last update:Mar042024March 4, 2023March 4, 202427Commentsby Santiago H

Finnish swearwords – a list of profanities you shouldn’t know

Posted in Curiosities, Finnish language

Last week we had the day of the Finnish culture and Kalevala, and in a month or so (9th of April) there will be the day of the Finnish language. Let’s celebrate these days with some Finnish words – but some that are a bit polemic: swearwords in Finnish.

Some swearwords in Finnish
This porcupine swears a lot in Finnish: it is a character in a Finnish comic strip. This is the porcupine’s website. Source (CC: by-sa)

Swearwords in Finnish

We focus on profanities because we don’t want to focus on insults. Insults might be worth a separate post, but I am not sure if I’d do that because – goddammit – insulting people isn’t right (I haven’t decided yet: It is definitely one of the curiosities of Finland).

Sometimes when you are in a country with a different language than your own and you are not fluent in that language yet, something sudden happens that forces you to shout your country’s equivalent of “what the f*!”. And most likely the person you’re with (or yelling it at) won’t understand you, because it will have come out in your own language (as it has happened to me).

It is cool to score some sympathy points if you don’t speak Finnish or Swedish fluently. When the people you usually talk to in English hear, in a moment of surprise, you using one of these profanities, it will definitely generate a chuckle.

The three most used Finnish swearwords are the following.

The top 3 Finnish profanities

Vittu, Saatana, and Perkele are the three words that you will hear for sure when someone has to swear in Finnish.

Perkele: the most used Finnish swearwrod
Perrrrrrkele, rolling the “r”. One of the top 3 Finnish swearwords. Source (CC: by)

“Vittu” can be directly translated to “pussy” or “cunt”. It is used to express frustration or to emphasize a sentence. It is heard a lot as voi vittu (with the meaning of “Oh, crap”), too. Some interesting combination with vittu is “Vittu, vituttaa niin vitusti” (Fuck this shit, I’m very angry), where you can see some Finnish declinations too.

Not all vittu is bad (wink, wink; nudge, nudge) and you can say things like “vitun iso” (“fucking great”), but it is mostly used for bad things. Another interesting thing: You can combine it with other swearwords in Finnish to form a super-swearword. For instance: vittusaatana and vittuperkele.

Saatana means literally “Satan”, since Finnish people – besides using swearwords about scatology and parts of the human body (as in most languages I know) – have the tendency to bring the devil into all this. With the same meaning as “saatana” the word helvetti (the hell) is used too and both of them can be combined in this way: saatanan helvetti. “Saatana” is, nonetheless, harsh.

Perkele is maybe my favorite of them all. It is used as an interjection to signify surprise (like “shit!”, or “fuck!”). It means more or less “the devil”. This story has a lot to do with Finnish mythology, as Perkele was one of the main gods of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. When Christian times arrived, in order to end paganism, they gave the Bible’s devil the name Perkele. An angel became the devil, and from there a swearword.

In any case, as you can see in this infographic, the use of the three main swearwords dwarfs the use of the rest.

Infographic about Finnish profanity and swearwords

If you want to use this infographic on your website, you can copy and paste this code.

<a href=&#34http://www.biginfinland.com&#34 title=&#34All about Finland in Big in Finland&#34><img src=&#34https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8682/16702651165_6a833eb46d_z.jpg&#34 alt=&#34Infographic about Swearwords in Finnish&#34 /></a>

Other profanities of the Finnish language

The Finns don’t survive on only three swearwords (but almost). Other less common profanities are not used very frequently by me and I must admit I know little more than the main ones (except maybe paska and heleveti, mentioned below), so I will just go ahead and borrow the ones that I liked the most from the correspondent page of Wiki about this.

These are the ones I found most interesting:

Helvetti, translated as “the hell”, and yes: it is a swearword.

“Hitto” or “hiisi”. Not a very strong word, but also related to devils (although it is not THE devil). Its use is similar to the word “damn”. You can also tell someone to “painu hiiteen” (go to hell).

Huora: “Whore”. Not a lot of explanation needed here.

Kulli: a word for “penis”, but not very strong.

Kyrpä also basically translates to penis. “Cock” would be the best translation. It is much more offensive than the swearword above.

Mulkku is also “penis”, but used more like “prick”, to describe a person.

Molo, another synonym of “penis”, which happens to also be the word for “I’m cool” in Spanish. If we say “molopää”, we say “dickhead”.


Paska is another profanity in the Finnish language.
Paska means “shit” and is a somewhat strong Finnish swearword. My favorite encounter with this word was on the packaging of a coffee brand.

Perse is “ass” in Finnish. A less strong word than many others in this post, but deserving of a spot in the list. You can say “Tämä on perseestä”, which would mean “This is shit!” (literally “this comes out of the ass!”).

Runkata is like “wanking”. “Runkkari” and “runkku”, that derive from it, would mean “wanker”.

Listen to these swearwords in Finnish

There are a couple of Youtube vids that bring the words to life in a very interesting way, but I have chosen the following one because the person doing it really went the extra mile. He also does something that lots of Finns do: concatenate many short profanities into a long one.

If you are curios about the video that I didn’t include, here it is: 21 minutes of swearwords in Finnish with English explanations.

How many of the profanities of the list did you know? What’s your favorite swearword, in Finnish or any other language?

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Topics: Curiosities, Finnish language | 27 comments | Print This Post Print This Post


last update:Nov132022November 13, 2022November 13, 2022Go tocommentsby Santiago H

How to plan a family trip to Rovaniemi, Lapland

Posted in Finland Tourism, Lapland

In the next few posts we are going to let a friend of the website tell us about something quite magical that I’m sure many of you will want to do too: a family trip to Rovaniemi, Lapland, in the snowy winter to visit Santa Claus.

You already know Javier from when he came to visit me in Finland when I was an Erasmus student. He left us his diary in five parts with his favourite photos.

This time we are handing over the blog to him so that he can tell us how to prepare the family trip to Rovaniemi.

Javier takes it from here.

Family trip to Rovaniemi
Seeing Santa Claus through the eyes of your children: priceless.

Introduction

In this series of posts my intention is to tell you about my experience travelling with my family to Rovaniemi to visit Father Christmas and to do more sightseeing activities in the snow.

Those who are thinking about making this trip will be able to get some tips or recommendations that may be useful to you. Let’s get started!

Preparing for the family trip to Rovaniemi: what to wear and when to go

The first point to consider in preparation for this trip is to decide when to go.

We went to Rovaniemi during the Christmas holidays, 5 nights the days before and after the New Year in Finland.

At first I was worried about this choice. During this time the cold is intense and the light is scarce. I thought we would be the only crazy ones who dared to travel at that time, as Santa Claus can also be visited in the mild Finnish summer.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. It turns out that, being Christmas, it is high season and Rovaniemi is crowded with tourists regardless of the light and cold. It is arguably the best time to go.

One caveat: travelling at this time of year can, with a bit of bad luck, temperatures fall down to -20 or -30 degrees Celsius. Thus, you should pack very cloths that will keep you warm. And do that in abundance.

Line of the Artic Circle in Rovaniemi
Javier, fully kitted out with all the clothes he needs in Rovaniemi.

What clothes should I take?

If you book your trip with a tour operator, they may be able to provide you with special snow overalls on arrival. You can pack much lighter at home, if that’s the case. However, these overalls are uncomfortable when you are indoors. The reason is that, if you want to take the top off, it will hang down your back.

This was not the case for us, as we booked all our reservations separately and on our own.

To survive in Lapland, ski clothes will suffice.

If you don’t already have them, you can buy the warmest trousers and jacket on offer. The idea is to also take thermal tights and a thermal vest. Dressing in layers is the best option so you don’t roast indoors. Thick socks of course are mandatory.

And Let’s not forget the most important: snow boots.

That will be the footwear you will never take off for several days. That is if you want to enjoy the snow without getting wet. Boots should be as waterproof as possible.

Weather in Rovaniemi and daylight hours

As for sunlight, if you check a weather website you will find that at that time the sun rises at 11am and sets at 1pm. That’s two hours of daylight!

If you want to know more about how many hours of daylight there are in different parts of Finland during the year, this is the post for you (in Spanish).

But in the end it didn’t turn out to be so terrible.

It is true that there is homologous daylight for only two hours, although you never get to see the sun because it doesn’t rise above the horizon. The name of this phenomena is Kaamos – the polar night.

A semi-frozen river
The sun threatens to rise but does not.

But the daylight hours were preceded and followed by two more hours of slow dawn and slow dusk. So there was some light from 9am to 3pm.

The other 18 hours it was pitch dark. The Finns have, though, taken care of everything. Every street is brightly lit and the snow acts as a mirror, so the night light in populated areas is brighter than we know it.

Nothing to worry in these regards – clothes and light -, then.

How to get to Rovaniemi from your country

Although this example focuses in Javier’s homeland – Spain – similar tips will surely apply to your country.

To fly there a stopover in Helsinki is unavoidable. Rovaniemi is mainly an airport for domestic flights.

Our flight was Madrid-Helsinki with a duration of about 4 hours and a half, and then Helsinki-Rovaniemi (1 hour and a half). As for the price, it varies depending, as always, on how far in advance you buy.

My advice is to put an alert in a flight aggregator such as Kayak and monitor the prices.

As you have been able to calculate, you will unavoidably spend a day going and a day coming back.

We flew with Finnair and the experience was horrible because of flight departure delays and endless queues to check Covid passports. If you are traveling in contageous season, check the entry requirements, as they can change over time.

Is it easy to travel with small children?

The answer is: it depends on the child. We, for example, had no problems at all. But you know your child best and you should plan accordingly.

Aeroplane flying
Taking off. Source (CC: by)

It was high season so I suppose that at other times the family trip to Rovaniemi would be more bearable.

How to pack your clothes

At this point I want to make the most important tip of all I am going to write here. It is very important that you divide your clothes between your hand luggage and your checked luggage.

Fortunately Finnair allows quite manageable hand luggage sizes (check the website before booking). It is a reality that some suitcases do get lost. This was our case.

We checked in two suitcases and one of them got lost in Helsinki. As we had planned for the worst, this was for us nothing more than a bit of stress on arrival to fill out a claim form and a taxi ride to the airport the next day. The suitcase arrived on the next morning flight, fortunately.

But imagine: what would have happened if someone had carried all their clothes in their lost suitcase in a country that doesn’t get above -1 degrees Celsius? Not something pleasant.

As for the volume of clothes, I took several leggings and thermal T-shirts. I took only one jacket and two ski trousers, though. For 5 nights I almost had one pair of trousers left over clean.

There’s so much snow that if you get a stain on them, they wipe themselves off. And you really sweat the tights, not the trousers. Still, a spare always comes in handy.

So much for this post about preparations. In the next post we’ll tell you what it’s like to go and meet Santa Claus in Rovaniemi, with a few useful tips for the whole family.

What would you add to Javier’s recommendations? Is Rovaniemi among the family destinations you would like to go to? Let us know in the comments.

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Topics: Finland Tourism, Lapland | Leave your comment! | Print This Post Print This Post


last update:Mar012023May 11, 2021March 1, 20231Commentby Santiago H

Finnish Beer: the strange classes and levels

Posted in Curiosities, Finnish Culture

I am spoiled in this aspect and I think many other people throughout Europe are as well. In most EU countries – that is, every country that isn’t a Nordic (or Scandinavian) country – beer and wine have low(er) taxes. Finland, on the other hand, is a bit different. And you will want to know how the Finnish Beer is different.

In some places like Berlin you can take your alcoholic beverage with you to the streets at any time and at every place.

There are shops everywhere – Spätkaufs or Spätis in short – open until late in the evenings that will attend to your craving for one more beer – or food or any other alcohol .

In them, you can get half a liter of quality German, Czeck or Polish beer for a little over 1€, and the shops are everywhere (some even have tiny terraces to sit down).

Alcoholic beverages in Finland

But anyone who has lived in a Nordic country knows that everything related to alcohol is different there. There is some kind of over-protectionism and paternalism from the state, the only one allowed to sell alcohol in their own shops if the alcohol % is higher than 5 per cent. That’s pretty much anything but beer.

In Finland this shop is called the Alko. In Sweden, Systembolaget.

Lapin Kulta: Finnish Beer
Lapin Kulta Beer: Class IV

This unique fact – that anything except beer is out of the average supermarket and to a special shop with not-so-cool opening hours (or prices) – forced beer companies to diversify.

There are many different types of beer in Finland (and Sweden). Beers that don’t exist in any other part of Europe. These beers are specially designed by beer companies to comply with the alcohol laws, and thus having their product sold in places other than Alko. They have to play with the beer chemistry to bring down the alcohol level that normal fermentation process gives. Let’s check what these companies have done.

The 5 types (or classes) of Finnish beers

Class I has between 0.0% (non alcoholic beer) and 2.8% of alcohol. You can sell this type of beer in pubs and supermarkets in Finland and those who want to sell it don’t need a license.

The Class II of beers has between 2.8% and 3.7% of alcohol. It is thus stronger and also available in pubs and supermarkets.

Class III is the most popular on Finnish beer type, with an alcoholic level between 3.7% and 4.6%. It is, once more, on the shelves of (yes, again) supermarkets and Pubs.


The III type of beer. Source (CC: by)

Class IVA nonetheless can be sold in Pubs but not in supermarkets, just in the Alko shop. Its alcohol percentages varies between 4.7% and 5.2%.

Finally, Class IVB is the strongest and it has between 5.2% and 8.0% alcohol per volume. It can be bought at Bars, Pubs and the Alko.

My experience with this system of Finnish beer

We the Erasmus students in Finland used to go to the supermarkets for our beers, and thus we drank the Class III beer for a good price-quality ratio. At the end of our stay we had quite a few empty bottles laying around.

In pubs we used to show up at “happy hours” (instead of the “sad ones”) so we could get a pint of beer for 4€ instead of the usual 5 or 6. We left the strongest drinks, the spirits, for very special occasions due to their high price. It was too expensive to drink a Gin Tonic.

Nonetheless Finns can always go crafty and make themselves a Sahti beer, the traditional Finnish beer at home. Hard to make, but dignifying.

And that’s the list.

Which kind of beer do you buy in Finland, type-wise? And, in general, what’s your favorite brand? Among the Finnish ones, I am a Lapin Kulta kind of guy. Let us know on the comments which one you like. And enjoy responsibly!

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last update:Oct252022April 13, 2021October 25, 2022Go tocommentsby Santiago H

Tavastia Klubi: rock and metal concerts in Helsinki

Posted in Events in Finland, Finnish Music, Helsinki

Today’s post is a collaboration with our reader Elisabeth Queen (facebook | Youtube). She talks about one of her favorite spots to see live Rock and Metal music in Helsinki (specially on New year’s eve) the Tavastia Klubi and its former New year’s eve traditional festival.

Without further ado:

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A trip to Helsinki isn’t complete without a night at Tavastia Klubi (official page). It is also a must-see for any fan of Finnish rock and metal. But first, let us give you some history:


The entrance to the Tavastia Klubi, from the street Urho Kekkosen katu 4–6. Source (CC: by-sa)

Tavastia: from its beginnings to its status as a Helsinki icon

The Tavastia Club is a very popular rock music club founded in 1970 and it as been one of the main music venues in Finland ever since. With space for up to 700 people, it is located on the Urho Kekkosen Katu 4-6, and thus can be reached easily from the center of Helsinki by foot or train.

In 2010, to celebrate their 40 years – now 50! time travels fast -, Tavastia made a special exhibition with special objects of the concerts held there. For instance, you can see how on April 20th of 1966 Tom Waits (whose song “Big in Japan” was the idea for this blog’s name) played there. One can feel the pass of time when he finds out that the tickets cost the equivalent of 2,70 €. In the 70s artists like Dr. Feelgood or John Lee Hocker played there as well.

Tavastia thuough the decades

In the 80s the club was already established as a Finnish rock legend, and Finns could see in the Tavastia local bands that were going to be popular later on. The most important of them all, perhaps, was Hanoi Rocks. It was also the place to see international artists, such as Fabulous Thunderbirds, Nico, Dead Kennedys, The Pogues or Nick Cave.

Throughout the 90s and 2000s we could see in it the advancement of new Finnish rock and metal bands with great international success, like The 69 Eyes, Amorphis, Children of Bodom, Nightwish, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Tarot, The Rasmus, HIM, etc…. Also new international artists such as The Offspring, Anathema and Paradise Lost visited the club as their preferred location in their Finnish tour.

In 1994 a new club was founded in Tavastia’s cellar, called Semifinal Club. This club that specialized in bands that were just starting and bands that had a small following. The cellar can host 150 people.

Besides daily concerts in the Tavastia Club, it can also be rented for private events, parties, conferences or really any kind of event.

A concert night in Tavastia Klubi. Source (CC: by-sa)

Tavastia in Helsinki
The club is a popular place. Source (CC: by)

Helldone Festival: the end of the year festival in Tavastia

If people outside Finland know Tavastia it is mainly because of its end of the year festival. A festival that, unfortunately, doesn’t happen any more.

It was 25 years ago when HIM made their first show on New Year’s eve in Tavastia. That marked the beginning of a tradition that developed quickly into the Helldone Festival: the new year’s party at the club.

At the beginning, this festival started as a 3-day-event (from 29 to 31st of December) and later on it was added a new day (thus, from 28 to 31st of December). 2011 was a strange year because there was no festival, and at some point it also was celebrated in 3 cities of Finland (Oulu, Seinajöki y Tampere).

The tickets for this festival were usually sold out around September. I remember I tried year after year to get some tickets and the third time was the charm: I got them.

This festival attracted people from every corner of the world, and I believe the only Finnish people that are there are the people who worked at the venue. That’s how international it was. These people come from every corner of the world to the cold December in Helsinki just to see the concerts.

Besides HIM, who played every year, some other popular bands that have played in the Helldone Festival are Fields of the Nephilim, Paradise Lost, The 69 Eyes, Anathema, Cathedral and Children of Bodom.

HIM playing in Tavastia Klubi - Helldone festival
HIM played each year in the Helldone Festival. Source: Elisabeth.

People in the Tavastia
That’s how you live a night in the Tavastia Club. Source (CC: by-nd)

My experience in Tavastia and Helldone

Here come a few tips and “good to know” things about the club. The best places to see concerts at the Tavastia are either from the area above or below (remember this tip!). The sound and acoustics, and of course the environment, are really good. You get to enjoy the best of the Finnish rock and metal culture. Bar prices are about 8€ for a long drink and the wardrobe is 4€ per person.

Another good thing of the Tavastia is that there is no cover charge to get in unless there is a special concert, so you can see up and coming bands at no cost. On their website they announce the concerts and prices of the tickets.

Don’t raise your expectations too high: it is only a bar. Nonetheless the environment and feeling are unique. It holds that magic that made it famous and you know that there, in the stage, the best of the best of the Finnish rock and metal bands have played.

P.S. Next to the Tavastia Club entrance there is a huge record store. It comes in handy when you are queuing and you want to make the most of your time.

Record store in Helsinki
The Record Store next to Tavastia. You can wait to get in and window shop at the same time. Source (CC: by)

Have you been at Tavastia Club or to the Helldone Festival? Would you go then after reading Elisabeth’s experience? Let us know in the comments.

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Topics: Events in Finland, Finnish Music, Helsinki | Leave your comment! | Print This Post Print This Post