Senkus?

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Jukka Aho
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Location: Espoo, Finland

Re: Senkus?

Post by Jukka Aho » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:07 pm

Cory wrote:Senkus is short for?
"Sen kun"; often used as a (part of) an apathetic dare, a statement of disinterest, or just a plain acknowledgement of no objection towards something someone suggested or threatened doing.

Dare / disinterest:

Aion polttaa kaikki sarjakuvasi!
Sen kun poltat. / (more colloquial:) Senkus poltat.

“Go ahead” / “Fine with me.”
(“You do what you will; I don't really care.”)

Acknowledgement of no objection:

Voinko mennä huomenna Annan luo yökylään?
Sen kun menet. / (more colloquial:) Senkus menet.

“Sure, no problem.” (“Permission granted; I have no objection.”)

Sometimes also used in the phrase sen kun vaan (senkus vaan), which avoids the need to repeat the verb.

(So where does the -s come from? I have no idea.)


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Re: Senkus?

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jahasjahas
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Re: Senkus?

Post by jahasjahas » Sun Jun 22, 2014 4:50 pm

I use both "senku" and "senkus". There's a sandhi after my "senku", so "senku menet" becomes "senkummenet".

Not sure where the s has come from originally, but stranger things have happened.

Jukka Aho
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Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:46 am
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Re: Senkus?

Post by Jukka Aho » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:42 am

jahasjahas wrote:Not sure where the s has come from originally, but stranger things have happened.
Come to think of it, it could simply be an instance of the particle -s.
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AldenG
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Re: Senkus?

Post by AldenG » Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:13 am

Jukka Aho wrote:
jahasjahas wrote:Not sure where the s has come from originally, but stranger things have happened.
Come to think of it, it could simply be an instance of the particle -s.
Good, I was wondering why you didn't think so. Thought I was missing something myself. But also I think natives experience words more holistically while the rest of are constantly paying attention to the pieces.

As in the thread about myöhässä työstä and how myöhässä and myöhään are treated as adverbs rather than inflected-to-context nouns (or, as they would superficially feel to English-speakers, adjectives).
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: Senkus?

Post by jahasjahas » Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:21 pm

My hunch was that we only add the -s to certain types of words (question words; imperative forms; after -ko and -pa), but now that you mention it, I guess it can be used more broadly.

joten -> jotenka -> jotenkas!

eli -> elikkä -> elikkäs!

Googling for "senkus" also brought me to this previous thread: https://www.finlandforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=43174


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