Are Norwegians impolite?

Norwegians have a reputation of being impolite. Are we really, or do we just have another way of behaving than people from other cultures?

Reasons people think Norwegians are impolite:

• If you bump into somebody while you’re walking down the street, most people apologize, but a lot of Norwegians just carry on walking as if nothing happened.
• Do you usually have a chat with the cashier when you buy you’re groceries? In Norway the conversation rarely contains more than one word: “Bag?"
• People rarely talk to each other on the buss, and do everything they can to avoid sitting next to someone else.
• We are very bad at small talk.
• Have you heard of the American expression “Norwegian arms”? This comes from the fact that Norwegians, when eating a meal, instead of asking somebody to pass them the food, lean over the table and serve themselves.

Although everything above doesn’t exactly advertise Norwegians behaviour, don´t be afraid of starting a conversation with a Norwegian. If we do speak to somebody we don´t know we tend to be very nice. I think we don’t speak a lot to strangers because we don’t want to bother anybody, or be of any inconvenience. Didn´t your parents tell you not to talk to strangers? We just carry on following that rule even when we´ve grown up.

Do you think Norwegians seem impolite? (you can answer in the comment box below.)

By: Ruby