Exercises in Finnish: Akun & Pellen K.I.E.L.I.K.O.J.E.

[Jukka Aho]

You need rather advanced Finnish vocabulary and knowledge of common idioms/sayings to pass this, but here goes anyway:

• Akun & Pellen K.I.E.L.I.K.O.J.E.

Aku = Aku Ankka (Donald Duck)
Pelle = Pelle Peloton (Gyro Gearloose)

[Rob A.]

You need rather advanced Finnish vocabulary and knowledge of common idioms/sayings to pass this, but here goes anyway:

• Akun & Pellen K.I.E.L.I.K.O.J.E.

Aku = Aku Ankka (Donald Duck)
Pelle = Pelle Peloton (Gyro Gearloose)

Yes...rather difficult...but excellent practice.....

I don't want to be a spoiler, so I'll only ask about one of them...the test scrambles the questions a bit so it shouldn't matter...

A lot of the idioms I simply didn't follow...

Like this one....Mikä laulaen tulee, se viheltäen mene. The choices were:

viheltäen
hoilaten
itkien

"What comes while singing, goes while whistling."...Why not "crying" or maybe ...at a stretch, "singing badly"... Why "whistling"??...What's the significance of this idiom???

I know it is equivalent to "Easy come, easy go."

OK, OK ...I know...."That's just the way it is....What's important is not what it means exactly, but how to use it."...

[Jukka Aho]

A lot of the idioms I simply didn't follow...

Like this one....Mikä laulaen tulee, se viheltäen mene. The choices were:

viheltäen
hoilaten
itkien

"What comes while singing, goes while whistling."...Why not "crying" or maybe ...at a stretch, "singing badly"... :wink: Why "whistling"??...What's the significance of this idiom???

I know it is equivalent to "Easy come, easy go."

OK, OK ...I know...."That's just the way it is....What's important is not what it means exactly, but how to use it."... :wink:

Singing and whistling are seen as carefree, happy-go-lucky actions in this idiom. You gain something valuable (money, whatever) with little or no effort on your part: so easily you can even keep singing some happy carefree songs while you’re earning/gaining/gathering/raking it in. But because you didn’t really need to work for it, it is also (all too?) easy to let it slip through your fingers... you might lose it through a careless or unfortunate business transaction, or by gambling, or just by going on a shopping spree and acquiring some silly extravagant things you could have lived without... so it might all go down the drain while you’re just whistling cheerfully... and maybe you don’t even care if you’d lose it all because of the effortless way you got hold onto that wealth in the first place.

[Rob A.]

A lot of the idioms I simply didn't follow...

Like this one....Mikä laulaen tulee, se viheltäen mene. The choices were:

viheltäen
hoilaten
itkien

"What comes while singing, goes while whistling."...Why not "crying" or maybe ...at a stretch, "singing badly"... Why "whistling"??...What's the significance of this idiom???

I know it is equivalent to "Easy come, easy go."

OK, OK ...I know...."That's just the way it is....What's important is not what it means exactly, but how to use it."...

Singing and whistling are seen as carefree, happy-go-lucky actions in this idiom. You gain something valuable (money, whatever) with little or no effort on your part: so easily you can even keep singing some happy carefree songs while you’re earning/gaining/gathering it. But because you didn’t really need to work for it, it is also (all too?) easy to let it slip through your fingers... you might lose it through a careless or unfortunate business transaction, or by gambling, or just by going on a shopping spree and acquiring some silly extravagant things you could have lived without... so it might all go down the drain while you’re just whistling cheerfully... and maybe you don’t even care if you’d lose it all because of the effortless way you got hold onto that wealth in the first place.

Sounds good enough for me...

And it reminds me of a story, something I remember from my teenage years.... In our town this particular man, a numismatist (coin-collector) by avocation, had, by all accounts, a sizeable and very valuable collection....he also had a teenage son who I would say many regarded as a bit of an idiot...figuratively, not literally,. Well, the old man died relatively young....he was extremely obese, a byproduct of having such a sedentary pastime, no doubt.... The son, probably about 18 years old at the time, received a significant inheritance....and immediately went out and bought two identical cars. The old man must have rolled over in his grave....

Mikä laulaen tulee, se viheltäen menee!!!....

[Jukka Aho]

As for the usage, I guess there are several shades to it.

You could say “Mikä laulaen tulee, se viheltäen menee” in a situation where you’re the one who received some “found money” (or whatever it was), to convey the idea that you don’t yourself believe you’ll be able to hold onto it for a long time. This could be either because you already know you’re kind of charasteristically irresponsible or unlucky with money, and therefore convinced you will likely end up spending/losing it on something stupid, or it could be because you consider “found money” philosophically as something that isn’t for you to keep: you think you got it “all too easily” – so (by some unclear logic or pure “magical thinking”) it’s not to be saved for the rainy day or used for advancing any of your personal long-term goals. Finally, you could say the phrase as a straightforward comment about money or other valuable thing you still had in your possession moments ago but already lost, of course.

Alternatively, someone else could say it when they’re warning someone about the possibility of losing something valuable as easily as they originally got it... or when they’re predicting that that is what will likely happen.

[Rob A.]

OK...some more idiomatic sayings that need explaining ...

1. Pojasta polvi paranee.= "From the boy the knee improves."...

What might be the meaning and origin of this one?

2. what does muiskia mean?

3. I'm having trouble with this:

Saamme hävetä silmät päästämme.....Saa hävetä silmät päästä.....

How would this be translated? And what does the idiom mean?

4. Another idiom...
Nostaa kissa pöydälle...

..."to start talking about a difficult subject" .....What's the origin of this?

[onkko]

OK...some more idiomatic sayings that need explaining ...

1. Pojasta polvi paranee.= "From the boy the knee improves."...

What might be the meaning and origin of this one?

Literal translation is knee but its short from sukupolvi as generation what probably comes from polveutua.

2. what does muiskia mean?

I would translate that as "giving wet kisses", ones what small childs give.

3. I'm having trouble with this:

Saamme hävetä silmät päästämme.....Saa hävetä silmät päästä.....

How would this be translated? And what does the idiom mean?

We have to shame eyes out of our heads. Hmm... i dont really know how to explain this, you know when youre so ashamed that you cannot even look at others?

[Upphew]

1. Pojasta polvi paranee.= "From the boy the knee improves."...

What might be the meaning and origin of this one?

A bit of guesswork from me... we're not talking about joint but sukupolvi, like "Hän oli kolmannen polven kauppias"

2. what does muiskia mean?

Also guessing... "Hän muiski pusuja (kaikkien poskille)" vs. "Hän läiski korttia (kavereiden kanssa)"

3. I'm having trouble with this:

Saamme hävetä silmät päästämme.....Saa hävetä silmät päästä.....

How would this be translated? And what does the idiom mean?

Something so shameful you don't have to gouge your eyes out, they are gone by themselves.

[jahasjahas]

4. Another idiom...
Nostaa kissa pöydälle...

..."to start talking about a difficult subject" .....What's the origin of this?

Google gives us:

Hesarin Kuukausiliitteessä Suomen maatalousmuseon johtaja Juha Kuisma valotti "Nostaa kissa pöydälle" -sanontaa seuraavasti (s. 18):

"Kun kissanpennut olivat tulleet sopivaan ikään, niitä arvioitiin reippauden ja värin kannalta: jätetäänkö edes yksi henkiin. Usein myös naapurin lapset kävivät valitsemassa uutta kissaa. Silloin oli tärkeää tietää sukupuoli. - - - Silloin nostettiin kissa pöydälle, käädettiin seljälleen ja tarkistettiin, millä vehkeillä pentu oli varustettu.

Idiomi tarkoittaa siis asian suorasukaista selvittämistä."

http://villithekissa.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ydlle.html

(I'm not sure whether "käädettiin" should be "käännettiin" or "kaadettiin". Or it could be a dialect thing, since he's also using "seljälleen" instead of "selälleen".)

[Jukka Aho]

1. Pojasta polvi paranee.= "From the boy the knee improves."...

What might be the meaning and origin of this one?

(“Generation”, not “knee”, as others already said.)

The meaning is roughly that the younger, upcoming generation will usually/likely/probably be an improvement when compared to the previous one. (If you’re into optimistic thinking, that is. Or if the situation at hand already proved that. Maybe a bit male-centric thinking, though...)

[Rob A.]

Thanks all....

1. Pojasta polvi paranee.= "From the boy the knee improves."...

What might be the meaning and origin of this one?

(“Generation”, not “knee”, as others already said.)

The meaning is roughly that the younger, upcoming generation will usually/likely/probably be an improvement when compared to the previous one. (If you’re into optimistic thinking, that is. Or if the situation at hand already proved that. Maybe a bit male-centric thinking, though...)

That might be the case in Finland... But I think it has been conclusively proven that North Americans have, on average, become dumber and dumber.... with each passing generation...

[Jukka Aho]

That might be the case in Finland... But I think it has been conclusively proven that North Americans have, on average, become dumber and dumber.... with each passing generation... :wink:

Hey, cut Dubya some slack. He looks like he’d be loads of fun at parties...

[skandagupta]

You need rather advanced Finnish vocabulary and knowledge of common idioms/sayings to pass this, but here goes anyway:

• Akun & Pellen K.I.E.L.I.K.O.J.E.

Aku = Aku Ankka (Donald Duck)
Pelle = Pelle Peloton (Gyro Gearloose)

Yes...rather difficult...but excellent practice.....

I don't want to be a spoiler, so I'll only ask about one of them...the test scrambles the questions a bit so it shouldn't matter...

A lot of the idioms I simply didn't follow...

Like this one....Mikä laulaen tulee, se viheltäen mene. The choices were:

viheltäen
hoilaten
itkien

"What comes while singing, goes while whistling."...Why not "crying" or maybe ...at a stretch, "singing badly"... Why "whistling"??...What's the significance of this idiom???

I know it is equivalent to "Easy come, easy go."

OK, OK ...I know...."That's just the way it is....What's important is not what it means exactly, but how to use it."...

There`s this old belief that whistling is one of the ways to invoke or conjure up the old nick. Easy or illgotten gains are but transitory gifts.