Finnish Jokes About Drinking

Drinking is a very important part of Finnish life. So it's no surprise that Finns have many jokes involving drinking.

I mentioned a couple of short drinking jokes in an earlier post, but now's the time to tackle this subject in earnest.

The Death of Gagarin

This week was an important one for The Death of Gagarin.

No, I am not referring to the death in 1968 of Russian cosmonaute Yuri Gagarin (R.I.P.). I am talking about the fabulous Finnish band of that name!

And this week saw the launch of their long awaited debut Album, “Nro 9”.

The i-Trick

This summer, a group of us were walking along Esplanadi in Helsinki on our way to the restaurant Kapelli, when Noah, aged 14 and visiting from the UK, declared: “I’ve been thinking... Finnish is quite easy really!”

Finnen von Sinnen - My Finnish Wife

This blog has been a little neglected in the past couple of weeks. But I have a good excuse: I was lazing around on the Caribbean island of Antigua. And, strange as it may seem, I found it hard writing a post about Finland, or even thinking of writing one (I realize sympathy towards me might be in short supply here, so I won’t dwell on this).

That said, I did put my down-time to good use, as one of the books I read was by a foreigner commenting on Finland, the Finns and the Finnish language. Sounds familiar?

Mini-Post: Happiness Finnish Style

Apparently, a common way of congratulating someone in Finnish is:

Onnea, onnea, onnea vaan!

Punainen tupa ja perunamaa!

Contratulations (x3)!

Red cottage and potato patch!

So forget the diamonds, forget the Ferraris, forget first class travel around the world, nothing can make a Finn happier than having a little red house and some spuds.

Joke - How the Finns Came to Finland

Lovely as Finland can be at times, I have always wondered why the Finns chose to settle in that inhospitable northern corner of Europe – back in the days before central heating, double-glazing, cars, snowmobiles, GORE-TEX®, winter holidays in Thailand and other such things.

Doctor, Doctor, My Car Needs Fixing!

When your knowledge of a language is fairly basic, understanding what people say is largely guess-work. It relies on trying to link logically together the words you recognise, and the gestures that accompany the narrative.

Sometimes though, some sentences seem to defy logic.

Mini-Post: Autumn is Here

Back in late March, as I stood in 50cm (20 inches) of snow in the Finnish countryside, I was told that spring was in in the air.

This week, while staying at the same location on the river Kokemäenjoki, I have been walking around in shorts and T-shirts, enjoying the sunny weather and the temperatures in the mid-20sC (mid-70sF). Yet, I have heard from a couple of people and read in a blog that apparently it's beginning to feel autumnal.

Go fathom.

Never Trust a Dictionary!

At a recent event, I wanted to say a few nice words in Finnish about someone dear to me. As there is no way I could ad-lib something like that with my limited command of the language, I decided to prepare my mini-speech beforehand, in writing.

A good thing I did too, because I came close to making a bit of a faux-pas.