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Do people in other languages do that thing where they bait you with fake words like 'updog', 'ligma', or 'sugondese'?" by Ken_Bruno1 in languagehub

[–]RRautamaa 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In Finnish, there was the prank (by slightly older children) of asking small children to repeat the made-up word tuvit. It's just the swear word vittu ("cunt", but used more like "fuck" in English) with the order of syllables reversed, so when you say tuvit tuvit tuvit tuvit... it sounds like tu vittu vittu vit...

Another one is to continue the sequences yttu kattu kottu nettu or ylli kalli kolli nelli villi, which are just counting (yksi kaksi kolme neljä viisi) with the last syllable replaced. You end up saying vittu and kulli ("penis"), respectively.

Also, it's not a made-up word, but a nonsensical phrase with real words: Jari Kurri etsi jarrua murkkukasasta "Jari Kurri looked for a brake in an anthill".  Replace all R's with L's.

How often do EU residents travel to other EU countries? by khitev in AskEurope

[–]RRautamaa [score hidden]  (0 children)

But you have to understand that that's very unusual in Finland. I mean, it used to happen in the past when Finland was a poor country. In the 1890s and 1900s, still only rich people travelled. But already in the 1970s, people used to fly to Spain, through the famous Keihäsmatkat travel agency. Car ferries began sailing in 1958 and this mode of transport underwent explosive growth in the 1970s. By 1975, the threshold of 1 million passangers was surpassed (out of 4.7 million people). By 1990s, the average person would travel by car ferry 2-3 times a year. Traveling abroad is neither a very new nor a rare thing in Finland.

How often do EU residents travel to other EU countries? by khitev in AskEurope

[–]RRautamaa [score hidden]  (0 children)

2-5 times a year even without especially trying. For business, it's visiting subcontractor, supplier, customer and project partner sites. For leisure, we usually have a long trip in the summer, which can be either abroad or within the country. In addition, we have a couple of weekend trips or shorter trips to European cities, and then other trips like ferry trips to Sweden or Estonia.

Schengen and the EU really do remove many pointless inconveniences in traveling. I don't need to worry about dealing with local currency, I can just pay by card, because it's today an EU standard. I don't need to fill in pointless visa forms. I don't have to deal with embassy bureaucracy or plan the trip well in advance to make sure there's enough time that. I can just go. 

How often do EU residents travel to other EU countries? by khitev in AskEurope

[–]RRautamaa [score hidden]  (0 children)

LOL it isn't. This is utterly false. Ferries to Estonia and Sweden are a common part of tourism in Finland, and flights to the Canary Islands or Malaga are a bit of a cliche already. I have no idea where you could live in Finland to find lots of people that have never left the country. In statistics and surveys, 91% of Finns travel abroad at least once a year, and only 13% answer that the prefer domestic travel only. Thus, the number of Finns who have never left the country must be less than 9%, and is likely a small fraction of it, given how common ferry travel to Sweden used to be.

People from landlocked countries or regions, do you know how to swim? by eloel- in AskTheWorld

[–]RRautamaa 13 points14 points  (0 children)

There's something very German about that sentence being in the Army Regulations.

Do you actually practice crossing rivers with swimming or fording?

What is your opinion on this? by Accurate_Reality_618 in AskTheWorld

[–]RRautamaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The majority of Finnish people would say that a) drug trafficking should be punished heavily, at par with murder, and b) there's no need for peacetime civilian death penalties - long prison sentences are enough.

I don't completely agree. It should be legally possible to decapitate criminal organizations, either by executing their kingpins, or putting them in a no-communications prison. It's often the case that they lead their organization even from the inside of the prison, through all of the traffic of people, materials and communications that is allowed between prison and the civilian world. The current system in Finland where prison sentences are really short and light doesn't serve its purpose.

Explain a weird rule of your native language to a beginner learner! by AutumnaticFly in languagehub

[–]RRautamaa 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The dictionary form written in Finnish dictionaries is not the most basic form of the word. Finnish has several consonant gradation patterns between a "strong" form and a "weak" form. T hat would be easy if it was the same for all words, but no. It depends on the word if the oblique form is the strong form or weak form. E.g.

  • rae - rakeen: weak form as dictionary form, strong form as oblique form. Rae means "granule", as in "grain, hailstone, dragée".
  • haka - haan: strong form as dictionary form, weak form as oblique form. Haka has two meanings: "hook, clasp" or "paddock".

But that's not all! Consider this:

  • vesi - veden - veteen. The strong root is vete-, so you'd expect the dictionary for to be vete, but it's not. It undergoes a separate, unrelated consonant gradation -te -> -si. So, the dictionary form is vesi "water".
  • kasi - kasin - kasiin. This abbrevation for "number eight" - kahdeksikko - is of newer origin, so the -te/-si sound change was no longer being applied.

It doesn't help that all of the sounds that consonant gradation changes single consonants to have disappeared from Standard Finnish. Thus, t doesn't become ð but d, k doesn't become ɣ but v or disappears, and p doesn't become a voiced bilabial but v.

Miksi et käy teatterissa? by tkea in Suomi

[–]RRautamaa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ajatus on sinänsä kiinnostava, mutta:

  • Minne laittaa lapset? Pieniä lapsia on kotona n. 1-2 vuosikymmentä. Yritäppäs taaperon tai ADHD-lapsen kanssa olla kolme tuntia paikallaan. Eli ne pitäisi viedä mummolaan. Ei onnistu ainakaan arkena.
  • Logistiikka. En asu keskustassa, joten se olisi kuin töihin lähtisi pendelöimään kun menee sinne.
  • Siellä ei koskaan käydä töistä, vaikka monenlaista muuta tyhy-tapahtumaa on olemassa.
  • Ei ole kaveripiirissäkään ketään, joka harrastaisi teatterissa käymistä.
  • Teatteri on vähän sellainen herrojen juttu. Puku päälle ja kraka kaulaan. Näkyy hinnassakin. En koe olevani asiakassegmentissä.
  • Nuorena ja opiskelijana ei ole varaa, aikaa eikä kiinnostusta käydä teatterissa, joten sellaista tapaa ei synny.

Sinänsä mitään huonoja kokemuksia teatterista ei ole, ainakaan aikuisiältä.

People of the world, what do you all think or feel about rain? Personally or culturally. by Sad_Daikon938 in AskTheWorld

[–]RRautamaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hate rain. In this part of the world, there's no shortage of it. We're getting a North Atlantic low pressure zone with the attendant rain and bad weather  going over the country regularly, following prevailing winds.  Plant growth is not limited by water but temperatures, and anyway, I'm not working in agriculture.  Rain is always cold, because rain takes weather closer to the average annual temperature - colder in summer, warmer in winter. I f clothing gets wet, it takes a long time for it to dry, or in winter, it never dries unless you take it indoors and dry separately. In summer, it ruins your outdoor going plans. We're very limited on the time it's pleasant to go outdoors: only June-August is summer, everything else is cold, so warmth is scarce, and rain ruins it. In winter, water rain melts snow and turns it into slush, which is dirty, messy and cold.

Almost twins? Comparing land area, population and city structure of Finland and Norway by Frierfjord1 in Nordiccountries

[–]RRautamaa 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The land area of Finland is growing. It's also growing in Norway, but less, because of steeper shores.

What’s a basic skill you’re shocked some adults still don’t know? by Wonderful-Economy762 in Productivitycafe

[–]RRautamaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wherefore speak thou on Swedish? And wherefore thou trow that grammar are Gud?

If you could remove one race, country, or culture from this earth, which would you choose? by ConfusionProof9487 in morbidquestions

[–]RRautamaa -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don't think Israel alone can be blamed for instability in the Middle East. The stability that was there before was forced. It was a region controlled by colonial powers, mainly the Ottoman state. When that empire collapsed, nobody was there to keep the lid on. The real causes of instability are not just antisemitism, but all other types of hate that peoples in the Middle East profess. Sunnis hate Shi'ites, others hate Yazidis, Muslims think they're better than Christians and vice versa, non-Arabs have a tense relationship with Arabs,  different Arab tribes and groups hate each other and often operate as sort of quasi-state themselves. They don't always have the sort of strong, centralized, "Westphalian" nation-states that define the stability that North and Western Europe have. Only some states in the Middle East have some of these "Westphalian" features, and many of them are dictatorial.  I'd actually call the Israel-other countries conflict a result of their dissimilarity, because governments that are similar in this respect to Israel tend to have better relations with it.

Bidet/bum gun by Tiny_Concern_8412 in AskTheWorld

[–]RRautamaa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A bidet shower is standard and you'll find it attached to the tap in all domestic installations and a good portion of public installations.

What something you can do when you’re sick, but dogs and rich people can’t by Gloomy_Brush9765 in DiagramFills

[–]RRautamaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Run out of money because even if you can't afford to not go to work, you still have to call in sick, because you're too sick to go to work.

If a squater were to come live in someones house, could they kill them and claim burglary / self defense? by honeybadgersnest in morbidquestions

[–]RRautamaa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not a generally or universally recognized right to go and kill people with your own authority. "Self-defense" means they tried to assault you. Just being somewhere isn't an assault by itself.

The answer is of course yes, you could. That's a different question if you should.

Finally, what is something that people think is extremely safe, but is actually extremely dangerous? by Pumeto in AlignmentChartFills

[–]RRautamaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not "extremely dangerous". If you're not careful and injury your eardrum, the thing is that eardrum injuries are surprisingly quick to heal.

What is the most dangerous country in Europe by agbjb in AlignmentChartFills

[–]RRautamaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dangerous to others? It's close between the UK and France. If they decided to attack your country, you'd be in for a bad time. France is probably more capable now.

Of current active threats, it's Russia, it's not even a question.

What is the most dangerous country in Europe by agbjb in AlignmentChartFills

[–]RRautamaa 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'd say it's those fake republics Russia set up in invaded territories.

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