[TheForge] OT Subject change: Finland

Sat Dec 30 12:04:23 EST 2006

Well some of what has been said about the Finnish people holds true...
but only to some extent. When I first arrived to Finland in 1992 I
believed in every possible stereotype... because for me it seemed
true. I have since learned that the following 'myth' regarding the
average Finnish person is not true in Finnish eyes if at all.

"Finnish people don't speak unless under the influence of alcohol.."

Over all Finnish people are reserved and somewhat introvert.. yet they
are happy to strip naked in front of strangers, enjoy a sauna together
or even jump naked in an 'avanto' (hole in the ice of a frozen
lake)..I should add without any intoxicating beverage needed.
Something I really can not see Americans doing.

The main thing that one has to add into the equation when trying to
understand the Finns... is Finnish HISTORY. Being dominated by the
Swedes (?-1809) and the Ruskies (1809-1917) for such a long time.. it
was difficult to fully understand what a true Finn was. For almost 100
years under Russian rule the Finns were not allowed to express
themselves fully and the Swedes still consider them potato farmers.
Most of the older Finns that I have met feel that Finnish history
really began after the 'jatkosota'.. Continuation war 1941-44. Where
for the first time Finns stood side by side as a single nation and
repelled the hoards of Russian soldiers (for every 1 Finn 10 Russians
died). As a very clear example check out Simo Häyhä at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4 All of his kills
were made in the 100 day war known as the 'Winter War' (30th nov 1939
- 13 Mar 1940)

This doesn't really address the alcohol / speaking thing although it
does give a small insight into where the Finns have come from in
recent times.

The education system has a lot to do with Finnish 'shyness'.. Finnish
and Swedish are compulsory languages.. as is now English.. but in the
60's - 70's and even the 80's English was taught like a drill sergeant
marches his soldiers... by drilling "begin, began, begun" etc...With a
lot of reading but hardly any SPEAKING practice. I get the impression
that it was a bad thing to get things wrong during the English lessons
as almost all the younger Finns I have met will not say a word unless
they know you well or are 110% certain that what they say is
grammatically correct. Once Finns get to know you well and make
friends.. you will have a friend for life! They are out going, fun and
love the outdoors.. they also know how to respect silence and can
often sit with company in silence for a very long period of time. This
freaks me out still,but I have noticed on a recent trip to Australia
that I get stressed when the shopkeeper gets chatty.. or even offers
good customer service (something which exists only in books in this
country)..

I have noticed that ALL Finns have a similar attitude to alcohol..
drink it when you get it and drink it as fast as you can!!! The
alcohol culture here is similar to that of perhaps rockstars or other
binge drinking groups. It is then that we see what I call "PC" or
"Personality Change" take effect. The younger crowd do weird 'jackass'
type things and the older generation well they do their thing... but
at the end of the night they all gather to the local grill.. standing
in line in minus degrees only to get into a drunken fight and get
stabbed by the famous Finnish "Puukko" knife. (another stereotype)

It is a very different culture to mine.. yet being Australian we have
our own special history. I have lived here since the early 90's and
have seen a lot of foreign friends leave.. however they always return
because the bloody Finnish wife drags them back!!! heheheh

OK enough of Finnish culture for now.. I'll leave you with a joke told
to me when I first arrived.

Q."How can you tell a Finnish extrovert to a Finnish introvert?"
A. "The Extrovert is looking at someone elses feet!"

Stephen

On 30/12/06, David E. Smucker <davesmucker at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Best meat I have every had in my life was Reindeer Steak.  I made two visit
> to Finland -- enjoyed both.  We where working with ABB on some hot mill
> drives and the two 10,000 HP motors where made there.  These motors each
> weight 125 tons.  Was a very good job and ABB was a good company to work
> with.  (After years of working with GE we decided that GE stands for Go
> Elsewhere.)
>
> Dave
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Hochewa at aol.com>
> To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 5:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] OT Subject change: Finland
>
>
> > To All,
> > Finland is a great place.  The running joke when I was last there  about
> > 10
> > years ago was that Finland wanted to apply to become the 51st  state.
> > They had
> > the highest percentage of "American" speakers of all of  the countries in
> > Europe.  Not only would becoming the 51st state piss off  the Russians but
> > the
> > Swedes, too.  The sauna was invented in Finland no  matter what the Swedes
> > say.
> > They do tend to eat a lot of fish.  The  first time I was there for about
> > a
> > week and the only non-fish meal I had was  dinner at a restaurant
> > specializing
> > in Reindeer.  When we asked the clerk  at the desk of the hotel where can
> > you
> > get some reindeer, he said,  "Lapland."  Not all of them speak American
> > that
> > well.  The last night  we were there we did the company sauna house.  It
> > was
> > outside of Kotka,  right on the Baltic and it was February.  We were only
> > two
> > non-Finns  out of our party of about 10 or so.  I made it through three
> > cycles
> > which  impressed the hell out of the Finns.  After the sauna we sat out on
> > the
> > deck in robes and scuffs for about a half an hour.  It was about -10*F
> > that
> > night.  For dinner we had herring and salmon done every imaginable way as
> > long as it was pickled.  We had our own bottles of aqua vita and when they
> > were
> > empty, we left for the hotel, I think.
> > On the way back I had to stop in the UK for a few days.  I flew from
> > Helsinki to Heathrow and drove to Birmingham.  On M-40 just outside of
> > Oxford, there
> > was a rest stop with a very familar name, Burger King.  No  Whopper ever
> > tasted so good.
> >
> > Hochewa
> >
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