Alko - A Heroic Institution

What do you call an 80 year old always full of alcohol? Alko.

Yes, the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland celebrated 80 years just last week.

Is New Zealand Better Than Finland?

Gerry Brownlee, the leader of New Zealand's House of Representatives and the centre-right administration's third-ranking minister, caused quite a stir recently when he appeared to insult Finland during a speech.

Such was the uproar, that New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key ended up having to apologise to the Finnish president over the remarks.

Mini-Post: Dutch and Finnish Grammars Compared

While reorganising my book-shelves, I came across a book about Dutch grammar, which I bought back in the days when I lived in The Netherlands. 

High Energy

Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, there was a wave of anti-nuclear sentiments in Finland. The old "Nuclear Power – No Thanks" stickers came out again, and everyone agreed that nuclear energy was a bad thing.

I stood as an observer, not knowing much about Finnish energy generation or consumption (actually, I don't know much at all about energy). But a couple of thoughts came to my mind....

Why I Quite Like Helsinki Airport

As a frequent flyer, I spend a lot of time in airports. I can't say I ever really enjoy any of them but some airports are more pleasant than others, and Helsinki airport is one of the best.

There Are A Lot Of Sheep

It is a fallacy to say most Brits are lazy with regards to foreign languages. The reality is that, when they travel abroad, the Brits always make an effort to learn a few words of the local language. Usually those words are: "2 beers, please!"

Whether it's "deux bières, s'il vous plait" or "dos cervezas, por favor", the Brits are always ready. Even when travelling to Finland, it doesn't take long for Brits to master: "kaksi olutta!"

Underthtanding Finnith Kidth

When you are learning a language, there are a few greater challenges than understanding young children.

In theory, it should be easy, as their vocabulary and their sentences are relatively simple. The problem however is their pronunciation.

When Lisa's More

There is Canadian writer by the name of Lisa Moore (pictured here). There is also an Australian avant-garde pianist by the same name (not pictured here).

Now, the amusing thing about their name (if you are an easily amused Finnophile), is that in Finnish "lisaa" means "more".

Finnish Jokes About Swedes

One of the top searches for this blog is "finnish jokes about swedes". I thought it was about time I obliged, and so am sharing here a collection of jokes about Finland's western neighbours that I found on the web (the jokes, not the neighbours).