How do you say "banana" in Norwegian? NabloPoMo Day 9

I just want to point something out before we begin. How you say "vegetables" in both Swedish and Norwegian is exactly the same word: "grönsaker," which literally translates to "green things." 

I also want to point out that many Swedish and Norwegian words are exactly the same. 

I'm telling you this in the hopes that when I tell you this next part, you might find it sort of hilarious in a "someone has been double crossed!!" kind of way. 

So it all started with a text I got from my friend Petrina, who is Norwegian. She probably thought I'd laugh out loud because while I speak Swedish, I am not Swedish. She would be right, by the way. Spoiler alert.

So anyway, Petrina sent over a link to a video on Instagram which I'm including for posterity but if you don't speak Swedish, yeah. Maybe just skip it and take my word for it. 

In short: It's a game show. 
A bunch of Swedes get asked how to say "banana" in Norwegian.

And fair enough, the title of the gameshow is something like, "the dumbest Swede" but we'll not dwell on that right now, we have too many other essentials to cover.

So the host asks all the Swedish contestants what the Norwegian word for "banana" is. And look, the Norwegian word for banana is exactly the same as the Swedish word for banana, which is, if you must know, "banan." So yeah. This should not be a super tough question.

However, each of the contestants gets it wrong. They all answer with the same exact wrong response, guleböj, which, translated means, "yellow bendy shape" or something like this. 

All the contestants say the word for banana in Norwegian is 
"yellow bendy shape"

Why did they all answer the same wrong answer? It turns out that there was a Swedish comedy show that every single Swede ever apparently saw, and in that comedy sketch, they joked that the Norwegian word for banana is "yellow bendy shape" or however someone who is a better translator would translate this but you get the idea. 

And I mean, if you consider the sibling rivalry between Sweden and Norway, it is worth a light chuckle, that Norway would double down on literal words beyond just "green things" and move past vegetables into the fruit category.

Fast forward and now at least five Swedes really think how Norwegians say banana is literally the joke in the comedy sketch. They're mostly aware that "yellow bendy thing" was in a comedy sketch, but weren't sure if it was a comedy sketch because it's true or not true.

Ummm, who's zooming who now?!

It's even funnier because a contestant pipes up at the end, "Is how they say bra in Norwegian tutte kassa" - which means idk boob pouch. She appears serious.

This might have been the highlight of my day. You, on the other hand, might be thinking this post wasted four minutes of your life you'll never get back, but hey. Now you can say vegetables in two more languages and not lose a point if you ever find yourself on a Scandinavian game show and get asked a trick question about bananas.

The texts with Petrina.
LOL!