How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

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cssc
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How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

Post by cssc » Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:10 am

As in "You have dishonored me." It's not in Wiktionary.



How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

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Pursuivant
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Re: How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

Post by Pursuivant » Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:15 am

saattaa häpeään maybe... or viedä kunnia but really you find some book with knights and such for anyone use that kind of expression...

"tässä saa hävetä silmät päästään tuommoisen takia" would be something my grandmother would have said.
"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."

cssc
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Re: How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

Post by cssc » Tue Jul 09, 2013 2:44 am

Well..... I'm really big on honor and loyalty & all that good stuff. So thanks for humoring me. :D

AldenG
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Re: How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

Post by AldenG » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:06 am

The reason people have trouble coming up with everyday ways to say that in Finnish is because it's an un-Finnish concept.

In Finland, people are responsible for themselves, responsible for their own honor. "Honor" isn't talked about a lot, but to the extent the concept exists, each person honors or dishonors himself or herself. The notion of a daughter or sister dishonoring the father or brother or family doesn't make a lot of sense to a modern Finn. In Finland, an honorable person can't very well be "dishonored" by somebody else's actions or words. Indeed there's a saying Sattuuhan sitä paremmissakin perheissä (Hey, it happens in finer families, too) that suggests a much more casual attitude to, erm, indiscretions and their consequences.

If you're talking about someone directly insulting you, a simple Haista sitt' paska is generally considered sufficient response to a severe insult. No need to complicate it with high-flown talk about blots on family escutcheons and the like.

If you could say "You have dishonored me" in Finnish words that got people to understand what you really meant, most people's response would be a genuinely perplexed WTF -- where did this person come from?
As he persisted, I was obliged to tootle him gently at first and then, seeing no improvement, to trumpet him vigorously with my horn.

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jahasjahas
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Re: How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

Post by jahasjahas » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:29 pm

Your answer has dishonored the forum, AldenG :cry:

"Olet häpäissyt koko suvun!" or "Aina sinua saa hävetä!" is something I'd expect to hear in a rural/conservative/religious family, especially if we use a time machine and travel a hundred years to the past.

EDIT: unless you meant that Finns don't talk about "kunnia" specifically. That's true, but I think causing "häpeä" is pretty much the same thing.

AldenG
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Re: How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

Post by AldenG » Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:29 pm

jahasjahas wrote:
"Olet häpäissyt koko suvun!" or "Aina sinua saa hävetä!" is something I'd expect to hear in a rural/conservative/religious family, especially if we use a time machine and travel a hundred years to the past.
For what it's worth (not always a great deal in my Finnish) I would have gone with Olet loukannut kunniaani or more strongly and anachronistically Olet saattanut minut/meidät häpeään. But maybe that's because the whole notion of "You have dishonored me" feels so 1800's to me.

And yet have you ever said any of those four things? For that matter, I've never told anyone to h p, either. Nor been told. But at least it's something I've heard in this or the previous century, and not uncommonly. OK, well, I've heard shame-talk in Finnish -- but in black-and-white movies with bad sound from people who were already old even back when the films were made (1930's-1950's?). And even there it sounded contrived -- but then, what didn't sound contrived in those old movies?

Hopefully Finland doesn't have this problem (I believe it has happened a few times in Sweden) but nowadays the only time I hear words like "dishonor" is in connection with middle eastern "honor killings" of girls or young women by men in their families. Thus the whole word has acquired a malodor.
As he persisted, I was obliged to tootle him gently at first and then, seeing no improvement, to trumpet him vigorously with my horn.

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Oombongo
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Re: How to say 'dishonored' in Finnish?

Post by Oombongo » Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:11 am

cssc wrote:As in "You have dishonored me." It's not in Wiktionary.
jIHvaq quvHa' PetaQ' - if you want to say in the middle of Finnish forest
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