Gammalost (n.) :: old cheese

There are really quite a few reasons for learning Norwegian, besides the obvious benefit of being able to communicate with Norwegians. One is Torsdagklubben, a program on TV2 broadcast live from Smuget in Oslo and absolutely hilarious. Another reason is Øystein Sunde, a prolific singer/songwriter (and model airplane enthusiast) whose texts are ... well... absolutely hilarious, and a mighty entertaining way to learn Norwegian. Click here to hear the first two refrains of Øystein Sunde's tribute to gammalost. Complete with hardangerfele, a traditional Norwegian fiddle with a very special sound created by the fact that it has 4 or 5 sympathetic strings which resonate to the vibration of the four upper strings which are played with a bow, which creates a sound effect similar to that of the Scottish bagpipe. No wonder I love it so.

Det var visst en viking som første gangen tok
en kjele full av sur-mjølk, og satt'n på til kok.
Det lukta så sært at'n fikk visst ikke fred,
så han helte'n i en trebutt og gravde butten ned.

It was certainly a viking who for the first time took
a pot full of sour milk and sat it on to cook.
It smelled so sour that he certainly couldn't rest,
so he poured it in a bucket and buried the bucket down.

Og butten sto i bingen, og bingen lå bak do,
og lukta skjemmet ingen, og graset b'ynnt' å gro,
og dager ble til uker og vinter ble til vår,
og butten sto i møkka i åtte hundre år.

And the bucket stood in in the pig sty, and the pig sty was behind the outhouse,
and the smell bothered no one, and the grass began to grow,
and the days became weeks, and winter became spring,
and the bucket stood in the muck for 800 years.

En vårdag i 16-hundre-og17-femtini
kom butten for en dag der en bamse hadde hi.
Og bonden som fant den var sulten og forgrått.
Han sa: "Det lukter pyton, men smaker riktig godt!"
Og hei og så hå, og så skylte'n ned med dram,
og så heisann, og håsann, den smaken v'kke tam,
og hopp også hikk også hark også host.
Å, du nystekte dævel! Det var no' til ost!

One spring day in 16 hundred and 1759
the bucket came up where a bear had his den.
And the farmer who found it was hungry and starving.
He said "It stinks something awful, but tastes right good!"
And hey and ho and so he washed down with a dram,
and a-hey and a-ho, that taste wasn't tame,
and hop and hicc and hack and cough.
Oh, you freshly-fried devil! That was some kind of cheese!

--Øystein Sunde