Little facts about me

[misscam]

The nickname ‘Cam’ came about because one of my Norwegian penpals was lazy and didn’t want to type put my full name every time she sent me a letter.

I didn’t get the Internet till I was 18, which I still thank the Nordic Gods for. I was into X-Files when I was younger, and I used to write really, really crappy XF fanfic. Seriously. Thankfully, most of it is in Norwegian and was only seen by a few select people. I still keep it to remind myself it usually takes a while to get good at something.

I’ve been to Babylon 5 conventions.

When I was 16, I was convinced I had become Christian. I was wrong.

I’m allergic to nickel, but that’s the only allergy I know of. I was a fairly healthy child growing up, but I was very weird about what food I’d eat. I still don’t eat boiled or fried eggs, but oddly enough, I like omelettes. I hate hamburgers and don’t like tomatoes, but I will have ketchup on my hot dogs.

I like to start new projects, but I tend to get bored with things after a while and be tempted to start a new project again. Probably why it takes me a while to finish fanfics.

The idea for OFUM was born while I was beta-ing a rather infamous Mary Sue story called My Inner Life.

OFUM is probably what most people know me for, but I’m always much happier when I get asked about some of the other stuff I do/write.

It’s not unusual to find me relaxing in a chair somewhere and do nothing but think. I don’t really pay much attention to my surroundings while doing this, so getting my attention at such times usually requires yelling.

I have an irrational fear of sticking my head under water, which is probably due to an accident in a bathtub when I was about three. I apparently hit my head and went under. I love the sea and love swimming, but it takes a great deal of willpower for me to put my head under water and not panic.

I don’t always tell people I’m angry with them, which can be a bit of a drawback for the person I’m angry at.

I genuinely like to be asked for advice, as it’s usually a sign someone finds me helpful.

Like most Norwegians, if you show a *genuine* interest in my tiny, unimportant country, I will adore you. Faked interest will not impress me, however.

I’m fickle. Getting my attention is a lot easier than keeping it.

When it comes to people, I like frank speech a lot more than I like hints and vague phrases that can mean anything. If you got something to say, say it or shut up. I try to live by this myself. Silence can therefore mean a lot of different things with me.

I like sports. Particulary football (that’s soccer to you Americans), athletics, cross country skiing, ski jumping and biathlon.

I’m a very fast reader. They tested me in school and I had a way above average reading speed.

Although I use British English spelling, my accent is actually slightly American. Most people who meet me in real life, assume I’m American unless they know me or I correct them. Even Americans think I’m American – apparently I sound like I’m from one of the northern states. One guy once swore I came from North Dakota. I’ve tried to shake the accent, but no luck so far.

Complimenting me on my English is always a winner with me. I’ve worked very hard on it and thus am pleased if it shows.

My special sandwich is melted cheese and salami or smoked beef on white bread. I usually make this at least a few times a week. Has to be Norwegian cheese, of course. The type of bread tends to vary.

I don’t like to ask for anything. When I have to, I usually have to force myself and feel iffy about it both before and after. On the other hand, I never mind being asked for favours, as long as it’s phrased politely.

I love little unexpected gestures of kindness in everyday life – little things like being given a muffin on a Saturday just because.

I like to mock-insult people. It’s usually a very good sign if I bother with you. Eleborate insults if for me a thing of fun. Blame it on too much Blackadder.

I burned my little finger on my right hand today while making one of my special sandwiches and I cursed in five different languages. Now the finger is all plastered up and I can't bend it. Poor little finger...

Comments

Re: Right-O!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

:P:P

'Realise' is much prettier than 'realize', anyway. Your English teacher American since she/he yells at you? Silly person not to love the British spelling - it's originally from England anyway. That's why it's called *English*.

Re: Right-O!

[(Anonymous)]

Bah, American English is just a silly little identity-asserting thing, though an American English teacher is likely just getting on a student's case for not doing something by their standards. (Well, that and making sure the student isn't just being lazy with spelling and then covering it up by claiming it's British English, since I've done that with my s's and z's. ^_^;) Though interestingly enough, when Americans and British pronounce the same words differently out loud, the American one is more often than not closer to the "correct" one (the original pronunciation, that is). (Example would be the word "missile.")

I've also learned in my History of the English Language class that if any English-speakers are annoyed with the fact that there are a lot of words that mean pretty much the same thing (like "sick" and "ill," or even things like "bread" and "loaf"), they can blame the Old Norse-speaking Viking invaders and settlers for some of those complications. :P And from there, a lot of people with ancestry in northern England could be part-Norwegian. (Aren't language and ancient European history fun. ^_^;)

Still trying to remember what in heck a Norwegian accent is supposed to sound like though... but if you want to trade for an accent that people associate better with British spelling, I've had mine mistaken for Irish though I use American spelling. ;P

-plasticgastropod

Re: Right-O!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

That's right, blame it on *us*. :P:P

It is true, though. There has been some influence from my Viking forefathers on the UK, language and cultural vice. Ombudsman, for instance, is a Norse name and idea and it's been taken into English. Beowulf, the great Anglo-Saxen poetic work, is actually about Vikings, so that gives you an idea of the influence Vikings had. At the height of Viking influence we even had a little part of America - just think, the US and Canada could have been Vinland... Alas, a minor ice age came about and the Viking age was over. Wah.

A Norwegian accent... Well, generally, if this is someone not very good at speaking English like say - our former foreign minister -it's very slow, very pronounced, going up and down at what you find weird parts of the sentence. If you remember Hans Blix, from the lead-up to the Iraq war, he had a very typical Scandinavian English accent. Slow, careful and prounounced. (Pronounced to me, anyway. What we tend to do is when we're not very good at English is prounounce *every* letter of the word as we would in Norwegian.)

Re: Right-O!

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I've also heard if not for the Norwegians of any time period, we might have different words (if we ended up with *any* words) for things like ship (originally scip), fjord, smorgasbord (however that's spelled?), or ski. :P You can also see influence in the names of English towns - in the north of the divide between the areas inhabited by the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons, towns tend to have more Norwegian-sounding names, like the ones ending with "-thorpe." In the south, they're more Old English, like the ones that end with "-bury." I do have ancestors from northern England myself, who knows if I'm directly descended from any of the Viking settlers there, so I guess I can't complain about Viking influences. ^_^;

You know, I was always finding myself disappointed in primary and secondary school history classes as a kid when we maybe learned a little bit about Erik the Red and Leif Erikson and then that was it for anything on Vikings. ;P Vikings are no obsession of mine, but it'd be cool to be able to take a whole course about them in my university some time. The more I get around at least Ireland and see cool prehistoric structures like forts and tombs and things, the more I want to learn about the ancient Celtic and Nordic peoples. (Already obsessed with Celtic and Scandinavian music, though I can't find any Scandinavian CDs here in Ireland. ^_^;)

Ahh... the one Norwegian I remember hearing was the mother of one of my high school classmates (she came into class as part of this classmate's final project - presentation on a country of your choice), and since she'd been living in the States long enough to have a grown son and 16 year old daughter there, her accent wasn't so strong. (When she came in speaking Norwegian, I couldn't tell she was actually speaking another language so much as just saying things I couldn't understand - something about the sounds of the language or just the tone she was talking in made it sound like she was speaking English and I just couldn't make out what she was saying. I have the same problem with hearing Irish Gaelic though. ^_^;) I've heard Finnish and Danish accents recently, and my next-door neighbors back home have the thickest Swedish accents; if any of those accents are like Norwegian, I guess I can kind of imagine it. Maybe I'll hear some for myself if I can manage to get up on that trip to Copenhagen and western Norway next month. *hopes* ^_^

Done rambling. ^_^;
-plasticgastropod

Re: Right-O!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there is a few words about that are Norwegian or Scandinavian in origin(-thorpe is probably from the Norwegian word 'torp'). And of course there's Normandie of France. 'Nordmann' means 'man from the North' and is actually what Norwegians are called in Norwegian. So you do see the traces about. And if Harald hand't lost that dratted battle -and rule of England - to the Normans... Oh well.

Danish and Swedish is very similar to Norwegian, so that should give you a gist of how our accent is. I don't really have a Norwegian English accent, but I can do one if I want to.

If you do drop by Norway, let me know. I can at least give you the weather forecasts.