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Endelig norsk. Igjen. Alltid - TAC 2013 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5170 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 41 of 338 23 August 2012 at 12:42am | IP Logged | ||
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This time I'd like to ask a cultural question. At Assimil lesson 12 it is said that Norwegians have coffee and cake at about 7pm, usually two hours after their main course, middag. How is it so? Does it mean Norwegians have dinner at 5pm and it's called middag (=noon) and it's the most important meal? I'd just like to understand the routine. Here the most important meal is lunch, at noon. Most people have a light breakfast or none at all, and only snacks for dinner as well. In some other countries it's the breakfast that is the most important meal.
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| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6624 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 42 of 338 23 August 2012 at 8:03am | IP Logged | ||
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It's true that the main meal is around 5:00 or after work. Since it is called middag, I assume it was probably around lunchtime back when everyone was a farmer, but now that people work in offices and factories, it's more convenient to have it after work. When I worked on farms though, it was often around 3:00 or 3:30. I've never heard about this cake and coffee for supper thing. It's usually sandwiches in my experience.
Actually, I find what Norwegians eat to be very boring. Generally they seem to eat sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and supper with dinner/middag being the only time they eat anything else. At least that's what they seem to do around here. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5338 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 43 of 338 23 August 2012 at 9:47am | IP Logged | ||
I agree, though it is not uncommon to have coffee and cake around 7 either. When I was a kid we would have dinner (middag) at 14.30 sharp, because my father was a teacher and both he and my sister and I were home from work and school at that time. We would only have coffe and cake if there was some sort of celebration, otherwise we would have open sandwiches around 6-7, and that was it. Now we have dinner at any time between 4 and 8 depending on when we get home from work and how elaborate the dinner is. On week ends it might even be as late as 9. What does not change though, is the fact that there is only one hot meal a day, regardless of when it is served. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4643 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 44 of 338 23 August 2012 at 10:31am | IP Logged | ||
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When I was young, in my family we would have dinner at 5. My parents would then have coffee with something sweet (e.g. cake or "vafler") around 7 - normally to coincide with the evening news on TV. Then we often had "kveldsmat" (supper) at 9 or 10, but that would simply consist of a couple of slices of bread with "pålegg", i.e. some cheese or ham or salami to put on top. We would often accompany the meals with milk. All in all, it was pretty boring.
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 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6913 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 45 of 338 23 August 2012 at 1:41pm | IP Logged | ||
When my brother was working in UK he had (British) colleagues who used to have a small bag of potato crisps (!) for lunch. I don't find that particularly exciting either. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5457 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 46 of 338 23 August 2012 at 5:00pm | IP Logged | ||
We had almost the same routine, although we would normally have dinner around 4, and the coffee and sweets ("ettermiddagskaffe") would normally be between 6 and 7, before the evening news started at 7.30. Edited by tractor on 23 August 2012 at 5:06pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5457 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 47 of 338 23 August 2012 at 5:05pm | IP Logged | ||
Your assumptions are right. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4832 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 48 of 338 23 August 2012 at 5:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm guessing that the word "middag" has undergone a similar process as that by the word
"dinner" in England. Dinner is essentially the main meal of the day, whenever it occurs. In days gone by, especially for working-class people, and school-children, "dinner" was around the middle of the day (say between 12 and 2pm). Middle class and above had "dinner" in the evening, and "lunch" in the middle of the day. Nowadays, things have changed, fewer people are obviously "working class" and "dinner" in the evening is more universal, and the midday meal is more universally "lunch" except in school, where I think the word "dinner" is still in common use. (But the tradition of at least 2 and often 3 hot meals a day is strong here, although they don't all have to be big meals, e.g. could be as simple as a boiled egg) On my (so far) only trip to Oslo, we stayed at the Rikshospital(et) residence (meant for visiting relatives but it is also open to anyone who wants to stay there), and included in the cost was a fantastic hot cafeteria-served breakfast, which would have happily satisfied English fans of the traditional British "cooked breakfast", but also with a range of (allegedly :) ) healthy food as well :-) It's an absolutely brilliant place to say actually, and right next to a tram stop. They also served hot meals in the evening and maybe at lunch (you'd obviously have to pay extra for those), probably aimed at the staff. I guess this means that people working odd hours could find time for at least one hot meal a day, not that they were eating 3 hot meals a day. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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