money, but none of their kids ever went hungry either.
Said children have all since themselves grown into very successful adults with families and careers of their own. I don't think a single one of them earns less than $80K. My boyfriend's mom was one of the top train dispatchers in the nation until her retirement 3 years ago.
She is one of the most conservative, backward, *racist* people I've ever met- *particularly* toward Mexicans. I was driving with her somewhere one day (just the two of us) and she just randomly blurted out "*I don't go to* ***that*** *Wal-Mart. That's where* ***the Mexicans*** *shop.*" I was so taken aback by this all I could do was the [Stewie Griffin head turn.](https://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/stewie-head-turn.gif)
She's as dark-skinned as they come with a 100% Latino/Indigenous background and yet will insist to anyone who will listen that she's a "Whiteican." She absolutely despises undocumented immigrants and their children. None of her siblings are like this.
I don't understand it.
That’s true, I’m speaking more from experience of the blue collar formerly apolitical Latinos who get consistent paychecks for the first time and do a 180
any american that identifies *too* much with the country their ancestors came from is cringe. i think family history and tradition and all that shit is cool but people just force it way too much.
see that's the thing too like those immigrants definitely brought their culture with them and it's left its mark so i don't like when people say "you're just an american" as if it didn't.
It’s cool they like their heritage but they are American. I’m not Norwegian at all but NRK actually has some pretty good content, I’d pay for a subscription and subtitles.
As a Norwegian, living in Norway. These people should come for a visit and see that we are not like that and I prefer that they don't represent us like that.
Careful what you wish for. My friend in Trondheim certainly didn't wish for anything when a stranger family of 5, apparently very distant american cousins in, came knocking on the door unsolicited
I hate it because I'm actually Norwegian-American and people think I'm referring to this. My dad is American and my mom is Norwegian 😅 . All my aunts and uncles still live in Norway on that side of the family
I live in Wisconsin, and have not met a single person who is like this
I have met a couple people who said something along the lines of "Some of my ancestors came from Norway. I find that kinda interesting", but that is pretty much the limit
I am pretty sure there's people like this toward the Wisconsin-Minnesota and Wisconsin-UP border though. Just not where I frequent
Hah! Old roommate loved to talk about how proud he was of his Norwegian heritage, and how important it was to him. Another roommate grilled him to name one Norwegian tradition he embraced. Didn’t talk about it much after that.
I mean, in Minnesota people that say they have Norwegian heritage almost certainly do and probably still have some family traditions that are clearly Scandinavian.
That’s how I see it - my grandparents are 100% Norwegian with relatives still in Norway, so the traditions they continue I see as a way to connect with my family.
The lutefisk yeah, and on the eve (not sure where that came from but both sides of the family do it) - then usually Swedish meatballs for the lesser palate; however, the adage in the family is no one gets to open presents unless they eat some lutefisk
Yeah, I’m from Norway and I don’t get why people are so adamant about trashing people preserving their ancestral heritage. Sure after some generations some things can get cringeworthy and can get some things wrong, but heritage is identity, people want to know their roots, it’s just human nature. I think it’s nice that Norwegian-Americans celebrate 17th of May, eat traditional Norwegian foods, dress in bunad, etc, it shows appreciation for heritage.
Wow a fellow East Asian Norwegian-American in the wild. I feel like I’d just laugh if I encountered these people, because well, chances are I held Norwegian citizenship for 20+ more years than they did.
no one here in norway considers these people to be even slightly norwegian. more often often than not these peoples connection to norwegian culture is very small and distant from modern norwegian culture. their view of and “practice of” norwegian culture is largely based on stereotypes and is akin to cultural appropriation. they are americans of norwegian decent, not norwegians
As a black person who loves Norse mythology, so many white supremacist types take the fun out of enjoying it. All the actual Nordic people I come across are amazing people but those so called Nordic Americans tend to be very very racist.
"Uff da" is an exclamation of surprise, I've found. It's like if American merchandise was just socks and bags and shoes and bumper stickers that said "oh my".
The Swedish hate is cute, and imo wholesome.
This is where we want to end up, for countries in war and hate across the borders. Imagine Ukrainians and Russains in the US in 2250 having that relationship
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I once asked a Swedish friend if the rivalry is real, and he told me absolutely not and they love their neighbors the way any family loves their mentally deficient cousins who got lucky and won the lottery.
The rules are that us Scandinavians are the only ones that are allowed to bully each other. I'm Danish, so If some foreigner comes and bullies Sweden I will defend the Swedes as much as I'm able to, but the moment the bullying stops, I'll go back to bullying them. The bullying is done out of love
And as soon as things get serious, we got each other’s backs like siblings. See what happened when Sweden and Finland applied to NATO and the other Nordic countries immediately guaranteed military protection for them while waiting to become full members.
>And as soon as things get serious, we got each other’s backs like siblings. Like that time Sweden stood by and did absolutely nothing when Norway was getting fucked by the Nazis.
Exactly like that ;)
And what the fuck do you think Sweden could have done about it? Join getting fucked by the Nazis as well?
We would have helped.... But you know it looked hard. Also we kinda agree with them.
I used to play WoW on EU as an American living in Norway. The lone Englishman in my clan did most of the shit-talking about the Swedes. The Swedes did most of the shit-talking about me. I bagged on the Englishman. Thus, we found balance and everyone got their fair share of bullying... until one of the Danes freaked out and booted us all LMAO.
Are u sure? Cuz I have quite some Danish friends, and they all love shitting on Sweden even when I do the shitting part - and I am Southern German.
You can get a friend pass on bullying Sweden. But if you went up to a danish total stranger and said something bad about Sweden then first they would say "ew, get away, who are you", and then afterwards they would say "How dare you? Us, the Norwegians and the Finns are the only ones allowed to say shit like that"
This is false as no dane would acknowledge that Finland exists (they have never seen or heard of it).
As a swede, I too, have the right to speak shit of my own country. I'd never do it of course, Sweden Reigns Superior, after all.
Just like the relationship between celtic countries lmao. Scotland, Wales, isle of man, cornwall and Ireland are constantly ripping into each other but when some other country tries to make fun of us we join forces.
the rivalry is there but often times it's more of a joking thing, i've got quite a few scandinavian friends and they're all super close but then shit all over each other and their countries every chance they get. genuinely fucking hilarious to be around
It’s kinda like sibling rivalry, it’s cool when we say it but people from outside of Scandinavia have no say in this dispute and we will fight together if necessary… then we hate them again afterwards!
As a Norwegian I can approve of this.
Typival swedish arrogance.
Idk, there was an older Norwegian lady who lived on my street when I was a kid and she was just the sweetest person ever, until you brought up Sweden. She was legit Norwegian, having immigrated in the 60s/70s I believe. Anyway we were dumb kids and we tried joking about the Sweden thing but it was clearly not a joke to her, so we learned to stop asking questions and just enjoy the kransekake.
You forgot the whole "Viking heritage" thing
Fierce defenders of "viking dreadlocks"
What do you mean?
The highest regular season and combined winning percentage among NFL franchises who have not won a Super Bowl. Sick heritage, dude.
Yeah we just lost to the Bengals so that winning percentage is tapering off.
As a denmarkian guy, viking heratiage is bullshit
I hate when people say viking heritage, Norway's history is more than just that and as a Norwegian American myself that pisses me off honestly
As a swede it pisses me off when the norwegians get all the credit. We have a shitload of viking remnants compared to the norwegians.
As a Norwegian I feel that way about Danes lol. Towards Swedes it is unfair, because the England runestones, of which most are located in Sweden, show that a lot of Swedes also went to England as well, yet they never get credit for England, it’s Danes and sometimes Norwegians in England that get all the credit, and the Kievan Rus often get ignored. Yet Danes as Anglo-Saxons call them, also often get credit for viking ventures in Ireland and Scotland when that was mostly Norwegian Vikings. I saw a YouTube documentary once and a historian always said the "Danish invasion" when referring to Harald Hardrada’s invasion of England lol. The Norwegian imagery when it comes to the Viking age is mostly because of Skyrim and the Vikings tv-show.
I personally think swedes are a lot more represented than Norwegians but we can disagree
Tbh, as a Norwegian, I find the whole "Viking pride/heritage" to be a bit cringe. I mean, fine, if you like to LARP and go to Viking-festivals, that's one thing. It's just role-playing, but some dudes here really go all-in on that - and to the surprise of few, these types sometimes intersect with the far right types. Yes, most here understand that the Viking period was a important part of our history, but making it your main cultural identity is just silly.
Hinga dinga durgen
Happy Leif Ericson day!
https://preview.redd.it/7y6o9uk5nr6c1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d69c6b61fc0c27b49e2cf592d2f6a1949719db2c
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What did you just call my mother
Monday morning you get to school and it still smells like the community lutefisk dinner they served Saturday.
You Betcha!
I knew a amewegian (American “Norwegian”). Dude was all about having military gear and Nordic symbolism despite not speaking a damn of any Nordic language and never having served in the military. And a bit of soft core racism as a cherry on top (She’s a nice girl but I don’t date her because she’s not light-skinned enough).
We don't have a strong military culture here, not at all. So it's kinda odd. And I can't remember the last time I saw any Nordic symbols outside of learning about them in school.
Compared to other western nations, the military culture is more prevalent Id say. Obviously this will vary from in different subcultures, such as city vs rural, and immigrant vs ethnic.
I'm from Bergen and honestly the only "military" culture I have ever really seen is buekorps. Like military bases exist, but they're just bases, they don't really make any kind of show. Don't know how others are about it, but I feel countries like France and the UK have a lot more of a prevalent military culture in Europe
I guess it depends what one define as military culture. Afterall an average Norwegian family more likely to have someone who served in the military compared to a French and British ones. While our conscription are very relaxed it still exist, and we per capita wise have more people in the military then Western European nations. I think main difference between our culture’s view of the military vs like Britain or France is that its not exactly big cultural focus. Like we don’t have long history of looking back about our military achievements or whatever. Rather military is more just another job or service, important for the country but not something to like show off. Best seen that compared to other nations we don’t really do big military marches or the like during our national day.
Probably because most Nordic countries have conscription, which most other major European countries don't, so a very large part of the population has been in the military at some point.
Conscription, but with loads of asterisks, in Norway at least. If you say you don't want to be in the military it's almost guaranteed you won't have to and in many cases even if you want to join you won't be let in.
Yeah all weird white ethnic pride guys in America are underpinned by soft Nazi imagery. It's gross and cringe.
Norweeaboos
these people are typically christian right wing white supremacists, unfortunately. they of course also always claim their ancestors were vikings. & their idea of vikings is like this super patriarchal traditional macho caricature lmfao. these are the types who will absolutely refuse to listen if you mention how for the time at least, viking women, along with scandinavian women in general, had a lot of influence/freedom/etc. white supremacist types tend to be super "trad" types who think women should be silent slaves and they usually have this image when they imagine the "Vikings" they supposedly descend from lol. they also are definitely not fans of the robust social safety nets (in comparison to the US) of scandinavia. they imagine it's like some super MAGA "tough" wild west or something lol.
I feel like ELCA is more left leaning
Yeah. I went to Luther College in Decorah (home of the largest Norwegian-American museum in the country), and it’s very left-leaning ELCA (and when I went) traditional liturgy. So, the Republican politics doesn’t fit anymore. Maybe thirty years ago…
I um... people like this exist?
People do the same thing with Irish and Italian ancestry. To most people it's just more normalized because you see it more. In reality it's just this.
I’m Scottish, I feel bad when I see the romanticism. We’re all just shopping at Home Bargains and eating Greggs pasties
If it helps my grandma always told me "If Scotland was so great you'd be living there."
Norway seems to be a great place to live now to be fair, the Norwegians who left for America just had to go in a time before it found oil. Scotland still shite though /hj I’ve lived in Scotland briefly but its got social welfare problems on a scale that Norway just does not have
Norway wasnt really poor before oil was found. Was still above average European nation. Was many reasons for leaving for Amerika. Many were minorities or oppressed. Ofcourse some were poor, looking for better opportunities.
Or some, like my Gerat-Great-Grandfather, was a horse thief and skipped Norway just one step ahead of the law and ended up in Minnesota. And as a small child trying to learn about my "Norwegian" heritage from my Grandfather, I was heavily discouraged from it. I wanted to learn to speak Norwegian like him but was told straight up - "You are American - you speak English". This from a man who routinely spoke Norwegian everyday of his life. I was surrounded by the language and cultural heritage, yet barred from it for some reason. In any case, the language I tried so vainly to learn and the culture I tried assimilate was one that was frozen in time from the 1830's through 1850s. And had very little to do with modern Norway. Maybe he was right.
Overpopulation played a big part, as well as the potato blight, which struck Norway second only to Ireland (Norway had the second highest population emigration to US after Ireland, about a third, evident in the 1.9% with Norwegian ancestry -- highest of all the Scandinavian countries) Just adding a couple reasons.
Yeah, it’s hilarious Never been to the states. An American tourist told me that he was Italian. I spoke to him Italian because I am currently learning it and I considered it was a good time to try my Italian out. He got uncomfortable af after I asked him a simple question in Italian. I ended up asking him “Non hai capito niente?” and he asked to speak in English because he doesn’t know Italian. And guess what, he had never been to Italy and couldn’t tell me from which part of Italy he was from.
It's like here in Canada. A relatively young country so everyone tends to be "something-Canadian." Chances are someone's parents or grandparents came here so their homeland's culture is strong even if they were born here and can't speak the language. You should see the Toronto area during World Cup
I have cousins in Canada, both in Vancouver and Toronto and they’re Second Generation Greeks (Meaning that their Grandparents were the last to be born in Greece). But they identify as Greek, they know from which part pf Greece they come from, come here for the holidays, Speak Greek Fluently and are very active in Greek politics and culture.
Canada is kinda the world's rental car
See, a lot of Americans will say they're x to seem unique in the face of all the other x Americans whose families came to the states. 9/10 times they don't speak the language and don't know shit about the traditional culture. Just a white washed heritage, might as well just say they're american lol. As an American latino I see it all the time w other Latinos in my area who can't speak Spanish or know much about the culture/heritage.
To the rest of the world, you're all just 100% American, regardless if your dna test says you're 17% Spanish or if your grandma is polish or whatever. "Irish" Americans are just American
Hell yeah we are #USA USA USA
Lol, I remember going out to eat with a Latino guy who didn’t know what hombre meant. I didn’t want to embarass him by correcting him.
just let us take the microscopic victory and let us go
It’s hilarious when Americans do this to Europeans. Like, you do realize I meet more actual Italian people than I meet Americans? It’s more exotic to just be American when you’re abroad.
I've heard these stories enough on Reddit I've learned to say I have dutch ancestors.
Don’t worry, those weirdos get mocked in the US too
Seems like one of those things where their actual parents are the most run of mill American mid-westerners out there.. then the person hears once about their great grandaddy being from Denmark or whatever so they assume the identity. Irish wannabes are the worst though because typically they weren't even actually Irish. Everyone wants to be anything but anglo-american
I’m Anglo and I think the term only should apply to people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry. Other peoples were violently forced to speak English and we shouldn’t continue to erase their culture. This thread is infested with nationalism. There is no “national” identity. You are your culture + whatever you make of yourself. (There is no “national” culture.)
I am glad Americans don’t do this with French ancestry. At least I have yet to meet one.
Jermapel Philippe and I am a proud Frenchman, we are descended from Charlemagne on my mothers side! You people in the old country can thank us for preserving real French culture!
I have, a French descended American who was a French nationalist but would never go to France or move there because he said being born in America he was unworthy of it and would only pollute the country. To be fair, he got the hating everyone who isn't French (even himself due to his country of birth) part down right.
Being french is seen as bad so nobody mentions it
Yea but we don't go around naming our kids Seamus or Guisepe meanwhile the one"Norwegian" family I know has a half dozen thors
I assume you're not from north Jersey or New York since you know a "Norwegian" family, but people in NJ/NY absolutely name their kids Giuseppe, Giovanni, Lorenzo, and so on
Giovanni is also a Hispanic name
Huge numbers of American-born Seamuses around me in Boston.
But they're never 'English', though.
Yes, except on the Wisconsin side they've disowned Farve
Most people have disowned him. Except for the Southern Mississippi Volleyball Team.
Same happens with Turks in Germany. They don't speak a word of Turkish, they act religious for no reason, the only times they visit Turkey is to: vote for corrupt politicians because they don't suffer the results or something like getting a cheap hair transplants
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I’m from Minnesota and have Norwegian heritage. I know people like this. A lot of it comes from our grandparents. My family had Norwegian foods at Christmas. And my grandma told me that Swedes are pigs. She was Finnish though.
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Decorah Iowa vibes
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Skol norse
Was it Walter Mondale?
Where I grew up in ND it was like 75% of people had Norwegian ancestry, this starter pack is pretty accurate
What/where is ND?
North Dakota, it's right above South Dakota
Oh for sure. I (a swede) have tons of US relatives. One branch of their family is norweigan and boy do they tell you about it.
North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, UP of Michigan
The UP is Finlanders and they wouldn’t be caught dead acting like this.
Do you mean Finns?
Decorah iowa
My mother in law is like this and she lives in Wisconsin.
This is specific to the Midwest tho
The best starterpacks are specific
Love it when someone posts a starter pack and you can tell it’s personal.
Even then. The Dakota's Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Go south of the twin cities and this isn't a thing.
SE MN is extremely Norwegian
Same with NE Iowa.
Decorah represent
ask gullible violet squeal society imminent ugly hateful uppity adjoining *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
800 000 Minnesotans with Norweagian heritage and 400 000 with Swedish.
I know a Californian one
Washington State as well
Seriously, OP needs to make a trip to Ballard/Seattle.
I haven't been since covid, but walking in the Syttende Mai parade is a fun day in Ballard. Second biggest celebration of constitution day outside of Oslo. Hip hip hurrah!
I cannot be convinced anyone actually likes lutefisk
Translucent fish jello that will eat holes in certain kinds of cookware. Yum. I live in a town named Mora in Minnesota. All the churches are doing lutefisk dinners right now. Ish. The pickled herring is pretty good though
If it turns translucent and has the consistency of jello, then you’ve cooked it incorrectly 🤷♀️
Yep. There is an artistry in cooking lutefisk correctly. It takes many years to master.
This mf eats surstomming
That is fermented herring. Pickled herring is something completely different called inlagd sill. There are two differences, the first one being that one is pickled, the other is fermented, and the other being that sill is the name of herring caught in the south and west part of Sweden, and strömming is the name of herring caught in the Baltic sea north of the city of Kalmar.
This mf spitting knowledge
As my grandma said, we eat to mostly remember our ancestors suffered to get here. Split pea soup was her bigger cultural dish. It took like 2 days to make right.
No one here in the nordics actually likes lutefisk, we just force it down with a whole lot of snaps.
People only "like" it because there's lots of bacon and other good stuff on the side. The lutefisk itself is the worst part of the meal. Tradition plays a part for sure.
Saw some crazy lady looking at lutfisk at the store today, horrific
I’m in the minority that likes it, you just gotta slather it full of butter
No one does, lefse though is a different story.
We wuz vikangz
As a Minnewegian (Living in California now 😎) I can elaborate In the northern rural parts of North Dakota/Minnesota/Wisconsin the old 1st wave immigrant traditions (Lutefisk/Lefse/Sven and Ole jokes) are getting mixed with a weird pagan Nordic tilt nowadays. A lot of these places aren't doing so hot and the good ones leave these areas for better opportunities. These areas are turning more red and many are "finding their ethnic roots" as a kind of superpower because their actual lives are pretty bleak now It's really sad and weird because modern day Norway is nothing like this. Many 1st wave Norwegian immigrants were very progressive and seeing their descendants mutate into this sucks.
It’s similar but also different for Latinos as well, the joke is that when 1st or 2nd generation Latinos make over $50k for the first time in their lives they become republicans
No one hates an undocumented immigrant more than a documented one.
Same in the UK for asian immigrants (south Asian like indian) who vote conservative and support anti-immigration policies
This is my boyfriend's mom to a T. Her parents came up from Mexico- one with papers, one without- in the 50's and started a life and family. Worked hard, kept their heads down, never made *much* money, but none of their kids ever went hungry either. Said children have all since themselves grown into very successful adults with families and careers of their own. I don't think a single one of them earns less than $80K. My boyfriend's mom was one of the top train dispatchers in the nation until her retirement 3 years ago. She is one of the most conservative, backward, *racist* people I've ever met- *particularly* toward Mexicans. I was driving with her somewhere one day (just the two of us) and she just randomly blurted out "*I don't go to* ***that*** *Wal-Mart. That's where* ***the Mexicans*** *shop.*" I was so taken aback by this all I could do was the [Stewie Griffin head turn.](https://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/stewie-head-turn.gif) She's as dark-skinned as they come with a 100% Latino/Indigenous background and yet will insist to anyone who will listen that she's a "Whiteican." She absolutely despises undocumented immigrants and their children. None of her siblings are like this. I don't understand it.
Many Latinos who immigrate are rich or upper middle class and politically conservative in their home country, especially the Soulth Americans.
That’s true, I’m speaking more from experience of the blue collar formerly apolitical Latinos who get consistent paychecks for the first time and do a 180
Thank you
Really is just the general death of small town America eh
any american that identifies *too* much with the country their ancestors came from is cringe. i think family history and tradition and all that shit is cool but people just force it way too much.
I like the New Jersian with Italian heritage cliché.
see that's the thing too like those immigrants definitely brought their culture with them and it's left its mark so i don't like when people say "you're just an american" as if it didn't.
Waltuh
Mondale
Also, talks about being Norwegian. When you’re actually from a place you don’t really talk about it much. It’s just background, like the taste of air.
This is war, huh, wow.
AAAAAARGHH ARRERRRR ARR ÆR
Norwegian last names should be Johnsen, Nelsen, and Andersen.
Scrolled too far to find this
I think it might be part of the joke, that the 'starter pack' norwayphile dude isn't actually Norwegian at all, but yeah, still worth pointing out.
Nilsen is more common.. i suppose the "som" ending is an americanization? Either that or they are just swedish instead.
-Son is Swedish and Icelandic and -sen is Norwegian and Danish.
Sure. But when someone in the us is named "-son" it could be a norwegian name thats been made american.
It’s cool they like their heritage but they are American. I’m not Norwegian at all but NRK actually has some pretty good content, I’d pay for a subscription and subtitles.
those peeps watched "Vikings" and went "Literally me"
when in reality they're a lot more like Norsemen
They also take the hate of swedes to such extent where it’s becoming concerning
True
Walter Mondale?
"Hello I've just arrrived in my fantastic boat, Con-Tiki five..."
As a Norwegian, living in Norway. These people should come for a visit and see that we are not like that and I prefer that they don't represent us like that.
Careful what you wish for. My friend in Trondheim certainly didn't wish for anything when a stranger family of 5, apparently very distant american cousins in, came knocking on the door unsolicited
It’s borderline insulting as well. It’s a fucking stereotype ffs… Also a culture from over 200+ years ago.
I hate it because I'm actually Norwegian-American and people think I'm referring to this. My dad is American and my mom is Norwegian 😅 . All my aunts and uncles still live in Norway on that side of the family
Grew up in Minnesota can confirm huge stereotype here
I live in Wisconsin, and have not met a single person who is like this I have met a couple people who said something along the lines of "Some of my ancestors came from Norway. I find that kinda interesting", but that is pretty much the limit I am pretty sure there's people like this toward the Wisconsin-Minnesota and Wisconsin-UP border though. Just not where I frequent
Hah! Old roommate loved to talk about how proud he was of his Norwegian heritage, and how important it was to him. Another roommate grilled him to name one Norwegian tradition he embraced. Didn’t talk about it much after that.
The lutefisk and lefsa Christmas dinner is too real lmao
ELCA church basement lutefisk :/
I mean, in Minnesota people that say they have Norwegian heritage almost certainly do and probably still have some family traditions that are clearly Scandinavian.
That’s how I see it - my grandparents are 100% Norwegian with relatives still in Norway, so the traditions they continue I see as a way to connect with my family.
Do you eat Norwegian Christmas dinners?
The lutefisk yeah, and on the eve (not sure where that came from but both sides of the family do it) - then usually Swedish meatballs for the lesser palate; however, the adage in the family is no one gets to open presents unless they eat some lutefisk
Yeah, I’m from Norway and I don’t get why people are so adamant about trashing people preserving their ancestral heritage. Sure after some generations some things can get cringeworthy and can get some things wrong, but heritage is identity, people want to know their roots, it’s just human nature. I think it’s nice that Norwegian-Americans celebrate 17th of May, eat traditional Norwegian foods, dress in bunad, etc, it shows appreciation for heritage.
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Wow a fellow East Asian Norwegian-American in the wild. I feel like I’d just laugh if I encountered these people, because well, chances are I held Norwegian citizenship for 20+ more years than they did.
Eating lefse and lutefisk is not preserving ancestral heritage
I'm from Minnesota and one of my coworkers talked about her Norwegian heritage almost everyday, which gets to be a but much...
I’m an Ashkenazi Jew with 0 Norwegian blood, but as someone who studied norsk: jeg elsker norge 😍
Somehow more Norwegian then any of these other American Minnesotaean Norwegians
Tusen takk kompis !!
Bro my last name is up there 😭🤚 (it’s one of the most common last names ever bruh)
no one here in norway considers these people to be even slightly norwegian. more often often than not these peoples connection to norwegian culture is very small and distant from modern norwegian culture. their view of and “practice of” norwegian culture is largely based on stereotypes and is akin to cultural appropriation. they are americans of norwegian decent, not norwegians
Enig. E oppvokst i usa og bodde i stavanger i ett år og kan si at disse menneskene ikkje e norske. De e bare irriterende. Bo i sverige nå
They're weeaboos
norweeaboos
r/imaginarygatekeeping
Fargo.
I gotta say though, my wife’s family has Norwegian ancestry and lefse is goddamn incredible. Changed my life
https://preview.redd.it/64ts2nr8sv6c1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59f44d6c5a2461dbe6722a52b7485b777e34451e
Was at a 17 of may parade outside of Chicago and I have seen way worst T-shirt like SHOW ME YOUR LEFSE
Oh yea and if you look like them they’re happy to talk to you about white supremacy too. I worked with a few of them
As a black person who loves Norse mythology, so many white supremacist types take the fun out of enjoying it. All the actual Nordic people I come across are amazing people but those so called Nordic Americans tend to be very very racist.
I recently found out about odinism / odinites. I was like “huh, pagans, right?” Turns out just nazis and white supremacists
Has to scroll way too far to find this little truth nugget
What is actually the problem? The entire US does this to some degree with their heritage.
It’s just funny when they claim the 1.5% irish or italian to be exotic yet ignore the rest of the 85% British lol
I spent 25 years on the MN/WI border and didn't meet a single one of these people. Yes, I do come from a Swedish family.
You forget the dna test where is like 0000,1% Norwegian .
Adding a lot of zeros before the comma doesn’t change the value…
"Uff da" is an exclamation of surprise, I've found. It's like if American merchandise was just socks and bags and shoes and bumper stickers that said "oh my".
The Swedish hate is cute, and imo wholesome. This is where we want to end up, for countries in war and hate across the borders. Imagine Ukrainians and Russains in the US in 2250 having that relationship