Yesterday, Norwegians around the world celebrated their May 17 constitution day, which marks their split from Denmark in 1814. But while the Danes affectionately refer to their northern brothers as ‘fjeld aber’ (‘mountain monkeys’), the Norwegians need not fret, for the Danes love them the most.
A new Gov survey for Metroxpress newspaper showed that Danes like the Norwegians more than any other nationality. Some 19 percent said they liked their Norwegian brethren the most, followed by the Germans (13 percent), the Swedes (11 percent), the English (8 percent), the Americans (7 percent), and finally the Faroese and Dutch (both 2 percent).
The Norwegians are like us in many ways,” Thorsten Olesen, a historian at Aarhus University, told Metroxpress. “Their culture resembles our own and they are easy to get close to.”
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Frankrig? Ellers tak
At the opposite end of the spectrum, it is the French who are the least liked. Some 17 percent of Danes said they liked the French the least, followed by Americans (8 percent), Germans (6 percent), Greenlanders (4 percent), Swedes (3 percent), Dutch and Norwegians (both 2 percent), and English (1 percent).
An interesting detail of the survey, however, revealed that it was mostly the Danish men who liked the French the least. The women were considerably more positive.
“It’s becoming a little unscientific now, but women probably have a thing for south European men. If you had included Italy in the survey, it probably would have been positive,” Olesen said.
