REACTING TO WEIRD FINNISH SAYINGS AND IDIOMS | Part 6 

I'm pretty positive that "hirvittää" comes from "hirveä" (horrible) and not "hirvi" (elk) and the only etymological connection between them is that they seem a bit similar to each other at the current stage of the Finnish language (i.e. they have no connection whatsoever).

"asia on pihvi"-sanonta on mirelenkiintoinen (erittäin mielekiintoinen!) koska sillä on kulttuurihistoriallien tausta joka johtaa juurensa ruotsin vallan aikaan eli ruotsin armeijaan jossa palveli monta suomalaisia, mutta kaikki eivät puhunett ruotsia. Jos halusit jotain erikoista, esim. lomaa joduit jättämään anomuksen esimiehelle. Jos anomus hyväksyttiin esimies kirjoitti anomukselle kirjaimet BIF. joka oli lyhenne sanasta "bifalles" eli hyväksytään/puollan. Tästä hyväksynnästa käytettiin ruotsiksi sanonta "saken är biff" eli suomeksi "asia on pihvi". Tämä asia on siis pihvi, eli selvä. Voin kuvitella tilanteen jossa sotamies ryntää telttaan huutaen iloisesti "asia on pihvi" koska hän pääsee sodasta lomalle mennäkseen naimisiin!

Pick blood out of your nose is better understood as: after the fight you will have a bloody nose. So saying "kaivat verta nenästäs" (you are picking blood of your nose) is a threat of what you will be doing, if you continue things like you are doing now. (Because someone will beat you up)

"Kuin paita ja peppu" works in its intended purpose, if you think it like "where one ends, the other begins." Also like a century ago, toddlers would run around with just a shirt during the heat of summer by their countryside homes. So you'd see a lot of butts accompanied by shirts :)

I'd translate "tarkkana kuin porkkana" differently in some situtations: "keen as a carrot". Since the idiom has this sense of focus and awareness in addition to being careful.

There's this story about a man who befriended a bear so close, that eventually he shared the roof of his cottage with the beast. So when one night the man was asleep, a fly sat on his forehead. The bear ended up trying to swat the fly with his claws. Hence, bear's service.

I think an English equivalent to "jänishousu" is a chicken. For instance "don't be a chicken" = "älä ole jänishousu" = "dont' be a coward". A coward = pelkuri.

'kaivaa verta nenästään' - When one digs too deep and I guess too often at their nostril, they will get nose bleed. Likewise if one keeps on agitating people too long and too annoyingly at the nakkikioski queue they will find blood soon pouring from their nose. :) Shirt and the butt, this one is old saying, to the ages past where the shirts were not cut to waist high, but longer "Peon style".

The "raising moon" refers to growing moon. (After new moon). The sayings is old so it uses "nousevaa" instead of "kasvavaa". It was believed that in spring you should plant crops during growing moon so harvest would be good and that's why the moon was waited se eagerly. (At least this is what I was told)

The "paita ja peppu", "shirt and a butt" make more sense from a historical standpoint. Wearing underwear on your lower half is a very modern thing. Most of human history, you would wear a long shirt, tucked between your legs, under your belt fastened trousers. In this manner your shirt would be the innermost layer against your butt.

Weird, we have the same saying in Norway about the "Bear's service" or "doing someone a bear's service" is the direct translation of the Norwegian "gjøre noe en bjørnetjeneste" and it means the same thing as the Finnish saying. And we also have the "go where the pepper grows" is also the same in Norway. I thought that was also something in UK and/or US? All the other was new to me, but fun to learn how weird our neighbors are :)

Your pronunciation is getting so good and effortless. You should be proud! 👍

Bear's service has a children's story behind it. A man that has a bear as a friend gets mauled when the bear tries to swat a fly off his nose. Or something like that. A somewhat silly story.

"kuin sieniä sateella" - We have a similar one in German. "wie Pilze aus dem Boden schießen" (to pop/shoot up like mushrooms from the ground). For example if you talk about something like chain stores on the high street. They pop up like mushrooms from the ground. :)

"Tarkkana kuin porkkana" is indeed just based on how similar the words sound. And adults use it too. Another example of similar-sounding words is "Veljekset kuin ilvekset" ("brothers like lynxes" = very close brothers). People have also twisted this to a funnier version: "veljekset kuin kyljykset" ("brothers like porkchops").

"Careful as a carrot" or "Tarkkana kuin porkkana", the Tarkka actually means more like very accurate instead of careful, though the idiom is usually used to in the context of being careful. If you take into consideration that "tarkka" means accurate, and that carrots are mentioned, you can draw a direct inheritance to the myth that carrots give you better vision, started by the British in WW2 to hide the fact they had radars.

I think "olla kaikki kotona" could be better translated to have everyone at home.

In german we have a similar term for being crazy. We say "to not have all cups in the cupboard". When watching Dave I sometimes find that learning finnish being native german is easier than being native english because both finnish and german have the same way of constructing words and sayings/idioms, i.e. sukkahousut - Strumpfhose can be a one to one translation from german. Other example which is exactly the same in german is "painu sinne missä pippuri kasvaa".

2:03 "I'm just channeling my inner elk" I tried that once but the antlers got stuck in my throat. 😝

I dont know who has translated these but some of them are bit off.. For example "tarkkana kuin porkkana" .. It does not mean only Be careful like avoiding every possible harm. It actually means"do your thing precise and effective But Be aware of surroundings and possible threads" In two words and here comes "carrot pointy part" "BE FOCUSED (on what you are doing)"

Olla kaikki kotona Is same like kaikki muumit laaksossa or kaikki inkkarit kanootissa.

I'm a Finn and even I keep learning new things from these videos. 😂

I always thought that" like mushrooms in the rain" refer to the large amount of things, not the speed they sprung up with. But that's just my interpretation.

"To pick one's nose for blood" was a favorite of my late Mom! She typically used it abstractly in social or political context, as "ask for trouble". If used after the fact the expression implies the subject might or might not have been 100% aware that he was asking for trouble. While he should have!

My mom used to say: "kaipaatko verta nenästäs?" when I was being a smart-ass in my teens which means literally "are you missing blood from your your nose". So I always thought it's more in the lines of an ye olde way of saying "your nose is gonna bleed if you don't stop". So dunno if it's kaivaa (to dig) or kaivata (to miss).

Paita ja peppu is apparently a thing in Italian also, "culo e camicia". Comes from a time when shirts were generally longer and underwear was less common. Then a few of them is the same or similar in Swedish: - Asia on pihvi = Saken är biff - Kuin sieniä sateella = Som svampar ur marken - Olla kaikki kotona = Ha alla hästar hemma (or just ha alla hemma) - Karhunpalvelus = Björntjänst - Nousta väärällä jalalla - Vakna på fel sida - Painu sinne missä pippuri kasvaa = Dra dit pepparn växer - Jänishousu = Räddhare (scared hare, at least it's also rabbit related)

Wow, funny how many of those have a literal equivalent in German. We also say "Geh dahin, wo der Pfeffer wächst!" - Go where the pepper grows meaning "Get lost!".

To dig for blood from your nose means to solicit for a black eye. You're asking for trouble, looking to start a fight. But when someone tells you that you are digging for blood from your nose, they are warning you that you will be the losing party in the fight you're trying to start. Like if you want to pick a fight with a much bigger guy or a group of guys, your mates are likely to tell you to stop because you're digging for blood from your own nose.

Tarkkana kuin porkkana is just because it rhymes. Kaivaa verta nenästään doesn't refer to when your nose is bleeding but that you want to get your nose to bleed, picking a fight.

Sandwich short of a picnic, not the sharpest tool in the shed, etc. ad inf. There's a plethora of Finnish sayings following the same meme format, like not "having all your Moomins in the dale", or not having your "elevator quite make it to the attic" and so on.

I was laughing so much at you trying to channel your inner elk 🤣

"Kaivaa verta nenästä" propably comes from the thought that you shouldn't pick your nose until it bleeds and you shouldn't pick fight until your nose bleeds either. This has a connotation of somebody being stupid. Like they we so stupid that they only picked blood out of one's nose until the bigger guys attacked. Expecially with kids or in a line at grill at 4am I would use this line "sä kaivoit verta nenästäsi, kun..."

“Kuin paita ja peppu” never made any sense to me either. Don’t think I’ve ever used it myself either.

"Precise as a carrot" is more accurate. Actually, even "Accurate as a carrot" works better as well.. or maybe not, haha!

"Paino etuakselilla". The neighbour girl seems to have a weight on the front axel. (to be pregnant)

Same with the wrong foot one. We also literally use the same expression in German if your day starts out shitty from the beginning you got up on the wrong foot. (mit dem falschen Fuß aufgestanden).

These are fun. Keep making videos about the Finnish language Dave.

😀😀😀 Your guesswork had me laughing quite a bit.surprisingly many of the Finnish -English translation made a lot of sense to me as a German speaker as we use some of the exactly as used I’m Finnish or a real close version to it.

I guess you need to be as "careful as a carrot" since there seems to confusing brackets that makes a sad face after the heart emoji 🤔

Shirts used to be long, e.g. night shirts, also others. So the shirt was actually close to the butt. And even today's shorter shirts are still quite close.

Ei ei ei.... Paita ja peppu... You see one from front and the other follows straight behind or around corner. Saying for good friends that never go too far from each other, if one moves, other comes right after.

For the karhunpalvelu, we have the 100% equivalent in German language, wondering who took it from whom...

what a fantastic video i enjoyed it greatly.

Love this! MORE...thank you 😅

This clip went too fast and ended almost like a chicken's flight. I felt the 10 mins like 1. We want more, we want more! 👍👍 👍

The glove thing is also intriguing. There are a few different words for different types of gloves in Finnish. At least these days "rukkanen" is mainly associated with work gloves. For me personally the word brings to mind the kind of heavy leather mittens that my dad used to use when working as a lumberjack. Another saying where "rukkanen" occurs is "laittaa rukkaset naulaan", which means to hang up your work gloves, ie. quit your job. Perhaps the original idea was that a man should go work some more first, so that they can provide for their prospective family?

Two great phrases for future videos: Sekaisin kuin seinäkello Sekasikiö

I use the carrots almost everyday at work, in the kindergarten.

Its allways fun to wach there videos as a Finnish Person😸 Another saying could be ”itku pitkästä ilosta” that means ”a cry from a long laugh”

It’s funny how “like a shirt and a butt” is also used in italian (“ sono culo e camicia”) with the same meaning

I have always thought the saying "like a shirt and a butt" is about having longer shirt on that covers your butt at least partly too. Nowadays there is of course shirts that don't touch the butt at all when on. I think earlier though more commonly you couldn't have shirt on without it at least touching your butt too. Now that I'm thinking it more, it seems to make less sense than before 😅😂

Kaivaa verta nenästään means more like "to demand blood out of one's nose" or crave, desire etc

As a Finn, one of the weird ones I pondered upon today was the saying "Tässä on koira haudattuna..." which is literally "There's a dog buried here...". It means basically the same as when you say that "There's something fgishy going on...". You use it when you suspect that someone is trying to hide the truth about something or is making secret plans. As with the English version, I guess its connotation is that there's something that gives off a bad smell nearby. In English it's something that smell fishy, in Finnish it's the body of a dead dog... :D

when someone is crazy he or she doesnt have all the indians in the canoot or all the moomins in the valley :D

There's even a word in English that's equivalent to "karhunpalvelus": a disservice!

Kaivaa verta nenästään is like if you are doing something stupid and everyone is telling you not to and you know it’s stupid also.

Usually, when we say ”Asia on pihvi” we just go with ”Asia pihvi”. At least this is the way where I’m from (southern Finland). It could be different elsewhere

There's a popular saying in our famliy, "makuasia, sanoi ajokoira, kun munias' nuoli". Or "Makuasia, ajokoira" as shorthand.

Adults do say ”tarkkana kuin porkkana”! I say that😂 But when I was a child I’d say ”Tarkkana kuin tomaatti” = ”careful as a tomato” because I’m allergic to carrots🤣

5:27 The logic is that fall is a rainy season and also the time when mushrooms are plenty.

The ones that don't make sense are usually just really fitting for the finnish mouth to say.

Hirvittää has nothing to do with elk. The word hirveä means horrible. So it means to feel horrible.

Asia on pihvi comes from Swedish - Saken är biff. Edit: and on second thought, I think some of the other sayings originate in Swedish aswell, for example the one about pepper.

Elks are actually very fast. I have first hand experience, one appeared suddenly in front of my car so fast I didn't have time to brake at all. I'm lucky I survived with only bruised knuckles, slight concussion and wrecked car. The roof crumpled very close to my head so it could've been much worse had I driven just a bit faster

Is there different names for gloves in English? Like we have vantar and handskar in Swedish. Vantar is usually the knitted ones and handskar is sewn (is that a word?). Like boxningshandskar, skinnhandskar, skoterhandskar or just handskar. Is that what you call mittens? Giving vantar that you knitted yourself is probably an act of kindness, isn't it? "Sorry, I don't love you like THAT, but enough to knit you these."

so the "bear's service" is a prevelant one here in Bulgaria lmao

I love ur channel like the englishman in new york🤗

4:00 tarkka is also presise

The fact that I'm learning with Dave even though I'm finnish. (I don't know most of these)

Careful as a carrot should be more like meticulous as a carrot😅

"Dra dit pepparn växer!" Enjoy :-D

Eeddsspeaks has a video on his gaming channel: ”Tätä peliä odotan kuin kuuta nousevaa” (I’m waiting this game as if waiting for the rising moon”😋

These are so commonly used i've forgotten they could mean whole different thing if taken literally.

That jalalla lalla lalla reminded me of the maanviljelijällä struggle 🤣🤣🤣🤣

9:05 I believe you were looking for the idiom "woke up on the wrong side of the bed" :)

I'm giving my two cents on "kaivaa verta nenästä". It's also a play on words "kaivaa" (dig) and "kaipuu, kaivata" (longing, pine). So you're hoping to get a bloody nose with how you're acting. I've heard this only used when someone is acting usually aggressive and people tell them "you seem to be digging a bloody nose, huh?" "Sä kaivat verta nenästä, niinkö?" (You want me to beat you up, don't you?)

The working day is in the sled = Työpäivä on pulkassa = The working day is over.

That one was stupid: "hirvittää" as having an elk or smth. Also, "hirviö" is "a monster", with is much closer to a scary being than an elk. Well, maybe I'm taking it too seriously. :D

Hello! I'm Finnish!

8:49 too relatable 😂

8:15 "Kaivaa verta nenästä" makes more sense if the original the root word is kaivata that translates to "look for" or "yearn"

”Viellä se tulee poika lippa sunki lakkiis”. In English. ”There will be a brim on your hat too some day son”. Its usually told to like lazy teenagers who wont do basic chores and rely allways on that they will do it in the future. And Like basicly the brim=a woman who will make him do it. The hat=life.

Some of those Finnish sayings are based on funny(?) rhythm of words and not so much on the content. I mean: you Brits use sayings like: "You wish, jellyfish", "Risk it for the biscuit", "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey", "Higgledy-piggledy", "Loosey-goosey"... I mean: C´mon. And ofc, naturally: "Cat's before Cad's." Hahaha!

Respect for your study of Finnish. Quite a life change. I guess not all the Moomins were in the valley when you met your wife the first time 😀👍.

Ends like a chicken flight. If you cut head of a chicken and you throw up chicken body. Chiken can fly shirt time without head. I think that it is reason of a that apothegm

Now I realise that finnish sayings don't make any sense in english😂😂 I also use these sayings but don't think about their meaning or origin at all🤔

Women gave mittens to men if they refused, and on loping day (?) if woman proposes and man says no, man has to give her a new fabric for her skirt.

Here's a "funny" question in a form of a wordplay: Poromies törmäsi autollaan poroon ja auto paloi poroksi. Poroa ei löydetty. Mitä porolle tapahtui?

The word ELK has a lot to do with the word HIRVI -ttää 😆

Does anyone ever think you’re a Finn, until you open your mouth? I mean, say you’re just standing at a bus stop, not making eye contact to give yourself away…do you have a Finn’s physiognomy? Or do people just know you’re British before you utter a word? I’m fascinated by people’s faces lately.

Sinne missä pippuri kasvaa = go as far as possible (away from me).

I think tarkkana kuin porkkana could also be translated to be sharp and pay attention

5:35 Ei ole kaikki kotona IMO (Not having all in the home, you know those jokes about crazy people) Or perhaps asking "Onko kaikki kotona?" (Is everybody at home?) aka are they crazy who/what they are talking about

I have always thought that "like a shirt and a butt" makes no sense. Haven't studied where/when it comes from, maybe it has some explanation...

Milloin uusi kokonaan suomeksi video? 🙂 Cadin keittiötäkin on ikävä.

Finnish politician, earlier prime minister, was famous for his poor English language skills. Once, on a business trip to New York, he decided to go for an evening walk. It wasn't long before he was stopped by an unknown person. The person said, "You came here to die". After a moment's thought, Ahti replied, "No I came yesterday". Here is an example of how it is difficult for a Finn to understand English pronunciation.

Hirveä = horrible, terrible, awful Hirveä = some elk, (of)the elk Hirvitys = horror, terror, monster, fright Hirviö = monster, abomination Hirvittää = to frighten, to strike awe (This could be confusing since kivittää is to stone someone, but hirvittää is not to elk someone. Elk are called frights so it means to frighten someone, not to throw elks at them until they die) Hirvittävä = frightening, awesome Hirvi = elk, moose Hirveästi = terribly, very much, horribly Hirveämpi = worse, more terrible Hirvimetsä = elk hunt, elk forest Hirvein = most terrible, most horrible (this kinda shows the misinterpretation of thinking hirvittää is to elk, since if you were to conjugate Hirvi into this form, it would not be Hirvein, rather it would be Hirvin or more correctly Hirvisin or Hirvimäisin meaning the most elk-like or most elky. That obviously doesn't really mean anything but it's a good check on the rules of the Finnish grammar that two words that can look the exact same in certain forms can still be completely different words. Some conjugations of the word terrible and elk are the same, but that doesn't mean they're the same word, even if they're etymologically linked.) Also a couple ones that could have a similar origin and are from a common root with eachother: Hirmuinen = furious, awesome, terrifying Hirmuhallitsija = tyrant Hirmumyrsky = typhoon, hurricane, a great storm Moose/elks are fearsome and awesome. If you had seen an elk in real life, you would know why they're considered scary. Especially if you're trying to hunt one with a spear or poorly crafted bow. So if you remember anything about this bit of text, dear reader, hirvittää is not to elk, but an elk is frightening. Hirvi on hirvittävä eli hirvi hirvittää! :D

Kuin sieniä sateella is more like there is something very densely.

Love these videos, but sad to see the elk and moose mixed everywhere. 😁 They are two very different animals and it actually gets pretty interesting. So: Elk from english means "isokauris" in finnish (also saksanhirvi or vapiti). And they are not indigenous here in Finland. However moose from english means the animal called "hirvi" in finnish, and they are indigenous in Finlnad. Swedish people may actually be behind this mess, because they use the word "älg" even from our traditional moose. Hirvittää shoud therefore be translated "to moose" not "to elk"

I would say the “kaivaa verta nenästä” is actually meant to be “kaivata verta nenästä” meaning that you’re trynna pick a fight. Or maybe it’s just different in different parts of Finland.