Finns have reputation for having very dark sense of humour. Here are some of my favourite Finnish expressions. I´ll let you decide whether our humour is dark or not but let me tell you, using these expression can be very satisfying. (Warning. This post includes strong language).
1. We don´t tell someone to ”go away”. We tell them to ”ski into a spruce tree” (suksi kuuseen). 2. Finns don´t say ”that sounds like Greek to me”. To us It "sounds like Hebrew” (täyttä hepreaa). 3. This is one of my favourites and I often use it when I hang out with my girlfriends. We don´t say ”let´s go”. Instead we say ”let´s go cows, bull has a boner” (mennään lehmät, sonnilla seisoo). 4. When I get fed up with everything I don´t say ”fuck this”. I´ll say ”spring festival of cunts” (vitttujen kevätjuhla). 5. Finns don´t get cranky. They behave like a ”bear shot in the ass” (perseeseen ammuttu karhu). 6. Be careful if someone tells you ”they want to take you behind the sauna” (viedä saunan taakse). It means they want to kill you. 7. We don´t talk about forsaken places. For us remote places are ”behind god´s back” (jumalan selän takana). 8. When someone is dumb and they don´t have it all together, what they don´t have is "all the moomins in the valley” (ei ole kaikki muumit laaksossa). 9. We don´t ”get hurry”. We run ”using our head as the third foot” (juosta pää kolmantena jalkana). 10. We don´t encourage others (or ourselves) to drink. We simply say ”drop won´t kill you and you can´t drown in a bucket (ei tippa tapa, eikä ämpäriin huku). 11. Shia La Beauf, instead of saying ”just do it” maybe you could say ”forward, said grandma in the snow” (eteenpäin sanoi mummo lumessa) or would that be Shia in the snow? 12. It´s not Santa Clause who visits us on Christmas. Instead presents are brought by Christmas Goat (joulupukki) and it probably refers into an old pagan fertility god. That´s Finland for you.
4 Comments
Bruce Edward Wilson
8/6/2018 08:42:08 pm
That old fertility god was most likely the sun. "The last sheaf of grain bundled in the harvest was credited with magical properties as the spirit of the harvest and saved for the Yule celebrations, called among other things Yule goat (Julbocken)". "This connects to ancient proto-Slavic beliefs where the Koliada (Yule) festival honors the god of the fertile sun and the harvest. This god, Devac (a/k/a Dazbog), was represented by a white goat, consequently the Koliada festivals always had a person dressed as a goat, often demanding offerings in the form of presents."
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12/10/2018 05:41:23 pm
Yes. Finnish Santa Clause is based on a character like that, Kekri-pukki or the Kekri goat who visited people during the Kekri-festival. Kekri was a harvest festival that was celebrated in the beginning of November. In the later on he became Nuuttipukki and the Joulupukki (Santa Claus) in the 20th century. You can find similar characters from all over Europe and beyond.
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12/25/2018 01:32:21 pm
I agree. The sun god/goddess idea is ancient. In Finland pre-Christmas holiday was Kekri which was the "old pagan new year". In the pagan times sun goddess in Finland was worshiped. Her name was Päivätär.
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12/25/2018 01:34:37 pm
The old form of Joulupukki (Santa Claus) was Kekripukki a goat like figure and another fertility symbol. Similar characters can be found in many countries (Baltic, Slavic and Germanic among others). Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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NiinaPronounced as Nee-na.
Artist, illustrator, writer, watercolorist and a folklorist. Gryffinclaw. Comes from Finland. Likes cats, tea and period dramas. If it´s canon and it´s Little Women it´s good. Archives
January 2021
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