Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Mother Tongue

It's warm, sunny and shiny outside, but I'm scuba diving in the muddy waters.
Whilst I'm there, learn some Finnish.

The longest word in the world

epäjärjestelmällistymättömyydellänsäkäänköhän

What does it mean, isn't that clear.
Wonder if he can also do something with his capability of not being disorganized?
Anyway, something to do with being not confused, I think, but it's bit too confusing.

pientalokolmivaihevaihtovirtakilowattituntimittarimaksu

If you find that word from your electricity bill, just pay the damn bill.

lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas

If somebody calls you that, you are apparently a student and later in your life you will fix the airplane engines or something.





Some place names somewhere in Finland

Äteritsiputeritsipuolilaudatsijänkä
Nobody knows what it means, but Santa lives quite near.

Semmonen niemi jossa käärme koiraa pisti
Translated as: That kind of cape where the snake bit the dog.

Lehmänjalkakatkesiaho
Translated as Cow's-leg-went-broken-glade.

Grammar is fun

Verb          Meaning
tehdä to do
teettää to have someone do
teetättää to have someone have someone do
teetätättää to have someone have someone have someone do

8 comments:

Sopwith-Camel said...

I loved the 'Never Trust a Hippy' sticker.

Anyway, in this country, I want to see the road-works sign changed so that it doesn't show a man at work, because when I drive through the roadworks I never see anyone. It's always deserted. They're on their tea-break, or attending safety-at-work seminars. Anything but actually mending the road. What do your Finnish road-workers do?

miss-cellany said...

That is so very true; there never is anyone here actually doing something. Occasionally I've seen men moving cones from one part of an unworked stretched of a road to another. Sometimes even six men watching one other, in a digger, randomly waving the bucket towards...nothing.

Are Finnish roadworks just more artistic? He looks like that philospher statue bloke.

Certainly the long words could be installation art pieces in their own right.

Perhaps that's it, everything in Finalnd is art?

Dave said...

I wish I had a head for languages.

I wish I had a head for anything, actually. At the moment it seems to have big holes in it, out of which things keep falling.

Taiga the Fox said...

Hmm, I haven't seen any road-workers lately. Maybe that's because the road workers are hibernating during the winter or reading Heidegger behind the corner, I suppose. Or just boozing at home.

Anonymous said...

I just had to go back and find, "kunnes yksi risti kaksi pisti pennit miljoonaksi," and sing along...

Anonymous said...

The strange things one's friends with Finnish friends ask one... Would the plural of äpärä be äpärät or äpäräät? Sorry to lower the tone...

Taiga the Fox said...

Äpärät [I don't ask you why :)]

Anonymous said...

I haven't asked him either! Thank you on his behalf.