viitsiä

[Satish]

My dictionary defines viitsiä = to be bothered and used commonly in negative statements.

However, couple of examples given are:
Älä viitsi! – Stop that!
Älä viitsi puhua siitä – Don’t talk about it

Can someone tell me what role viitsiä plays in those sentences? For the second one, If I wanted to say "Don't talk about it", I would have just said Älä puhu siitä..

[EP]

If I wanted to say "Don't talk about it", I would have just said Älä puhu siitä..

That is a full no no, speaking of it is totally unwelcome.

"Älä viitsi puhua siitä". Please, don´t talk about it. It is stupid/boring/embarrasing/makes me feel unconfortable/you have said that 100 times already...

[Satish]

"Älä viitsi puhua siitä". Please, don´t talk about it. It is stupid/boring/embarrasing/makes me feel unconfortable/you have said that 100 times already...

Now that makes sense! The original sentence that I was trying to understand was Älkää viitsikö kiroilla....

Thanks EP!

[EP]

That is literally "please stop swearing". A good example of one way how you can say "please" in Finnish when there is no word please in the language.

[Jukka Aho]

Älä viitsi! – Stop that!
Älä viitsi puhua siitä – Don’t talk about it

Can someone tell me what role viitsiä plays in those sentences? For the second one, If I wanted to say "Don't talk about it", I would have just said Älä puhu siitä..

First of all, what does viitsiä mean?

The primary meaning is “to bother put effort on something; to go an extra mile for something”. The verb can be used both in a positive and a negative sense:

Ihanaa että hän viitsi soittaa.
“It is lovely that she bothered to call.” (The call was an unexpected but welcome display of care... or extra sense of duty.)

Hän ei edes viitsi soittaa.
“She doesn’t even bother calling.”

En viitsi soittaa.
“I can’t be bothered to call.” (It’s too much effort and too little gain.)

There’s also another sense of viitsiä. Depending on the context and speaker, sometimes viitsiä can mean the same as “to have the courage, or cheek, or audacity” to do something.

In a suitable context, En viitsi soittaa could be translated as “I can’t call because it would be all too embarrassing or awkward either for me, or for the recipient of the call.”

En viitsi ottaa asiaa puheeksi.
“I’m too sensitively conscious to bring up this issue (with someone.)” (You’re reluctant to discuss the topic because you see it as being too awkward.)

As for your example, Älä puhu siitä is a straightforward, direct order. We do not know the reason for why person A would give this kind of an order to person B.

Älä viitsi puhua siitä adds a different sense to the original request: now it’s a plead. The original topic of discussion was somehow embarrassing, irritating, tiresome, sensitive, or awkward, and that is the reason why the other person is asked to stop. He shouldn’t bother talking about it; nothing good will result from such discussion. If the person to whom this plead was addressed is still continuing on that topic – despite the request to stop – they’re pushing their luck and limits in a way that’s uncalled for.

The tone of voice would give some hints as to whether Älä viitsi is just a meek attempt at getting someone to stop about an embarrassing topic, or an angry or snappy expression of frustration – in response to some line of argument or questioning that seems thoroughly irritating, pathetic, or uncalled for. In that latter case, you could liken angrily snapped Älä viitsi! to phrases like...

“Come on!”
“Don’t (bother) try(ing) to play your tricks on me. I can see past them and it won’t work. You should know better than that.”
“Don’t (bother) be(ing) so anal about the matter at hand.”
“Let’s not (bother) going there (again), please. We’ve already had that argument.”
“Don’t bother putting any energy or effort in talking about that. It’s not worth it.”

etc.

Some related expressions of frustration:

Älä viitsi!
Älä nyt taas viitsi!
Anna nyt jo olla.
Älä nyt taas aloita.

But älä viitsi can also be used with a softer tone of voice, for example when you’re reconciling after a fight and trying to get someone to talk to you again after they’ve started sulking at you:

Älä nyt viitsi olla noin ilkeä; tuossa ei ole mitään järkeä.
“Hey, come on, don’t bother putting all that effort in trying to be so nasty to me, there’s no point in it.”

Älä viitsi olla noin typerä. En minä sitä tarkoittanut.
“Hey, come on, don’t bother putting all that effort in being such a fool. I didn’t mean it like that.”

[Satish]

Wow!! Thanks again as always Jukka and EP … Or can I say

Siunattakoon sinun puuvillasukat!

PS. It should mean “Let your cotton socks be blessed” – Hope I got it right
PPS. I always wanted to use the passive imperative and I finally found an excuse to do it!!!!

[Pursuivant]

Rather -Siunattakoon sinun puuvillasukkasi, innit? Which is interesting, but weird.

I'd say in the colloquial jaksaa is used as viitsiä

- Älä jaksa valittaa koko matkaa.
- Minä en jaksa mennä töihin.

Then theres the dialectal forms, iljetä and kehdata, which in the "book Finnish" mean something as "I don't dare", "I can't stand to", "I am too ashamed to" etc., so in some dialect, minen kehtaa is more or less en viitsi, whereas it means in the general language "I am too shy to try".

[Jukka Aho]

There’s also the complimentary adjective viitseliäs (from the verb viitsiä) which means someone who goes that extra mile for the others, unrequested, and doesn’t spare their time and effort in whatever it is they’re doing. If you call someone viitseliäs you’re at the same time 1) complimenting them on being such a dutiful and caring and helpful person, going out their way and arranging things even if not directly asked to and 2) suggesting you likely wouldn’t be that good a person yourself; you probably wouldn’t bother putting that much effort in such a thing or bend backwards quite that much if the roles were reversed and you were in their shoes.

It can even be praise with faint damnation: someone can be so viitseliäs it makes you feel awkward: you didn’t mean they would need to put that much time and effort in whatever it was they did for you, and you fear you probably can’t easily return the favor to them or compensate them for their troubles... you may feel you’re left owing a debt of gratitude to them.

[Satish]

Rather -Siunattakoon sinun puuvillasukkasi, innit? Which is interesting, but weird.

I am surprised that you have not come across this already but here is an etymology that tries to explain it..

[orbik]

Siunattakoon sinun puuvillasukat!

Siunattakoot(1) puuvillasukkasi(2)!

1) Verb-Object congruency of number
2) Possessive suffix instead of genitive

[Brynne]

This is a word that has been bugging me, too! I heard at a hospital once from a nurse when we were getting ready to bring the patients their lunch, "He viitsi vielä nukkuu.." (and it just sounded like she was talking to herself sort of in thought) And my husband said it can also mean something similar to "kai." Sort of like, "I guess they're still sleeping." Or can it? I'm a little confused about the word, too.

[Pursuivant]

I think you heard "vissi"... he vissiin varmaan nukkuu... thats a swedishism, from "visst" - "surely" which is colloquial for... by all probability. "Se on vissi ja varma" someone can say to emphasisie its both "I think" and "I know". Or then Se on sitten vissiin niin jos sinä niin sanot.

[Brynne]

Ahah, okay, that's probably what I heard. Makes more sense then, thanks!