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Norway Through the Eyes of Google

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Remember the days before Google?

No, me neither. But apparently, you had to look up facts in books. Real books, with hard covers, on shelves, in libraries.

In 2014, Google holds the answers to all of life's questions, but do you ever wonder what exactly people all around the world are searching for? When you start typing into the Big G, it cleverly tries to second-guess your question, giving you several of the most likely search queries for you to pick from.

Because I had nothing better to do today, I had some fun…

Why do Norwegians?

Now there's an interesting set of suggestions! First up, Norwegians don't hate Swedes. Sure, all the Scandinavians have a friendly rivalry, but it's not one of hatred. Go see Scandinavia and the World for a better explanation. As for “why do Norwegians look Asian”, I'm lost with that one…

Why is Norway so rich?

One could argue the answer to the third question is given by the first two! Norway is so rich (and to a large extent, so expensive) due to one simple thing – oil. The Sovereign Wealth Fund – or Norway's savings account – stands at 5.1 trillion kroner. As for why Norway is so happy, last year I asked have the Norwegians got it right?, but it's a topic I want to explore further this year.

Oslo is not the capital of Iran

Oslo is not the capital of Iran. No, me neither.

Bergen is boring

Regular readers will know Bergen isn't my favourite place in Norway. But boring? There's a whole load of events in Bergen throughout the year, a great live music scene, and the second busiest airport in Norway, if you want to get away 😉

As for whether Bergen is north of Tromsø… no, Tromsø is a two-hour flight north of Bergen!

Norwegians are weird

Are Norwegians weird? haha! Well, I've been writing about them for over two years and to be honest, you tell me, they've become normal to me now! But rich and arrogant? Rich yes, in relative terms, but the arrogance question is an interesting one.

I'd say Norwegians appear rude, mainly because the language is short, direct, and there's no word for please. So perhaps it's this perceived rudeness that is taken for arrogance?

Norwegian is easy

Norwegian is hard. Norwegian is easy. I wonder if that's the same people searching? 🙂

Norwegian is supposed to be the easiest language for a native English speaker to learn, but it's definitely not a beautiful language. Most natives I know think it's a harsh sounding language that isn't suited to songs, poetry etc.

Is Jens Stoltenberg hot?

He may have lost the Norwegian General Election last year, but Jens Stoltenberg still has plenty of fans around the world, it would seem!

Is Alexander Rybak a virgin?

🙂

About David Nikel

Originally from the UK, David now lives in Trondheim and was the original founder of Life in Norway back in 2011. He now works as a professional writer on all things Scandinavia.

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4 thoughts on “Norway Through the Eyes of Google”

  1. Norway spends the oil money on the people, unlike here in Britain where Tories make sure it all goes to their Eton and Bullingdon Club friends.
    If we leave the EU then that will be the end of the UK, as Scotland will be more likely to become a separate nation in the EU, joining other north European nations without Tories who have free university education, with governments who aren’t in a war trying to protect the interests of the few at the top, where Eton and Bullingdon Club members give each other top jobs to live for free on expenses, while telling the poor they’re not working hard enough just to survive.
    While in England the ex Tories in UKIP will rejoin Tories to turn us into a USA state, making the rest of the world hate England for reasons only the few at the top gain from, arming extremists in what liberal middle east countries are left, while not caring about human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia. They will tell English people it’s in their best interests to not have any human rights. We won’t have sophisticated European food. We will become like the USA where they put wood shaving into cheese.

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