Fun with Finnish (and other languages)

[Argan]

'matka' in finnish means journey, but in czech it means 'mother'

Mutter is mother in german, but in finnish it means a nut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_%28hardware%29).

[sinikala]

'matka' in finnish means journey, but in czech it means 'mother'

Mutter is mother in german, but in finnish it means a nut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_%28hardware%29).

mutteri = nut.

Per Una is Marks & Spencer's fashion label

Peruna = potato

[Argan]

mutteri = nut.

Yes, of course.

[soledad]

Do dialects count?

Of course the classics were mentioned already...
For Italian
katso ("look") sounds like cazzo (d*ck)
merta ("sea") sounds sort of like merda (sh*) soooo the classic Finnish turist in Italy screaming "look at the sea" sounds very interesting.
panna ("put", "lay", "f**k" etc) has funny meanings the other way - in Italian it's cream ... and yes, a female friend of mine from Palermo went to buy an ice cream in Finland, and she forgot how to say whipped cream in English (as she does not speak Finnish), so she asked the guy selling ice cream "can I have some panna?" - I wish I had seen the face of that guy.

Dialectal (Sicilian)
in Finnish, minkki is an animal (something like ferret???) and it sounds like minchia (which again is the d*ck word)
pula and pulla, depending on where you are (Catania or Palermo or elsewhere) can be police, or prostitute.

In English can't think of much.
kudos would be something like tissue in Finnish meaning?

[neilgravir]

English: persevere
Finnish: perse

I believe these have very different meanings...

On a side note, here in Scotland the word for a church is kirk, and in Finnish it is kirkko - I think this may have something to do with Vikings.

[kalmisto]

>> On a side note, here in Scotland the word for a church is kirk, and in Finnish it is kirkko - I think this may have something to do with Vikings. <<

You are right. The Finnish word "kirkko" comes from the Swedish "kyrka".

[Leppa Janis]

The Dutch word for church is kerk.

[sammy]

kudos would be something like tissue in Finnish meaning?

Yep - kudos is tissue; however, not the Kleenex variety.

Which reminds me, if you scrape a tissue sample out of an aquatic predator that commonly has a triangular dorsal fin, what do you call it in Finnish?

That would be haista kaavittu.

Sorry about that... not the best of taste

[sextonÅR]

tyrä - hernia or rupture; in Estonian it means d*ck

So if you're in Estonia, don't talk about you're surgery you had 'cause you had hernia

[starbucks]

äitini sanoi että minulla olisi vielä pitkä matka edessa siihen. ...

-- matka in Russian "womb"

-- koski -- "cats"

[Sikakoira]

Finnish, minkki is an animal (something like ferret???)

In english, "minkki" would be a mink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink

[matildemichi]

[
Ah, used to work on a ship, the bridge was Italians. They always asked me to greet the watch in Finnish.... "mitä kuuluu, katso merta" what's up, look at the sea. in italian cazzo merda, mita culo means something.. err...

in our italian famous singing festival "sanremo", one of our soubrette (show women) called anna falchi, told this joke during the program. she is a mix of italian daddy and finnish mother. so its because of her and its her fault if we italians laugh at it

[muhaha]

... something that is a bit funny

in finnish : moi, moi means in french myself, myself.. or me, me... lol

Yeah, but the two don't sound at all alike.

But when you pronounce it, it sounds like "mua" which in Finnish also means "me".

[Timbeh]

My name is Perse, James Perse.

[Timbeh]

: "Mmm.. What is that? Smells yummy."
: "Oh it's just paska. Sit down and I'll get you some."