Norway has turned to a bit of toilet humor in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments insulting the Scandinavian country and the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Norway → turn → country
After Trump called Norway a “shithouse,” the country’s tourism agency published a guide to “some of the world’s most beautiful and spectacular toilets ” sprinkled across the stunning Norwegian landscape.
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agency → call → landscape
Trump’s comments on Sunday at a political rally in Port Huron, Michigan, ahead of the U.S. midterm elections were not the first time the U.S. leader ranted about Norway or the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
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leader → rant → Norway
“Norway has become a shithouse country, actually,” he told the crowd.
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he → become → crowd
Trump has been outspoken about his desire for the Nobel, but has expressed doubts that the committee would ever award him the prize.
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committee → express → prize
Still, his rhetoric against Norway and the committee ramped up again after the peace prize was awarded to international jurist Navi Pillay earlier this month.
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prize → ramp → Pillay
In 2018, Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries.”
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Trump → refer → countries
His vulgar remarks drew widespread condemnation and criticism that ricocheted around the globe.
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that → draw → globe
At the time, he said he would prefer immigrants from countries like Norway instead.
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he → say → Norway
But he has since soured on Oslo, mostly due to the fracas over the peace prize.
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he → sour → prize
In response to his most recent comments, Visit Norway clapped back by launching a tourism campaign marketed as “Norway makes shithouses great again” that went viral this week.
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that → clap → campaign
“So, we heard some noise about ‘s...house country,’ ” the state-run agency wrote on social media.
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agency → hear → media
“What can we say, we do have some of the world’s most beautiful and spectacular toilets.”
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we → say → toilets
The water closets are architectural marvels — some have won international awards — and visitors are privy to stunning views ranging from Norway’s fjords and mountains to the Northern Lights.
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visitors → win → Lights
The free toilets at the Stegastein viewpoint, for example, sit on the edge of a cliff and overlook the Aurlandsfjord; a large window ensures that the user can see outside but no one can peek in.
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one → sit → Aurlandsfjord
DesignCurial rated it No. 1 on its list of the world’s 10 best public toilets in 2015.
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DesignCurial → rat → 2015
Evgenia Egorova, the social media lead for Visit Norway, told The Associated Press, her team had already produced similar work a few years ago for annual World Toilet Day — coming Nov. 19 — and was delighted to repurpose it.
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team → tell → it
She said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
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reaction → say → ?
“When life gives you lemons or quotes like this, you just do the lemonade — and all the viral content,” she said with a laugh Friday.
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she → give → laugh
Visit Norway’s list also includes the “Gulldassen,” the Golden Toilet, on Senja Island.
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list → include → Island
Built in 2014, the triangular restroom has become a popular rest stop for tourists.
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restroom → build → tourists
Trump, meanwhile, has run afoul of golden thrones before: A golden toilet was installed on the National Mall earlier this year by a resistance art group to protest Trump’s White House renovations.
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toilet → run → renovations
And during the president’s first term, a request to borrow a Van Gogh painting from a New York museum for the White House private quarters went awry.
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request → borrow → quarters
The Guggenheim Museum’s chief curator instead cheekily offered to let the First Family borrow an 18-karat solid gold toilet, titled “America.”
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Family → offer → toilet
The artwork, by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, poked fun at excessive wealth.
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artwork → poke → wealth
The one-of-a-kind, fully functioning latrine was later displayed in the U.K. at Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born — and stolen in 2019 in what prosecutors called “an audacious raid.”
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prosecutors → function → what
Two of the thieves were convicted last year.
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Two → convict → thieves
But the stolen booty has never been found.
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Dazio used the facilities at the Stegastein viewpoint during a recent vacation to Norway.
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Dazio → steal → Norway
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Associated Press journalist Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed puns to this report.
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Quell → contribute → report
The Aporia
