Fjord

A fjord (sometimes written fiord, notably in New Zealand English) is a glacially overdeepened valley, usually narrow and steep-sided, extending below sea level and filled with salt water. In Norway, some fresh-water lakes which have formed in long glacially carved valleys with terminal moraines blocking the outlet are named fjords, as well.

Fjords in literature and popular culture

• Slartibartfast, a character in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is noted for having crafted the fjords in Norway.
• In Monty Python's famous Dead Parrot sketch, Michael Palin asserts that John Cleese's deceased Norwegian Blue parrot is, not dead, but rather "pining for the fjords".