Norwegians are to the Swedes as the Mexicans are to (north) Americans. My Swedish colleagues roll their eyes and just lay into the "dopey, slow, lazy" Norwegians. Sheesh!
I dont bring this up with my Norwegian colleagues.
Mexicans with big sacks of oil money.
I know from working in both Sweden and Norway that the Norwegians see the Swedes as pampered and effeminate. One guy I worked with in Asker Norway hated the Swedes with a passion, as his parents had been killed by German troops allowed passage through Sweden.
And as it relates to this article, the Norwegians I know seem to all use a form of dip (they call it snoos). Even seen a few girls with cans. Except for the accents, they're almost Southern.
- I'm Swedish and although my opinion is that Norwegians have a very different attitude towards work and especially team work than we do, they're honest, intelligent and do know how to work hard.
BUT, for some reason - like perhaps that of having been isolated, not only from the rest of Europe, but even from each other throughout history - they are very much of individuals.
Americans too are individualistic minded, but not in the same way.
Europeans and other immigrants who've shaped USA into what it is today mostly stemmed from densely populated urban or rural areas, but few parts of Norway has ever been densely populated over a long time.
One specific fact that plays a role here is that of the unique impact on demographics the Black Death had on Norwegian soil compared to the rest of Scandinavia. In short, Denmark and Sweden recuperated much faster afterward while Norway failed to catch up with the rest of Scandinavia.