Forskere friskmelder snusen.  Researchers report that snus is healthy.  The word friskmelder does not have an exact translation in English, but I suppose I wouldn’t say researchers think snus is ‘healthy’, but rather not unhealthy, not dangerous.  For those of you who don’t know what snus is, it is a smokeless form of tobacco, also known as chew, chaw, or a dip. Snus (pronounced ’snoose’ and actually a word that Americans and others outside of Scandinavia use) has a two unique characteristics 1-it usually does not require spitting and 2-it is steam-cured rather than fire-cured and is not fermented and thus there is no added sugar.  Snus is a moist powder form of tobacco that is placed usually in the upper lip (hence one of the reasons that it doesn’t require spitting, because there is less moisture from saliva up there) for up to 30 minutes and then discarded.  It comes in loose form (fun to say, loose snus, which is packed into a cylindar or sphere called a pris or prilla-slang for pris) or in portioned pouches (which are made of the same material as teabags) and come in a tin similar to Skoal or Copehagen.  Snus is very popular in Scandinavia, particularly Sweden and Norway.

As with many health-related issues, there is debate among researchers over whether snus is better for one’s health than smoking cigarettes, and even if snus is damaging to health at all.  An article in Aftenposten online yesterday addressed a recent study by British researchers, who concluded that snus is not unhealthy.  Most people (including researchers) will definitely agree that using snus is much less harmfull than smoking cigarettes (å røyke sigaretter is ‘to smoke cigarettes) because snus does not involve inhalation, and thus does not affect the lungs.

I was introduced to snus during my time abroad by my friend Jeff who used it.  I decided to try it one time and after that I used it on an occasional basis with him.  I don’t want to encourage starting to use snus or anything, but certainly for those of you who smoke, perhaps it would be a better alternative. 

As cigarette sales dip in the U.S. due to steep price increases for cigarettes and bans on smoking in public places, tobacco companies have started to really advertise and promote snus.  Camel has several versions of the pouches. 

A large portion of the Swedish and Norwegian population use snus, both men and women.  Leave it to them to find a healthier alternative to cigarettes.  Once again, evidence of a healthier population than the U.S. and much of the rest of the world. 

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What time is it?

Klokka er….

It is…

I can’t believe I haven’t written a post on TIME (tid) yet!

The way Norwegians express time is much different than the way Americans do.  We simply say for example “It is five thirty” meaning it is thirty minutes past 5 o’clock.  Or “it is quarter to seven” meaning it is six forty-five.  And unless you are in the military, you would write 5:30 and 6:45 respectively.  In Norway to say 5:30 requires a little more thought.� It involves the number 6, surprisingly.  5:30 is actually thought of as half the way to 6 from 5, so på norsk it is “halv seks” (half six) and it is written 05.30 (if it’s am that is…).  If it is 5:30 pm, you would write 17.30.  Basically, Norwegian always use the military method of telling time when the time is written. 

Let’s practice another half hour time.  Let’s say 11:30.  På norsk 11:30 would be said “halv tolv” (half twelve) and written 11.30 if am and 23.30 if pm.  12:30 is said, and pay attention here, “halv ett” (not halv en as you might expect.  When it concerns time, one is always ett) and written 00.30 if am and 12.30 if pm.  As you can see, instead of using a colon to separate hours (timer) and minutes (minutter), you just use a period.  Also, as a general rule if there is only a single digit or zero digits for the hour (starting with 12:30 am and continuting to 9:30 pm), you still use 4 spaces.  00.00 is the format and fill in the numbers as needed.

Now let’s move on to quarter to and quarter past.  Quarter two på norsk is kvart på (kvart meaning “quarter”) and kvart over for quarter past.  2:45 would then be said kvart på tre (written 02.45 if am and 14.45 if pm) and 3:15 would be said kvart etter tre (written either 03.15 if am and 15.15 if pm).

If the time falls directly on an hour, that is, with no minutes, one simply says klokka er fem (it is 5 o’clock) or klokka er ti (it is 10 o’clock).

So what about the in between times-those that don’t fall on either quarter, half, or directly on the hour?  Think of the clock in quarters and halves.  If it is 5:10, the time falls in the first quarter of the clock (going clockwise, of course) and thus you refer to the hour.  You say ti over fem (ten after five).  If it is 5:16, the time falls in the second quarter, refer to the half-point and then remember what we do with 30 minutes after the hour.  You would say fjorten på halv seks (fourteen to half six).  I know, it seems weird, but once you get used to it, it’s not so bad.  Just think of the clock in quarters and halves.   Now let’s try the second half of the clock.  How about 7:32?  This time falls in the 3rd quarter of the clock and thus, like the second quarter, you will use the half-way point as your reference.  7:32 would be to over halv åtte (two after half eight).  And, last but not least, 9:54 is in the fourth quarter and thus would reference the full hour.  9:54 would be seks på ti six to ten). 

Clear as mud?

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