There is a stereotype that Finns aren’t emotional people. Well, that’s not true! We are, especially when it comes to some particular topics.
I don’t want to sound all Gollum here, but there are some precious, lost things for Finns. They explain about 10% of our unique personality.
Five things that make Finns emotional
- Sauna. We Finns get so annoyed when we are traveling and see that somewhere it says: “Swedish sauna.” We still cannot understand how that misunderstanding happened. The home country of sauna is Finland and only Finland!
- Meatballs. Again those Swedes. Meatballs origin from Finland. Our mums and grannies make those! In the worst case, they are done by industrial makers, like Saarioinen, but still, from Finland. Damn you IKEA and your meatball propaganda worldwide.
- Karelia. We lost the war in the 40’s and had to give up the Karelia area (in Finnish: Karjala) to Russia. This is still a sore spot. Don’t be surprised if you hear somebody yelling “KARJALAAaaa!” on a summer night at 3 am. For us, it is like a wolf’s howl.
- A couple of Icehockey world championships. You don’t want me to start to explain these. They are nationwide traumas. Painful, painful games.
- Santa Claus. Disney, please, check your facts. It is not the North Pole, it is Korvatunturi in Lapland.
About Varpu
I’m the founder of Her Finland. I love cultural tidbits, aha moments, Finnish folklore, and cinnamon buns. My newest interest is learning bird songs. Read more about me..
Mike
Sunday 7th of April 2019
Hhaaahaha I loved the "Damn you IKEA" part! Sometimes, people think I have no soul, or something, but I'm not as emotional as other people. An example: If someone shows me a movie where a dog dies, I might feel a bit for the dog, but I'm very unlikely to be crying. I don't know why. Or sometimes the "adrenaline junkie" side of my personality clearly shows, when people show me stuff about ghosts, and similar things. Or just anything "scary", "creepy" things in general. Example: Show me something like: Creepy ghost videos in the middle of the night, and I'll just say out loud, "Awesome, I love ghosts, give me some more! I'll sleep with the ghosts any day."
But that does NOT mean I can't get emotional at all! I'll give you a list of 5 things that get ME emotional! (Not in order, and may be subject to change after a while)
1. I see live on the news, that someone, somewhere, especially when it's close to home, is about to be (or is) the victim of some evil crime. That's where my internal WOLF comes out, and I start thinking, "If I find this criminal, I will parachute in from above them, and stealthily, land on top of them, and tear their throat out!" (Even more if said victim is a woman. I can't tell you how much I love and adore women. I love them with every ounce of who I am. Especially the ones that are close friends. And to see them being mistreated, is like an insult to the universe!!)
2. When I see people being manipulated by their education system. Why does tha- … WHYY!!!! How on the universe's beautiful, blue and green Earth, can that even be ALLOWED to happen?
3. Small talk. I usually don't notice that I accidentally did "small talk" until after the conversation is over, and then I'll realize "... Wake up!"
4. When my friends get taken away from me. This is a massive sore spot. I never had significant romantic relationships with anyone my whole entire 17 year life. (No-one bothered to give me any attention) So when I do have friends, I care for them in a way you can't even imagine. My love for my friends, knows no bounds. Take them away from me, and I'll be internally fuming for months on end.
5. This one is more like a slight annoyance: When I can't put together a correct sentence in Finnish. Or when I can't pronounce a Finnish word. Or a name. (To this day I still struggle with my R's, my H's, and (less occasionally) my Y's, and my Ö's.) Sometimes I might say something in the incorrect order in Finnish, and then I'm like: "Aaaaaah!"
That's all that occurred to me, but there might be more! Entä sinä? What specifically makes YOU emotional, Varpu? (Unless it's already all of the above, then this is a dumb question. :P Lol!)
*salute!*
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