I do use some of these, though most of these are quite situational. Here's another good one for you to guess: "Lukee kuin piru raamattua" "To read like the devil reads the bible". I'll give you ten points if you can get that one :P
I don't use it very often but "nyt on piru merrassa ja toinen katiskassa" (now there's a devil in the the fish trap and another one in (another type of) fish trap) is one that I find hilarious. "Mennä metsään" is quite commonly used in everyday life.
I use "olla oma lehmä ojassa" quite often and "noniin, johan alkoi lyyti kirjoittaa" even more often (when I finally get a code to run etc.) . "Noniin" is mandatory there! XD
I think it's too like now you start doing something what you had to do for long time or now you understand something what you was talking aboat. Okei, I don't know 🤦😂
"That was heittämällä the best concert I've ever been to!" Heittämällä paras, heittämällä vaikein, heittämällä whatever, means the thing is easily/clearly/definitely the best/hardest/whatever
Ei laita tikkua ristiin, maybe helps to think that crossing two sticks is a super simple, easy thing to do, and then that person doesn't do even that much... That kinda sums it up.
Heittämällä can be used like this for example: Hän sai kokeen heittämällä läpi. (They passed the test by throwing.) Hän leipoi täydellisen kakun heittämällä. (They baked the perfect cake by throwing.) Hän söi kaiken heittämällä. (They ate it all by throwing.) In these sentences "by throwing" basically means "very easily". It's most commonly used in situations where one must perform, such as tests and auditions, but it can also be used in other situations.
Hyvin selitetty, itse olisin käyttänyt vertauskuvana esimerkiksi jotain fyysistä temppua koska niitten asioitten yhteydessä sanotaan yleensä "heittämällä" Esim: "Joo toi voltti meni kyl ihan heittämällä"
If you think about the literal meaning behind the phrase, think about for example carrying something from A to B versus throwing it from A to B. Throwing is so much easier/faster. Therefore you can say "I passed the exam by throwing!" (easily / with very little effort/ at once / on the first attempt).
I have heard that "Johan alkoi Lyyti kirjoittamaan" comes from time when Finns moved to America to look for better life. Their relatives couldn't write letters to them before they had settled in and gotten an address. So that's why when Lyyti can write to you, you know you have figured things out.
The phrase is used in sport matches, games etc. in case there's a turning point for the losing team and if they abruptly start gaining the lead, too. :)
There's a couple sayings here that I would've said a bit differently to have a bit more accurate and clearer translation. Like for example "They won't cross a stick" instead of "their sticks" and "To have rye IN the wrists" instead of "ON the wrists". Also "Onni" is a difficult word to translate because it encompasses things like "fortune", "happiness", and "luck". So you kind of just have to choose one.
I wonder if the stick-crossing comes from an old traditional dance (contest) called tikkuristi? Step one: Cross the sticks. (you will have four squares.) step two:: dance around the sticks in a certain pattern. Rules: Do not step on the sticks, keep the rhythm and the tempo will gradually speed up. Fail means you're out. Last one still dancing wins.
''Nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan'' can be used when you don't know how to do something and suddenly you figure it out. For example if you're trying to fix something and you are not sure what you need to do, but then you get an idea of using some specific tool etc. to get the task done, you can say ''No nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan''.
"Heittämällä" is like you slam-dunked it with ease. Kinda like when guys proudly yells "sukkana sisään" "entered as a sock / into like a sock" after throwing a good hoop in basketball (slides through smoothly like pulling on your sock).
I believe the "Kel onni on, se onnen kätkeköön" is from a poem by Eino Leino, a well-known and much cited poet. The book really should explain origins of the sayings, when known.
"...if not the cat itself" the saying is very close to your guess. I interpret it something like: Don't expect others to do what you have to do. It's definitely about doing things by yourself and not just waiting someone to come and do it for you. As a finn, I'm not even 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure.
@@SIMOPARAS I work as an AV translator, and trust me, sometimes it gets really frustrating to translate some of the english idioms and sayings. We have to focus on the context and to what a person *means* rather than what he/she *says*. So, that being said, this is the best translation I could come up with.
Well a lot of the sayings would've been easier to translate into English if they were translated into Swedish first... after all, like half of them are of Swedish Origin...
You should think of the "mennä metsään", "mennä päin mäntyä", "mennä päin honkia" as something you'd fear to do when you are driving a car. So, it's making a mistake, fail.
5:02 - "vuonna miekka ja kivi" There are actually many variations for this, always using some item(s) for time period one wants to point to. (I once heard someone referring their childhood time as "vuonna pipo" (year of beanie))
Vuonna keppi ja kivi (stick and stone), kilpi ja miekka (shield and sword), Paavo Nurmi (Finnish runner back in the day) - these I use the most, never miekka ja kivi. They should go together, like nakki ja muusi (bangers and mash), sword and stone.. no.
I use "heittämällä" at my work. I load and unload trucks, when I load something into tight place and it (finally) fits, I say "meni heittämällä sisään"/"Went in by throwing".
Cows in ditches is something you can think through someone asking "Should we fill that ditch that people and things don't fall in it?" and then my almost namesake yells: "Yes, definitely should fill that in! And help anything already trapped there out." "Wait... Isn't that your cow in there already?" Matti: "... Maybe..." And the rooster is on a compost heap. It's to say that though you're high and mighty, you're actually just a colourful farmanimal standing on old groceries, not some fancy emperor on a throne.
You could use the heittämällä as an example if you know you'll pass an exam with an ease (sehän meni läpi heittämällä) or if you have solved a problem with ease (ongelma ratkesi heittämällä)
My favorites are firstly: "like a fist in the eye" because it's a great example of the darkly humorous tone that Finnish sayings sometimes take in comparison to sayings in English (Check out the Finnish version of "Like stealing candy from a baby" for another example) And secondly "Now Lyyti begins writing" because it's one of the sayings that make you go "What who now?" after hearing them for the first time. There's a whole bunch of them, all with different characters (Like Ellu and her chickens). I love them.
When you pondered would Finnish parents use so harsh idioms, they actually do 😅 At least still at late 90's / early 2000 did. One of my mom's favorites when I had hangover when in high school was "Kärsi kärsi kalleimman kruunun saat" Suffer suffer you will get the worthiest crown.
I don’t always really agree on the direct English translations on the book. They’re not always exactly word to word but they’re also not proper translations with the nuance and ”vibe” taken into account all of the time. So ”ei laita tikkua ristiin” phase e.g. You can’t deduce it’s ”their sticks” from the Finnish saying, it just says ”doesn’t cross a stick” or ”they don’t cross a stick” If I was to translate it i’d maybe say ”they don’t even cross a stick” or ”they don’t cross a single stick” to get the ”vibe” closer as in like emphasising the fact that crossing a stick would not take much effort and perhaps that they were expected to do that (”can you believe they didn’t cross a single stick to help us?”)
Johan Öhgren Yeah it might, but the saying doesn’t actually have anything to do with fighting and you don’t usually use it describing people in a conflict. It’s used to describe people who are lazy or demotivated. It also has a dialectal version ”ei laita rikkaa ristiin” which basically translates to ”doesn’t cross a small piece of trash”.
What you thought was the "jo alkoi Lyyti kirjoittamaan" (something not being very interesting) does have a sarcastic idiom. Actually several variations. The most used ones I think are "kiviäkin kiinnostaa" (even rocks are interested) and "kissaakin kiinnostaa" (even a cat is interested). Rocks are known for not showing interest in many things, and cats also are quite unreliable when it comes to acquiring their attention.
I think the English translations made it harder for you to guess the meaning. "Ei laita tikkua ristiin" could be better translated as "Won't even lay a stick across another." Not, "They don't cross their sticks." I love this book and your trip through it. I'm learning expressions that entered the landscape after I emigrated, so this is fun. You're coming along really well with your FInnish. As to life in quarantine: Tsemppia. What's this little bump in the road, for a Finn as you are now?
We also say "vuonna nakki ja muusi" which translates to "in the year of sausages and mashed potatoes" and has the same meaning :D I feel that it is even more commonly used instead of "miekka ja kivi"
Kel onni on se onnen kätkeköön is from the poetry of Eino Leino and the poem is about if you have happiness other people will not look kindly to it and get jealous so you should hide it and enjoy it only by yourself.
I feel like the translation of the "ei laita tikkua ristiin" isn't really good. If you'd translate "They don't cross their sticks" into Finnish, it would come out out as: "He eivät laita tikkujaan ristiin", which is not correct at all. I'd translate the saying: "To not cross a single stick", which would also make it more close to the actual meaning of the saying.
I use alot a word that most likely ain't in that book. Actually I've learned it from one old Karelian fella and never heard anyone else to use it, but I do use it almost daily for many different things. And the word is "ömöttää". It means: "something or someone is somewhere and does nothing else except just watches forward or at something". "Siellä hää tuas ömöttää" = "there he/she once again (add here the meaning above)". "Ömöttävä paska" = "Someone/something I don't like just sits there and does nothing". And so on.
I understand "kuka kissan hännän nostaa jos ei kissa itse" just like you. Cat's must lift it's own tail because no one ealse is going to do it. Never thought that you should be proud of my self. (yes I'm finn)
It's awesome to follow how your pronounciation just keeps getting better and better. It does sound foreign but you can quite easily understand basically everything you're saying in Finnish now EDIT. Mennä metsään is also said mennä puihin (go into the trees)
The cat thing is wrong. Kuka kissan hännän nostaa, jos ei kissa itse means something like "if you want to improve something in your own life you should do it yourself".. "you should do your own things yourself and not just complain" etc.
Mennä metsään if I remember correctly comes from farmers herding their cows or sheep. When one slips away and runs into the forest that's where its like ah shit, now it went to the forest!
It's funny how I've used many of these sayings all my life and never realised the literal meanings. And also you are doing great with your studying! I have no idea how anyone manages to learn finnish as a second language.
I got your video randomly on my feed and I don't normally watch this type of videos, but you have so calm way to talk and you aren't over the top in the videos, unlike most youtubers. So I clicked subcribe.
"Heittämällä" is like a saying you'd use when you could do something very easily or very much agree to something I guess, hard to explain but some examples: "Would you be able to do this and this?" (Heittämällä) "Easily" "This guy is the best, don't you agree?!" (Heittämällä) "Easily"
I might be using things a bit weirdly here because, well, I'm no expert in any language and I feel like I'm learning more English than Finnish these days, thus my English is a bit better than my Finnish even though I'm 100% Finnish.
also I really thought the "They don't cross their sticks" meant they don't have arguments / bad time together but I was apparently wrong. This is how much of a not-Finnish Finnish person I am
I believe the saying comes from people throwing things from a far distance easily into a target. For example if you throw a piece of paper to the trash bin a few meters away, it might look easy. It is more used in sportd, I would say. Like if you score a goal in soccer you could brag by saying "heittämällä sisään!" - "in by throwing".
You could use "heittämällä" for example in a sentence "Hän pääsi heittämällä yliopistoon" - "He got easily in to the university" (for example if someone got excellent grades from the high school or is otherwise so smart that he didn't need to work hard for the entrance examination.
Helsingin kaupunginkirjaston Kysy.fi sivustolta löytyi selitys: Sanonnan 'Jo rupesi Lyyti kirjoittamaan' taustalla on suomalaisten siirtolaisuus Amerikkaan. Siirtolaiset odottivat kotimaasta postia, mutta sitä ei luonnollisesti kuulunut ennen kuin kotimaahan oli lähetetty tarkka osoite. Eli kun osoite saatiin ”Jo rupesi Lyyti kirjoittamaan, nyrkin kuva joka sanan jälessä” (R. Hyvönen Laukaalta; Kansanrunousarkisto.) Sanonta levisi myös muihin yhteyksiin kuvaaman jonkin toiminnan sujuvuutta esteiden poistuttua. Esimerkiksi 'Haupitsipatteri oli saanut tulenjohdolta väärät lukemat ja niin ensimmäinen tuli-isku ammuttiin liiaksi eteen. Tulenjohdon korjattua lukemat toinen isku osui keskelle hyökkäysryhmittymää. Kuultuaan täysosumista eräs tykistönjohtaja sanoi nuivasti: 'Jo rupes lyyti kirjoittamaan, kun sai oikean osoitteen .' - Pentti Pekonen SK 11.11.67." Lähde: Suomalainen fraasisanakirja, Otava, 1981. This is too hard for me to translate into english :D But shortly; the background of the phrase is when the finns migrated to america. Finnish migrants waited mail from their home country, but first they obviously had to send their new address: and then Lyyti begins writing!
"Helsinki City Library's Kysy.fi site had an explanation: The phrase 'Jo rupesi Lyyti kirjoittamaan' is from the time of Finnish immigration to America. Immigrants expected to get letters from homeland, but obviously nothing could arrive before an exact address was sent back home. So when they got the address 'Now Lyyti began writing, a fist-mark after each word' (R. Hyvönen from Laukaa, Folk Poetry Archive.) The phrase spread to other instances as well to describe a situation where something began working after passing some difficulties. For example 'Howitzer battery had received wrong readings and thus first salvo hit too far ahead. After FDC corrected the readings, the second salvo hit in the middle of attack formation. After hearing of this bullseye, one FDC-officer said dryly: *-Now Lyyti began writing, once she got the right address.* -Pentti Pekonen SK 11.11.67.' Source: Finnish Phrase Dictionary, Otava, 1981." Had a moment, so here you go. :D
Why am I just discovering your channel??? So interesting..am studying practical nurse studies in Finnish language and the struggle can be REAL at times.
"Oma lehmä ojassa", "heittämällä", "mennä metsään" and "vuonna kivi ja keppi" (another version of "vuonna kivi ja miekka", 'keppi' meaning a 'stick') are very common idioms. I use them a lot and hear them used a lot. Your pronunciation is so good! You are doing a great job!
Heittämällä has the thinking of "hip shot" (shooting the cowboy pistol at hip height as opposed to carefully aimed shot.) Actually, one translation of "hip shot" to Finnish is "heittolaukaus". Lyyti is just the hero person - like Fonzie, who just always knows exactly what to write. At least personally, I identify the "mennä metsään" phrase like a image of driving a car (or horse cart) on a road, but then it suddenly goes to forest (and gets stuck between two trees, or such). To not cross their sticks, is when there is a big barn rising, and everyone is putting planks on their places and nailing things, but then there is this one person, who doesn't move any planks. They don't as much as put two sticks across each other in the construction work. Rye on the wrist is similar thinking to "you are what you eat". People who eat lot of rye bread (and their porridge in the breakfast) grow up strong.
Around here, "heittämällä/by throwing" also means "by guessing". For example, if someone gets full points on some point in a test by guessing, they could say "Sain heittämällä täydet"/"I got full points by throwing"
Never heard the saying "vuonna miekka ja kivi" i've always heard used the saying "vuonna kivi ja keppi" meaning "in the year of the stone and stick". Another one is "heittämällä" for example you could use it after a test if it was really easy you could say "heittämällä läpi". Good video Dave!
"Heittämällä" / by throwing is something finns use ALL THE TIME! you could say "doing a flip was very easy" as "voltti meni ihan heittämällä". It basically means you didn't even really have to try. Try asking cat- i feel like it's one of the most important idioms to learn
I once read in a magazine article that Lyyti was a well-known columnist at the beginning of the 20th century and when Lyyti wrote for the magazine, people began to think that things started going well because of her writings.
Crossing the sticks comes from old times where women would meet up to knit together and there was always that one woman who gossiped a lot but didn't actually do anything😅 so she was definitely not crossing her sticks!
Oh, I needed that laugh today! And here I am, teaching English idioms to my very Swedish ESL-students. Greetings from Sweden, and your baby is the cutest! :-) Good luck with both parenting and your language studies! Siitä se lähtee!
Remember that when you use the "mennä metsään" -idiom, remember to use the right inflected form. The most usual way to use it is to say "meni metsään" = wen't to the forest. (Imperfect)
Haha I love it how well you understand the insights of Finnish grandmas and parents!!❤️😂😂😂 Kel onni on, se onnen kätkeköön. One of the most finnish things to say...
Something went right (or "in") so easily, you could have it done by throwing - Thing went thru almost by itself. Someone made a guess, and the guess went in the forest. Equal to driving into a ditch, to get lost (into the forest). Ants are hard working, setting those sticks in a pile to make a nest. Lazy ones don't even put two sticks on.(cross sticks..)
In old believes, there was only a certain amount of happiness. So if your neighbor had some of that happiness, it mean't that you didn't and vice versa. That's why you would wan't to hide that happiness to prevent other people from casting a bad spell on you or luring wild animals to eat your cattle.
I use ”Vuonna miekka ja kirves” or ”Vuonna nakki ja peruna(muusi).” They translate to ”The year of sword and ax” and ”The year of sausage and (smashed) potatoes.” This a variant of the ”Vuonna miekka ja kivi”. Possibly areal differences
You can use heittämällä for example if you had an exam in school and it was so easy that it went heittämällä läpi (you passed for sure). Few ways to explain laittaa tikkua ristiin is someone being lazy or they just leave everything for other people to do.
"Ei laita tikkua ristiin" would be better Interpreted as deliberately not putting in any effort to accomplish something/getting something done/finished.
You could use the ”heittämällä” in situations where you do something and it happens very easily. You could say something like ”no sehän meni heittämällä”.
There is this one saying ”kuin käärmeen kusi erämaassa” (like a snake’s piss in the desert) which means something or someone is not going a straight line. For example a drunk person might walk like ”a snake’s piss in the desert”.
I recently learnt what the story is behind the saying "to have an axe to grind" and I immediately yelled that on the cow in the ditch, because yes! But I'm really disappointed that the book doesn't explain what the sayings mean, of course they don't make any sense without context! Poor Dave, trying to memorize these when just learning the history behind each saying would help tremendously... :'( Like, eating rye gives you strength, therefore when you have rye in your wrists = strong.
5:06 never heard that before but i have heard stone and axe, stick and axe, sausage and smashed potato, stone and stick (my fave, makes the most sense)
"Heittämällä" is "very easily" but also "by a lot" "hän voitti heittämällä" can mean "he won easily" but also "she won by a lot" (as in winning a 100m sprint 5 ahead the second person for example)
Heittämällä (idiom), to do something very easily. Example: "Heittämällä låpi! " would be something you'd say, perhaps gloating, or just being happy, if you pass an exam easily, with a good grade. Or, you might say the exact same words, if you finish a level in a video game you've previously thought was hard, or if you get through (läpi) a driving test to get your driver's license. You usually need the word "läpi" to accompany it and you have to be referring to a specific task, usually some kind of test or exam.
I've never heard of the phrase vuonna miekka ja kivi used but I've commonly heard something very similar used... Though I guess the sword and rock one is the logical one compared to my "vuonna nakki ja muusi" (on the year of sausage and smash potatoes)
Example: u have math class and you don’t understand the task, but soon you’ll figure out that it is quite easy and then you say nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan. Or u have an essay and you don’t have a clue what or how to write and suddenly u have a huge idea and start writing, nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan
Mennä metsään, is from a Swedish saying though, åt skogen, towards the woods/headed to the forest, it means either to hell with it, or it somehow, fucked up, How did it go at the mechanic? Mennä metsään... Although Finns are a much better people than Swedes. And The Finnswedes use the same flag as me, the yellow Cross on red.
My favourite saying is "kyllä homo homon tunnistaa" which is literally translated "gay always recognises (the) other gay". It is not very politically correct nowadays, but it is possible to use it widely.
What's your favourite saying out of these? Do you use any of these in real life? Let me know!
I do use some of these, though most of these are quite situational.
Here's another good one for you to guess: "Lukee kuin piru raamattua" "To read like the devil reads the bible". I'll give you ten points if you can get that one :P
Lyyti rupes kirjoittamaan.
"Vuonna kivi ja keppi" (miekka)((nakit ja muusi)).
I don't use it very often but "nyt on piru merrassa ja toinen katiskassa" (now there's a devil in the the fish trap and another one in (another type of) fish trap) is one that I find hilarious. "Mennä metsään" is quite commonly used in everyday life.
I use "olla oma lehmä ojassa" quite often and "noniin, johan alkoi lyyti kirjoittaa" even more often (when I finally get a code to run etc.) . "Noniin" is mandatory there! XD
I think "nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan" could also translate as "now we're talking" or something like that 🤔
That's a good english equivalent!
Lyyti - Lyydia or Lydia
I think it's too like now you start doing something what you had to do for long time or now you understand something what you was talking aboat. Okei, I don't know 🤦😂
Exactly😁👌
It could also mean that "finally, some progress, things start to happen."
"That was heittämällä the best concert I've ever been to!" Heittämällä paras, heittämällä vaikein, heittämällä whatever, means the thing is easily/clearly/definitely the best/hardest/whatever
Tämä oli heittämällä paras selitys. This was easily the best explanation.
And if some one ask if you can do something (or if someone teases you "you cant climb up to that tree) you can answer "heittämällä"
Koe meni heittämällä läpi = The test was passed really easily.
U win some match example 1-0 u can say "very easily"
There's different variations for "Vuonna miekka ja kivi" I for example say "Vuonna nakki ja muussi" (In the year of sausage and mashed potato)
And you can really use any two words, meaning still the same 😂
Viittaako nakki ja muusi jonnekin 60-luvulla, vai milloin kyseinen ruoka tuli erityisen suosituksi?
"Vuonna kivi ja keppi" too, "in the year of stone and stick"
Vuonna nakki ja pottu (in the year of sausage and potato)
Mä sanon aina kivi ja keppi:
In the year of stone and stick.
Ei laita tikkua ristiin, maybe helps to think that crossing two sticks is a super simple, easy thing to do, and then that person doesn't do even that much... That kinda sums it up.
Doesn't even try.
But why? Is he lighting a campfire?
Same in Swedish: lägga 2 strån i kors
Heittämällä can be used like this for example:
Hän sai kokeen heittämällä läpi. (They passed the test by throwing.)
Hän leipoi täydellisen kakun heittämällä. (They baked the perfect cake by throwing.)
Hän söi kaiken heittämällä. (They ate it all by throwing.)
In these sentences "by throwing" basically means "very easily". It's most commonly used in situations where one must perform, such as tests and auditions, but it can also be used in other situations.
Hän läpäisi kokeen heittämällä. (He/she passed the test by a mile.)
Hyvin selitetty, itse olisin käyttänyt vertauskuvana esimerkiksi jotain fyysistä temppua koska niitten asioitten yhteydessä sanotaan yleensä "heittämällä"
Esim:
"Joo toi voltti meni kyl ihan heittämällä"
@@Jonsson95 kiitos
If you think about the literal meaning behind the phrase, think about for example carrying something from A to B versus throwing it from A to B. Throwing is so much easier/faster. Therefore you can say "I passed the exam by throwing!" (easily / with very little effort/ at once / on the first attempt).
@@Darxxxyde On first try.
I have heard that "Johan alkoi Lyyti kirjoittamaan" comes from time when Finns moved to America to look for better life. Their relatives couldn't write letters to them before they had settled in and gotten an address. So that's why when Lyyti can write to you, you know you have figured things out.
Johan alko lyyti kirjoittamaan Alluusio spotattu
Ps. Hornankoje on hyvä tehkää aktiivisemmin videoita
Seuraat näköjään aktiivisesti Davea
The phrase is used in sport matches, games etc. in case there's a turning point for the losing team and if they abruptly start gaining the lead, too. :)
There's a couple sayings here that I would've said a bit differently to have a bit more accurate and clearer translation.
Like for example "They won't cross a stick" instead of "their sticks" and "To have rye IN the wrists" instead of "ON the wrists".
Also "Onni" is a difficult word to translate because it encompasses things like "fortune", "happiness", and "luck". So you kind of just have to choose one.
I wonder if the stick-crossing comes from an old traditional dance (contest) called tikkuristi? Step one: Cross the sticks. (you will have four squares.) step two:: dance around the sticks in a certain pattern. Rules: Do not step on the sticks, keep the rhythm and the tempo will gradually speed up. Fail means you're out. Last one still dancing wins.
''Nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan'' can be used when you don't know how to do something and suddenly you figure it out.
For example if you're trying to fix something and you are not sure what you need to do, but then you get an idea of using some specific tool etc. to get the task done, you can say ''No nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan''.
"Heittämällä" is like you slam-dunked it with ease. Kinda like when guys proudly yells "sukkana sisään" "entered as a sock / into like a sock" after throwing a good hoop in basketball (slides through smoothly like pulling on your sock).
I believe the "Kel onni on, se onnen kätkeköön" is from a poem by Eino Leino, a well-known and much cited poet. The book really should explain origins of the sayings, when known.
"...if not the cat itself" the saying is very close to your guess. I interpret it something like: Don't expect others to do what you have to do. It's definitely about doing things by yourself and not just waiting someone to come and do it for you. As a finn, I'm not even 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure.
If you lift the cats tail and it doesn't like you doing it, boy, you'd better like bloody scratches on your person.
Just heard English version of ”pieru Saharaan” the other day on the Blacklist: ”disappeared like a fart in a fan factory” xD
'Heittämällä' is like 'with flying colours'.
This is a good translation!
Or like a country mile
@@laurikaunisto7403 Contextually, that doesn't quite fit. "With flying colors" fits a lot better.
= liput liehuen" ähh.. seriously ?
@@SIMOPARAS I work as an AV translator, and trust me, sometimes it gets really frustrating to translate some of the english idioms and sayings. We have to focus on the context and to what a person *means* rather than what he/she *says*. So, that being said, this is the best translation I could come up with.
I love these content. They open also my native Finnish vocabulary and memory on these saying😂
My favorite idiom is "ennen sianpieremää" "before pig farts" meaning very,very early in the morning.
Yes. "Ennen kukon laulua" - "before the rooster sings" is very early. But "ennen sian pierua" - "before the pig farts" is even earlier :D
”Sopii kuin nyrkki silmään” is dark humor about hitting someone, and then the fist fits perfectly!
mä oon suomalaine perkele
No tää tyyppi sentää tajuaa
Mennä metsään has propably come from driving, like falling off the road or perhaps just generally navigating into a wrong place..
Yeah, to drive off the road. When that happens in Finland, there's a high change you end up in the forest.
Or something to do with 7 brothers going to the forest when things went wrong?
Okay but Leo stole my heart again ;-; he's a cutie
I don't think these idioms were translated by a professional.
Yup, was about to comment that it's a shame that the translations are not very good.
Trained translator here; the poor translations and lack of background research in this book give me heart palpitations
@@Yoarashi It is unfortunate but it was only done for entertainment.
Well a lot of the sayings would've been easier to translate into English if they were translated into Swedish first... after all, like half of them are of Swedish Origin...
@@Yoarashi Kirjan käännökset saivat sinut repimään pelihoususi.
You should think of the "mennä metsään", "mennä päin mäntyä", "mennä päin honkia" as something you'd fear to do when you are driving a car. So, it's making a mistake, fail.
Don't forget horse pulled carts. When we have roads with good change they are middle of a forest.
miten mä en oo ikinä tajunnu tota 😂🙈
Yes, I guess you might add ”out of the road” there.
Mennä keturalleen
When you started describing your guess for "Mennä metsään", I just thought to myself "Nyt meni metsään"
5:02 - "vuonna miekka ja kivi" There are actually many variations for this, always using some item(s) for time period one wants to point to.
(I once heard someone referring their childhood time as "vuonna pipo" (year of beanie))
Vuonna keppi ja kivi (stick and stone), kilpi ja miekka (shield and sword), Paavo Nurmi (Finnish runner back in the day) - these I use the most, never miekka ja kivi. They should go together, like nakki ja muusi (bangers and mash), sword and stone.. no.
I use "heittämällä" at my work. I load and unload trucks, when I load something into tight place and it (finally) fits, I say "meni heittämällä sisään"/"Went in by throwing".
Cows in ditches is something you can think through someone asking "Should we fill that ditch that people and things don't fall in it?" and then my almost namesake yells: "Yes, definitely should fill that in! And help anything already trapped there out."
"Wait... Isn't that your cow in there already?"
Matti: "... Maybe..."
And the rooster is on a compost heap. It's to say that though you're high and mighty, you're actually just a colourful farmanimal standing on old groceries, not some fancy emperor on a throne.
You could use the heittämällä as an example if you know you'll pass an exam with an ease (sehän meni läpi heittämällä) or if you have solved a problem with ease (ongelma ratkesi heittämällä)
My favorites are firstly: "like a fist in the eye" because it's a great example of the darkly humorous tone that Finnish sayings sometimes take in comparison to sayings in English (Check out the Finnish version of "Like stealing candy from a baby" for another example)
And secondly "Now Lyyti begins writing" because it's one of the sayings that make you go "What who now?" after hearing them for the first time. There's a whole bunch of them, all with different characters (Like Ellu and her chickens). I love them.
Where did the baby get the candy from in the first place?
Other variation of "like a fist in the eye" is "like a nose in the face", with the same meaning.👃
For someone also learning Finnish these videos combined with all the comments are absolute gold :D
When you pondered would Finnish parents use so harsh idioms, they actually do 😅 At least still at late 90's / early 2000 did. One of my mom's favorites when I had hangover when in high school was "Kärsi kärsi kalleimman kruunun saat" Suffer suffer you will get the worthiest crown.
I don’t always really agree on the direct English translations on the book. They’re not always exactly word to word but they’re also not proper translations with the nuance and ”vibe” taken into account all of the time. So ”ei laita tikkua ristiin” phase e.g. You can’t deduce it’s ”their sticks” from the Finnish saying, it just says ”doesn’t cross a stick” or ”they don’t cross a stick” If I was to translate it i’d maybe say ”they don’t even cross a stick” or ”they don’t cross a single stick” to get the ”vibe” closer as in like emphasising the fact that crossing a stick would not take much effort and perhaps that they were expected to do that (”can you believe they didn’t cross a single stick to help us?”)
To not crossing sticks sounds to me like they won't fight over something..
Johan Öhgren Yeah it might, but the saying doesn’t actually have anything to do with fighting and you don’t usually use it describing people in a conflict. It’s used to describe people who are lazy or demotivated. It also has a dialectal version ”ei laita rikkaa ristiin” which basically translates to ”doesn’t cross a small piece of trash”.
What you thought was the "jo alkoi Lyyti kirjoittamaan" (something not being very interesting) does have a sarcastic idiom. Actually several variations. The most used ones I think are "kiviäkin kiinnostaa" (even rocks are interested) and "kissaakin kiinnostaa" (even a cat is interested). Rocks are known for not showing interest in many things, and cats also are quite unreliable when it comes to acquiring their attention.
I think the English translations made it harder for you to guess the meaning. "Ei laita tikkua ristiin" could be better translated as "Won't even lay a stick across another." Not, "They don't cross their sticks." I love this book and your trip through it. I'm learning expressions that entered the landscape after I emigrated, so this is fun. You're coming along really well with your FInnish. As to life in quarantine: Tsemppia. What's this little bump in the road, for a Finn as you are now?
Can be found in Swedish too, "inte lägga två pinnar i kors"
@@TheMorgwhhlshilth Or "två strån i kors".
Mennä metsään can also be used in Swedish, something "gick åt skogen".
We also say "vuonna nakki ja muusi" which translates to "in the year of sausages and mashed potatoes" and has the same meaning :D I feel that it is even more commonly used instead of "miekka ja kivi"
"Sopii kuin nyrkki silmään" is perfect example of how dark old Finnish sayings are.
Kel onni on se onnen kätkeköön is from the poetry of Eino Leino and the poem is about if you have happiness other people will not look kindly to it and get jealous so you should hide it and enjoy it only by yourself.
I feel like the translation of the "ei laita tikkua ristiin" isn't really good. If you'd translate "They don't cross their sticks" into Finnish, it would come out out as: "He eivät laita tikkujaan ristiin", which is not correct at all. I'd translate the saying: "To not cross a single stick", which would also make it more close to the actual meaning of the saying.
Ok mitä vittua
"Vuonna miekka ja kivi" get me thinking of King Arthur drawing the sword Excalibur from the stone. Not a very Finnish legend, though.
I use alot a word that most likely ain't in that book. Actually I've learned it from one old Karelian fella and never heard anyone else to use it, but I do use it almost daily for many different things.
And the word is "ömöttää". It means: "something or someone is somewhere and does nothing else except just watches forward or at something".
"Siellä hää tuas ömöttää" = "there he/she once again (add here the meaning above)".
"Ömöttävä paska" = "Someone/something I don't like just sits there and does nothing".
And so on.
In the Netherlands, things fall into the water or go into the soup instead of into the forest
In Finnish things also fail or go wrong, when " asiat menevät päin vittua".
I understand "kuka kissan hännän nostaa jos ei kissa itse" just like you. Cat's must lift it's own tail because no one ealse is going to do it. Never thought that you should be proud of my self. (yes I'm finn)
It's awesome to follow how your pronounciation just keeps getting better and better. It does sound foreign but you can quite easily understand basically everything you're saying in Finnish now
EDIT. Mennä metsään is also said mennä puihin (go into the trees)
"Kel onni on, se onnen kätkeköön" comes from poem "Laulu onnesta" by Eino Leino.
The book sais ”Kel” but it was originally written in the Eino Leino’s poem: Kell’ as for shortened ”Kellä / Kenellä”.
The cat thing is wrong. Kuka kissan hännän nostaa, jos ei kissa itse means something like "if you want to improve something in your own life you should do it yourself".. "you should do your own things yourself and not just complain" etc.
Mennä metsään if I remember correctly comes from farmers herding their cows or sheep. When one slips away and runs into the forest that's where its like ah shit, now it went to the forest!
It's funny how I've used many of these sayings all my life and never realised the literal meanings. And also you are doing great with your studying! I have no idea how anyone manages to learn finnish as a second language.
I got your video randomly on my feed and I don't normally watch this type of videos, but you have so calm way to talk and you aren't over the top in the videos, unlike most youtubers. So I clicked subcribe.
Welcome! :)
To have rye on the wrists means that if you eat lot’s of healty rye bread the rye ”will go” to your biceps (turn into muscle) and you get stronger.. 😄
That phrase ”heittämällä=by throwing” you can use for example if some exam is super easy and you pass it very easily🤗
Heittolaukaus ei vain aina osu.
"Heittämällä" is like a saying you'd use when you could do something very easily or very much agree to something I guess, hard to explain but some examples:
"Would you be able to do this and this?"
(Heittämällä) "Easily"
"This guy is the best, don't you agree?!"
(Heittämällä) "Easily"
I might be using things a bit weirdly here because, well, I'm no expert in any language and I feel like I'm learning more English than Finnish these days, thus my English is a bit better than my Finnish even though I'm 100% Finnish.
Or one might also use "heittämällä" as follows.
"The exam was really easy. I nailed it!"
"Koe oli todella helppo. Se meni heittämällä läpi!"
also I really thought the "They don't cross their sticks" meant they don't have arguments / bad time together but I was apparently wrong. This is how much of a not-Finnish Finnish person I am
I believe the saying comes from people throwing things from a far distance easily into a target. For example if you throw a piece of paper to the trash bin a few meters away, it might look easy. It is more used in sportd, I would say. Like if you score a goal in soccer you could brag by saying "heittämällä sisään!" - "in by throwing".
You could use "heittämällä" for example in a sentence "Hän pääsi heittämällä yliopistoon" - "He got easily in to the university" (for example if someone got excellent grades from the high school or is otherwise so smart that he didn't need to work hard for the entrance examination.
Helsingin kaupunginkirjaston Kysy.fi sivustolta löytyi selitys: Sanonnan 'Jo rupesi Lyyti kirjoittamaan' taustalla on suomalaisten siirtolaisuus Amerikkaan. Siirtolaiset odottivat kotimaasta postia, mutta sitä ei luonnollisesti kuulunut ennen kuin kotimaahan oli lähetetty tarkka osoite. Eli kun osoite saatiin ”Jo rupesi Lyyti kirjoittamaan, nyrkin kuva joka sanan jälessä” (R. Hyvönen Laukaalta; Kansanrunousarkisto.)
Sanonta levisi myös muihin yhteyksiin kuvaaman jonkin toiminnan sujuvuutta esteiden poistuttua. Esimerkiksi 'Haupitsipatteri oli saanut tulenjohdolta väärät lukemat ja niin ensimmäinen tuli-isku ammuttiin liiaksi eteen. Tulenjohdon korjattua lukemat toinen isku osui keskelle hyökkäysryhmittymää. Kuultuaan täysosumista eräs tykistönjohtaja sanoi nuivasti: 'Jo rupes lyyti kirjoittamaan, kun sai oikean osoitteen .' - Pentti Pekonen SK 11.11.67."
Lähde: Suomalainen fraasisanakirja, Otava, 1981.
This is too hard for me to translate into english :D But shortly; the background of the phrase is when the finns migrated to america. Finnish migrants waited mail from their home country, but first they obviously had to send their new address: and then Lyyti begins writing!
"Helsinki City Library's Kysy.fi site had an explanation: The phrase 'Jo rupesi Lyyti kirjoittamaan' is from the time of Finnish immigration to America. Immigrants expected to get letters from homeland, but obviously nothing could arrive before an exact address was sent back home. So when they got the address 'Now Lyyti began writing, a fist-mark after each word' (R. Hyvönen from Laukaa, Folk Poetry Archive.)
The phrase spread to other instances as well to describe a situation where something began working after passing some difficulties. For example 'Howitzer battery had received wrong readings and thus first salvo hit too far ahead. After FDC corrected the readings, the second salvo hit in the middle of attack formation. After hearing of this bullseye, one FDC-officer said dryly: *-Now Lyyti began writing, once she got the right address.* -Pentti Pekonen SK 11.11.67.'
Source: Finnish Phrase Dictionary, Otava, 1981."
Had a moment, so here you go. :D
@@Velgar_Grim Thank you !!
I find your videos so entertaining. I’ve never thought about the literal translation of most of these 😂
Why am I just discovering your channel??? So interesting..am studying practical nurse studies in Finnish language and the struggle can be REAL at times.
Sopii kuin nyrkki silmään ! Means - NOT to Your OWN EYE - but ENEMYS EYE !
"Oma lehmä ojassa", "heittämällä", "mennä metsään" and "vuonna kivi ja keppi" (another version of "vuonna kivi ja miekka", 'keppi' meaning a 'stick') are very common idioms. I use them a lot and hear them used a lot. Your pronunciation is so good! You are doing a great job!
Heittämällä has the thinking of "hip shot" (shooting the cowboy pistol at hip height as opposed to carefully aimed shot.) Actually, one translation of "hip shot" to Finnish is "heittolaukaus".
Lyyti is just the hero person - like Fonzie, who just always knows exactly what to write.
At least personally, I identify the "mennä metsään" phrase like a image of driving a car (or horse cart) on a road, but then it suddenly goes to forest (and gets stuck between two trees, or such).
To not cross their sticks, is when there is a big barn rising, and everyone is putting planks on their places and nailing things, but then there is this one person, who doesn't move any planks. They don't as much as put two sticks across each other in the construction work.
Rye on the wrist is similar thinking to "you are what you eat". People who eat lot of rye bread (and their porridge in the breakfast) grow up strong.
Around here, "heittämällä/by throwing" also means "by guessing".
For example, if someone gets full points on some point in a test by guessing, they could say "Sain heittämällä täydet"/"I got full points by throwing"
Tämä oli todella viihdyttävää, kiitos Dave!
6:31 sometimes people say “mennä mönkään”. But “mönkä” is not a word 😂
Asiat menee mönkään kun niitä tekee umpimähkään tai ainakin pipariksi.
Never heard the saying "vuonna miekka ja kivi" i've always heard used the saying "vuonna kivi ja keppi" meaning "in the year of the stone and stick". Another one is "heittämällä" for example you could use it after a test if it was really easy you could say "heittämällä läpi". Good video Dave!
I have heard it as ''Kivi ja Kanto'' (the Stone and the Stump)
Vuonna nakki ja muusi
There are many variation of this saying, but always 2 "old" items are mentioned. Usually related to time period one wants to use.
When you said ”kukkona” it was so perfectly pronounced
Some of these are, like you said, something your parents or grandma would say to you but "heittämällä" is used a lot by young people.
"Heittämällä" / by throwing is something finns use ALL THE TIME! you could say "doing a flip was very easy" as "voltti meni ihan heittämällä". It basically means you didn't even really have to try. Try asking cat- i feel like it's one of the most important idioms to learn
If a driver speeds up and overtakes a long row of cars in one swoop, then we may say "he/she overtook all by throwing" (ohitti heittämällä).
I once read in a magazine article that Lyyti was a well-known columnist at the beginning of the 20th century and when Lyyti wrote for the magazine, people began to think that things started going well because of her writings.
Crossing the sticks comes from old times where women would meet up to knit together and there was always that one woman who gossiped a lot but didn't actually do anything😅 so she was definitely not crossing her sticks!
Oh, I needed that laugh today! And here I am, teaching English idioms to my very Swedish ESL-students. Greetings from Sweden, and your baby is the cutest! :-) Good luck with both parenting and your language studies! Siitä se lähtee!
Remember that when you use the "mennä metsään" -idiom, remember to use the right inflected form. The most usual way to use it is to say "meni metsään" = wen't to the forest. (Imperfect)
I like this editing so much! So smooth and easy to watch!
When you tried to guess "mennä metsään" and failed it you could have said "p*rkele se meni metsään" so p*rkele it went to s*its
Tikkua ristiin can refer to making camp and everyone doing their tasks but someone isn't even crossing the sticks for a bonfire.
Haha I love it how well you understand the insights of Finnish grandmas and parents!!❤️😂😂😂 Kel onni on, se onnen kätkeköön. One of the most finnish things to say...
Something went right (or "in") so easily, you could have it done by throwing - Thing went thru almost by itself.
Someone made a guess, and the guess went in the forest. Equal to driving into a ditch, to get lost (into the forest).
Ants are hard working, setting those sticks in a pile to make a nest. Lazy ones don't even put two sticks on.(cross sticks..)
Leo's face when you kept waving the book in front of him in the end. So cute.
In old believes, there was only a certain amount of happiness. So if your neighbor had some of that happiness, it mean't that you didn't and vice versa. That's why you would wan't to hide that happiness to prevent other people from casting a bad spell on you or luring wild animals to eat your cattle.
Mate these are hilarious 🤣🤣🙏🏻🙏🏻 trying a few myself 🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️
I think "vuonna nakki ja muusi" would fit better to your guess (5:18). Also, good luck learning Finnish... xD no but really.
For example heittämällä läpi is "pass (exam or so) without even trying". So you just wing it and it's perfect.
I use ”Vuonna miekka ja kirves” or ”Vuonna nakki ja peruna(muusi).” They translate to ”The year of sword and ax” and ”The year of sausage and (smashed) potatoes.” This a variant of the ”Vuonna miekka ja kivi”. Possibly areal differences
You can also say "mennä metsään" in Swedish. If something "går åt skogen" it's going wrong.
You can use heittämällä for example if you had an exam in school and it was so easy that it went heittämällä läpi (you passed for sure). Few ways to explain laittaa tikkua ristiin is someone being lazy or they just leave everything for other people to do.
These finnish comments have better english than 90% of the finnish people😂 I’m a shocked Finnish-Australian🙈
"Vuonna miekka ja kivi" never head of that, I have only heard "Vuonna kivi ja keppi" and some others.
"Ei laita tikkua ristiin" would be better Interpreted as deliberately not putting in any effort to accomplish something/getting something done/finished.
You could use the ”heittämällä” in situations where you do something and it happens very easily. You could say something like ”no sehän meni heittämällä”.
There is this one saying ”kuin käärmeen kusi erämaassa” (like a snake’s piss in the desert) which means something or someone is not going a straight line. For example a drunk person might walk like ”a snake’s piss in the desert”.
I recently learnt what the story is behind the saying "to have an axe to grind" and I immediately yelled that on the cow in the ditch, because yes! But I'm really disappointed that the book doesn't explain what the sayings mean, of course they don't make any sense without context! Poor Dave, trying to memorize these when just learning the history behind each saying would help tremendously... :'( Like, eating rye gives you strength, therefore when you have rye in your wrists = strong.
5:06 never heard that before but i have heard stone and axe, stick and axe, sausage and smashed potato, stone and stick (my fave, makes the most sense)
"Heittämällä" is "very easily" but also "by a lot"
"hän voitti heittämällä" can mean "he won easily" but also "she won by a lot" (as in winning a 100m sprint 5 ahead the second person for example)
Wish he'd quoted the famous English translation of the ancient saying: 'Who dares, wins' near the end!
Heittämällä (idiom), to do something very easily. Example: "Heittämällä låpi! " would be something you'd say, perhaps gloating, or just being happy, if you pass an exam easily, with a good grade. Or, you might say the exact same words, if you finish a level in a video game you've previously thought was hard, or if you get through (läpi) a driving test to get your driver's license. You usually need the word "läpi" to accompany it and you have to be referring to a specific task, usually some kind of test or exam.
I've never heard of the phrase vuonna miekka ja kivi used but I've commonly heard something very similar used... Though I guess the sword and rock one is the logical one compared to my "vuonna nakki ja muusi" (on the year of sausage and smash potatoes)
For me "heittämällä" comes from basketball, when you trow ball on sock on one trown and say "easy".
Pretty much this, I'm thinking like "tossing the ball in the general direction of the hoop without even looking and the ball goes in"
Example: u have math class and you don’t understand the task, but soon you’ll figure out that it is quite easy and then you say nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan. Or u have an essay and you don’t have a clue what or how to write and suddenly u have a huge idea and start writing, nyt alkoi lyyti kirjoittamaan
’’By throwing” mean like when you guess something and get it easily right.
Kääntäjänä mulla on tässä vähän oma lehmä ojassa mutta monet noista käännöksistä meni heittämällä metsään.
You could for example, pass a test by throughing i. e. easily or by flying coulours
when you do the next part of tasting finnish alcohol, you have to try Taskumatti Suomalainen Mustikkalonkero!
Mennä metsään, is from a Swedish saying though, åt skogen, towards the woods/headed to the forest, it means either to hell with it, or it somehow, fucked up, How did it go at the mechanic? Mennä metsään... Although Finns are a much better people than Swedes. And The Finnswedes use the same flag as me, the yellow Cross on red.
10:45 I have never understood the exact meaning of that, no matter how hard I try.😣
Oh..My..God I love the baby! Those faces he makes ❤ 😄
My favourite saying is "kyllä homo homon tunnistaa" which is literally translated "gay always recognises (the) other gay".
It is not very politically correct nowadays, but it is possible to use it widely.