A spot of background : The 17th of May is Constitution Day in Norway, celebrated with parades, flags, food, and so on. Naturally, since it is the one day in the year that everyone capable of walking (and I mean this quite literally) hits the streets, the vendors come out in force.
Now, this year the stupid politicians in Trondhjem have decided that the vendors are not allowed to sell spun sugar! Nor licorice or foam candies. 'Cleanliness', they say. Sticky clothes, sticky streets when people lose their goodies. Ye gods, talk about OCD! But a little further down in the interview, the real reason comes clear :
quote:Direktør Bjørn Ekle i byteknisk etat mener nasjonaldagen må bli mer tradisjonell.
- Vi ønsker å begrense tilgjengeligheten på en rekke nye og forholdsvis utradisjonelle varer. De tradisjonelle 17. mai-varene har vært ballonger, is, pølser og brus - i tillegg til sløyfer, flagg og annet tilbehør, sier Ekle.
"Director Bjørn Ekle of the city technical division feels that the national day must become more traditional. "We want to limit the availability of several new and somewhat un-traditional goods. The traditional May-17th-goods are balloons, ice cream, hot dogs and soda, in addition to bows, flags, and other paraphernalia", he says."
Ach so! 'Untraditional', my ass. You could certainly buy sugar-spin cones on the 17th when I was a kid, and much as I dislike it, that's getting on for some years ago. As for clean streets, pfft. Now, if they would forbid the damn foam sprayers that the kids these days think it is amusing to use on people's hair, that would be progress. (Ok, ok, I admit to maybe spraying one or two people myself. But only in fun.) This is just plain xenophobia, mixed in with a considerable amount of old-fogery. I bet he would forbid the brown kids from marching in the parade too, if he could. After all, they're not very 'traditional' either. What, he thinks balloons are a Norwegian invention? Now, if he had said people should wear skis on the 17th, that would have made a bit of sense.
Bah. I'm hoping this becomes grounds for his instant dismissal. He doesn't appear to be elected, after all - presumably the real politicians have a better sense of PR. His name, incidentally, seems to fit the man really well - 'ekle' means 'disgusting, yucky'.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
What did they do before latex balloons? You should write in and demand they get VERY traditional! This doesn't sound like xenophobe to me. It sounds like someone is stuck in a particular era of their life.
Edit: added a word.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
Are hot dogs and soda also traditional Norwegian staples?
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Hah. 'Traditional' since the sixties, yeah. Though actually, I read somewhere that we eat more pizza (frozen, that is) per capita than any other nation in the world. So maybe we could claim that as a new tradition.
Edit : Well, to be fair, I suppose sausages go way back. So I guess that part is traditional, at least. Soda, though? Strictly since the sixties.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
And here I thought traditional Norwegian staples were saxon village burnings and cooking raw meat over an open fire, whilst passing goblets of mead.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Wait a minute, Norwegian's have traditions? I thought we took care of that.
Also, "tilgjengeligheten" and "utradisjonelle" are excellent words. I have no idea what they mean, but they still rock.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Well, yes, but that's for midsummer. Here we speak of the 17th of May. (And actually, I'm not joking, we really do roast meat over open fires at midsummer.)
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Meh, so do we. If you consider hot dogs "meat," that is.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
i eat turkey dogs, hot dogs made from turkey, taste better and dont give you leukemia.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
None of the pork and beef sausages I've eaten have ever given me leukemia. Pig lips and anus are the fountain of youth.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
I had a polish sausage the other day, gave me leukemia. Fortunately, I ate a couple of turkey dogs and washed em down with some tussin. Cleared it right up.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
My girlfriend insists that the sausage we had yesterday was the cause of the clogged toilet being, um, a serious problem. Personally, I don't see how it could possibly have gone through her in three hours. Tasted damn good, though.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by King of Men: I don't see how it could possibly have gone through her in three hours. Tasted damn good, though.
WAY too much information!!
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I have a dear friend who says that if you do something for three consecutive years, it is then a tradition. So let the Norwegians enjoy their cotton candy, licorice, and "foam candy" (whatever that may be). If they've been doing it for the past few years, it's traditional.*
*According to the Law of Miss Judy
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
Once again, that fear that somewhere, somehow, somebody might be enjoying himself.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)