Pocket Matti is a hilarious and funny short cartoon that sheds light on our strange Finnish sayings to a foreigner. First let me explain what Pocket Matti means: Matti is the Finnish equivalent for Matt & Matias. As a joint word Pocket Matti = taskumatti it means hip flask! On each page there is the chosen saying in Finnish, as well as its literal translation and the real meaning of the saying that seems crazy. If you think of English, which does not have the letters ä and ö, the following sayings seem funny even visually: Syöttää pajunköyttä, Äly hoi älä jätä, Tykätä kyttyrää & Pitkäpiimäinen. The book gets the reader in a good mood. There are over 90 sayings and I will take a few as examples:
SYÖTTÄÄ PAJUNKÖYTTÄ
To feed willow rope > To lie
ÄLY HOI ÄLÄ JÄTÄ
Hey, intelligence! Don't leave! > You are doing something incredibly stupid
TYKÄTÄ KYTTYRÄÄ
To like a hum? > To get offended, to dislike
PITKÄPIIMÄINEN
Long buttermilk > Very boring
HUKKA PERII
A wolf will inherit > To be in deep trouble
KISSANRISTIÄISET
Cat’s christening > An unimportant event
ÄIMÄN KÄKENÄ
To be a leather needle’s cuckoo > To be surprised
KARHUNPALVELUS
A bear’s favor > A favor that ends up being more bad than good
More than 60,000 Finnish Nightmares comics have been sold in Finland, and their translation rights have been sold to the United States, Japan, South Korea, Estonia and China. The Matti character in the books has even brought a new word Jingfen to the Chinese language, which means “mentally Finnish”.
Well, despite our odd language Finland is a wonderful small country.
I'll share with you an old Finland collage.
ART FOR THE WEEKEND
I just read a biography of Mary Gallen-Kallela, the spouse of Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
My rewiev is in Finnish but there is Google translator.
Mary & Akseli had an interesting life with travels in Europe, Africa and The US.
Mary was skillful pianist but rejnounced that career.
My post about The Gallen-Kallela Museum / The Inner Eye
Artist of January Akseli Gallen-Kallela & his Kalevala frescoes at the Finnish National Museum
Mary 1905
❤︎❤︎❤︎
Wishing you all a great weekend!
Thank you for all the lovely comments you leave week after week at Friday Bliss.
The link is open
FROM FRIDAY 7 AM TILL THE NEXT TUESDAY 4 PM
Helsinki time
Guten Morgen Riita,
VastaaPoistaAlpträume-Comics? Du liebe Zeit, was es alles gibt. Wenn ich an Alpträume denke, dann muß ich immer an "Enter Sandman" von Metallica denken.
Sicherlich eine interessante Frau und die Bilder sind auch sehr ausdrucksvoll.
Liebe Grüße Eva
Well, there are of course these odd sayings & nightmares in every language :)) Hab ein schönes Wochenende Eva.
PoistaNun habe ich vergessen, dir ein schönes Wochenende zu wünschen.
VastaaPoistaAlles Gute und liebe Grüße Eva
I have one of those books. Very cute!
VastaaPoistaIndeed Lydia! I found this very hilarious.
PoistaGood morning Riitta,
VastaaPoistalovely paintings and the comics look funny, will buy this book. It's always an especially thing with idioms ands phrases, in German and Russian too...
Send you a big box full of sunshine for a nice weekend
No sunshine yet in sight, but probably tomorrow! I don't know at all Russian. I chose French instead of it because was red of the alphabets :)
PoistaThat's great. I always find it very interesting to get to know something like that. Whereby one I can also say that the understanding is sometimes not easy. So every country has its own humor. Your language also sounds interesting, but I always find it so funny to read. You almost get a knot in your tongue. Thank you for introducing, also for the other book and the woman. Never heard of her before.
VastaaPoistaHave a good weekend and hugs and greetings over to you
Nova
A knot on the tongue, so fun! I Spanish lessons we read provrbs and idioms in Spanish: llueve a cantaros > it's raining cats and dogs.
PoistaI have seen a few vignettes about Matti at Helsinki Airport. Very funny.
VastaaPoistaHave a great weekend you too! The weather seems to be reasonable...😀
Pocket Matti is fun indeed. No rain tomorrow, so it's going to be raking & raking!
PoistaEvery language has its own sayings which are nice and meaningful but it all may sound strange or funny when interpreted into other languages. Lovely Finnish collage. Beautiful paintings of Mary Gallen-Kallela. Have a beautiful weekend.
VastaaPoistaYou are so right Nancy, many idioms or play with words are impossible to translate in another language.
PoistaYou are so right - Finland is a wonderful country ;-) But the language can make you despair. I speak a little Finnish with my mother sometimes to keep exercising but it is difficult. Unfortunately, I have already forgotten a lot.
VastaaPoistaGreetings from Germany and have a nice weekend
Kirsi
Finnish is so different from German, Swedish and English, even though we have a lot of loan words. But they don't help with the grammar.
PoistaDas Gemälde der stillenden Frau mit dem Baby rührt mich sehr an, liebe Riitta. Wie nachträglich dazugesetzt wirken die Blümchen in der Vase. Faszinierend! Herzlichst, Nicole
VastaaPoistaHi Nicole,
PoistaThe mother with her baby is beautiful, yet so tragic. The couple's first born girl Marjatta died of pneumonia or some illness very young.
Dearest Riitta,
VastaaPoistawhat stunning paintings by a painter I didn't know yet, thank you for sharing and for hosting your so beautiful party!
Enjoy your Friday and your weekend to come
XO Daniela at ~ My little old world ~ (Dany)
Akseli Gallen-Kallela was one of the most famous painters of the Finnish Golden Era in turn of the centuries 1800/1900. He painted many Kalevala themes.
PoistaWe are all mentally Finnish :D
VastaaPoistaAre you sure :)) No ihan hullujahan monet meidän sanonnat (ja luonteenpiirteet!) on.
PoistaHi Riitta,
VastaaPoistaI LOVE those Pocket nghtmares :O))))
Wishing you a wonderful wekkend,
Love and hugs, Claudia xo
They are fun, aren't they! Happy weekend Claudia.
PoistaAs pinturas são fantásticas.
VastaaPoistaUm abraço e bom fim-de-semana.
Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
Livros-Autografados
Akseli Gallen-Kallela era un pintor fantástico. Saludos.
PoistaFinnland ist ein wunderschönes Land....
VastaaPoistadie Wälder und Seen und der schöne Himmel...
ich habe auch sehr viele Lupinen in Erinnerung, die blühten überall am Wegesrand..
LG. Karin M.
The lupines are beautiful, allthough many hate them as they are so invasive..
PoistaEinen lieben Wochenendgruß von mir!
VastaaPoista❤️lich
Astrid
Dir auch ein schönes Wochenende!
Poista...the artwork doesn't look like a nightmare to me.
VastaaPoistaCertainly not 😃
PoistaDeine Berichte über Finnland sind immer sehr interessant. Wir waren in Schweden und Norwegen, aber noch nicht in Finnland. Vielleicht sollten wir das nachholen.
VastaaPoistaLG
Magdalena
Vielleicht nächtes mal nach Finland auch Magdalena!
PoistaWonderful paintings of this artist. Like especially "the inner eye." You have shown us how beautiful Finland is! Hope I will get to see it once with my own eyes some day:)
VastaaPoistaGallen-Kallela is one of the best!
PoistaThese are hilarious! 😂
VastaaPoistaGlad you liked 😃
PoistaI love the "Heroic Mary."
VastaaPoistaDear Riitta,
VastaaPoistathe Pocket Matti book sounds really funny and delightful. Incidentally, a "bear service" (Bärendienst) is also known in the German language. I find the Finnish language touching. My favorite words from my former trip to Finland are:
puhelin, grilli kioski, järvi ja metsa
(For different reasons, I associate memories with it...)
The beautiful paintings on which Mary Gallen-Kallela can be seen caught my eyes immediately!
Hugs and hayppy weekend,
Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2021/10/italien-reisebericht-pause-in-ferrara.html
LOVE these so much. Thanks for posting, and hosting!
VastaaPoistaThank you for the lovely party.
VastaaPoistaAmalia
xo
Seguro que son preciosos. Besos.
VastaaPoistaI love these sweet paintings from your country♬ Thank so much and appreciate hosting.
VastaaPoista