Vocabulary question

[Tuonelan Joutsen]

I was trying to read today's Fingerpori (well, by this time it's yesterday's) – http://www.hs.fi/fingerpori/1135244831610 – and I don't understand the double meaning. I think I get the funny reading – it looks like he's "modifying" the other guy, so that would be the meaning of muuttaa that the last panel is based on – but what would someone normally mean if they said "oon menossa muuttamaan Ahosen Veskiä"? I looked it up and couldn't find any meanings of muuttaa that sounded like they would make sense.

Or is that not what this is about at all, in which case I'm on the completely wrong track and even further from understanding the joke than I thought?

[sammy]

Muuttaa also means "to move" (as in, moving into a new apartment)... it's slightly colloquial, but if you say "lähden muuttamaan kaveriani" it means that you're going to help your mate with his move... carrying furniture, and that sort of thing.

We're moving to a new apartment - muutamme uuteen asuntoon.

The other meaning, change, is what you already figured out

Did you get this one?

[Tuonelan Joutsen]

…Sort of. The sign says something like "lenient yoga for new beginners" and he's saying something like "I want that desire of new beginners (?)"? The key word being lempeä…

This one, on the other hand, I understood right away:

[Pursuivant]

I was trying to read today's Fingerpori (well, by this time it's yesterday's) – http://www.hs.fi/fingerpori/1135244831610 – and I don't understand the double meaning. I think I get the funny reading – it looks like he's "modifying" the other guy

Well you need to know the TV program "Muuttumisleikki" - a bit like "extreme makeover"... So it is "changing game" so the pun is indeed on the double meaning, as muuttaa is "to change" but you need to know that in Finnish you "change house" so while he says literally "I am going to change Ahonen's Veksi" it means basically "I am going to help Ahonen's Veksi to move" - as 99% of the time it means that.

moving van, muuttoauto
moving box, muuttolaatikko
roadie, muuttomies

etc etc.

The sign says something like "lenient yoga for new beginners" and he's saying something like "I want that desire of new beginners (?)"? The key word being lempeä…

Its again an old phrase... that means love as in sex. So he is asking for the beginners sex. Which is as hes the village perv...

...this is another you have to "know" a few things that the joke opens

[Jukka Aho]

…Sort of. The sign says something like "lenient yoga for new beginners" and he's saying something like "I want that desire of new beginners (?)"? The key word being lempeä…

Lempi is an archaic or old-fashioned word for “love”. It’s a bit catch-all in its meaning as it encompasses everything from “setting your eyes on someone” to “shy, innocent, remote admiration” to “having a crush” to “being in love” to “smooching” to actually “making love”, so it can be understood in sexual sense, too. Google for phrases like lempi leiskuu and you’ll get the idea.

There’s also a corresponding verb; lempiä.

Lempi (the noun) and lempiä (the verb) are often used in magazine or newspaper articles as “nicer” alternatives to the more “explicit” modern words and expressions for the same actions. When used this way, it’s partly because the writer wants to maintain a PC tone (or just be more vague and euphemistic) and partly because these words have a mildly amusing “playful”, old-fashioned ring to them. Especially “news of the world” type stories – those which feature some humorous oddball “naughty” twist – often tend to get this treatment. Lempi and the related words would also be used in light, standard-fare filler articles about family, sexuality & health, lifestyle, tips for “livening up your relationship”, etc. which feature in women’s magazines or in sections that cater primarily to women.

In addition to those, there’s a related adjective, lemmekäs, and another related (compound) word to look out for would be lemmenleikki.

In conclusion, lempi and the derived words are slightly silly (in a jocular or playful way), old-fashioned, non-threatening words which allow writing about (romantic) love and sex in light-hearted manner when the writer feels it would not be appropriate to be too explicit about it. They’re the kind of words you would expect to find in e.g. the Finnish translation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream or Romeo & Juliet.

Lempi is also a Finnish female name. It is no longer in fashion, though; most of the Lempis of Finland are old grannies now.

[Upphew]

(Lempi is also a Finnish female name. It is no longer in fashion, though. Most of the Lempis of Finland are old grannies now.)

And all 6 men named Lempi are probably dead already. And there are 6 new Lempis born this year... VRK's name service rocks!

[EP]

Ah those names from the early 1900´s... My other grandmother really went with the fashion:

Lempi Siviä (Chaste Love)
Aina Tyyni (Always Calm)
Sulo Toivo (Sweet Hope) <-- male
Onni Armas (Beloved Happiness) <-- male

I suppose the fad had paled by the time my father was born as the youngest one. He got just an ordinary name that meant nothing.

[sammy]

It’s a bit catch-all in its meaning as it encompasses everything from “setting your eyes on someone” to “shy, innocent, remote admiration” to “having a crush” to “being in love” to “smooching” to actually “making love”

Incidentally, IIRC the term "to make love" used to refer to things fairly 'innocent' still in the early part of the 20th century - referring more to "smooching" or "lovey-dovey wooing" (on a park bench for example) than anything involving the Naughty Bits. Or so I seem to recall. Any Brit here who knows the history of that expression?

"We'll make hay while the sun shines / we'll make love when it rains" go the lyrics of one Thirties' song on my "Pennies from Heaven" soundtrack cd. Perhaps it's not quite innocent even if we allow the historical perspective, but still...

-

EP, those old-fashioned names certainly are funny... some similar ones in my family tree as well...

As far as (fictitious) funny names go - where did the N.O. Hääppönen character come from again? I've forgotten, but the name haunts me.

[Upphew]

EP, those old-fashioned names certainly are funny... some similar ones in my family tree as well...

Anu Saukko(nen)? Miina Kenttä? Suvi Tuuli?

[Tuonelan Joutsen]

Its again an old phrase... that means love as in sex. So he is asking for the beginners sex. Which is as hes the village perv...

So he misreads lempeä as "sex" and says, "I want me some of that"…

...this is another you have to "know" a few things that the joke opens

Apparently so, because although I know that the first panel is "the high school students offered me candy from their car", I have no idea what he's saying in the second.

And all 6 men named Lempi are probably dead already.

"Ahti poika Saarelainen,/ tuo on lieto Lemmin poika…"

[Satish]

I have no idea what he's saying in the second.

...this way for a change?

[Jukka Aho]

I have no idea what he's saying in the second.

...this way for a change?

Yeah, he’s implying it’s usually the other way around...

There’s also a cultural concept at play here... penkkarit or penkinpainajaiset. (Gallery #1) (Gallery #2)









Edit: Yet another photo album with lots of pictures in it and an old article about the tradition on HS.fi (International Edition).
 

[Timbeh]

As far as (fictitious) funny names go - where did the N.O. Hääppönen character come from again? I've forgotten, but the name haunts me.

It was Niilo Olli Hääppönen, the guy who comes to rescue James Potkukelkka from different kinds of situations in the style of the "Varokaa heikkoja jäitä"-announcements.

[enk]

The obits used to be good for finding great names and combos of names.
My favs that I remember were Ensi Veli, Ensi Sisko, Veli Poika (what a
great combo ), Vieno Lempi (what was going through the parents' head?)
and Voitto Taisto.

-enk

[Pursuivant]

Apparently so, because although I know that the first panel is "the high school students offered me candy from their car", I have no idea what he's saying in the second.

"for a change" this way around.

So, a perv in colloquial is a namusetä , as any strange men are uncles thats a candy-uncle (estonians also say kõmmionu). And what does the stereotype perv do - offers candy to kids form his car...