norwegians have this very annoying habit of saying ‘halloooo’ when they’re trying to get your attention.
when it first happened to me at work, i thought it was because they found my name hard to pronounce. still annoying but i thought, ok, i’ll cut them some slack. my name is very indonesian after all. but as i worked longer there, i thought it was a bit rude. after all, they just had one indonesian name to remember, i had to learn and remember lots and lots of weird (to me) norwegian names.
as ut turns out, they call out ‘halloooo’ to each other too. is it just me or is that kinda rude? sometimes i feel like saying, ‘my name is not halloooo’.
i was at the shop on friday and there was a packet of cat treats in my trolley that had gone under some supermarket flyers. i didn’t see it so i started pushing my trolley passed the cashier, ready to bag my shopping. a woman behind me said something but i didn’t know she was talking to me so i kept walking. then she went ‘halloooo’ at me.
i told MOH this and said, how rude. he said, ‘what should she say, then?’ mmmm…. geez, i don’t know…. how about, oh let me think… give me two seconds… just… oh yeah, ever heard of ‘excuse me’???? i mean, hellooooo!!!!!
crazy/beautiful - my life as it is 
Mar 02, 2010 @ 19:27:22
Vi gør det også det der i Danmark. Saying hello to attract attention and I’m sort of getting that as a habit because what else you are supposed to say when you don’t know the person’s name? I call out to bus driver “HELLO????????? Kan du ikke åbne døren” when he forget to buzz the door open, stuff like that.
But I also think your colleague was being rude for not calling your name. that’s not the same case with total strangers.
Mar 02, 2010 @ 20:55:08
they do it to each other too, so they’re not just being rude to me. i know it’s a habit, just one of the thing people here do but i still don’t like it. and i still think that ‘excuse me’ is a better way to get somebody’s attention when you don’t know their name. much more polite. but that’s just me.