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No, it was meant to be a quicker version of that 'bunny' I posted a while back.

Our language-learning virtuoso is claiming to be a dunce. Really?

Virtuoso? No. Anyone who speaks Italian or Finnish will assure you that I am not.

Still, at least I can apparently recognise 'Not Finnish' when I hear it.

I would vouch for that. It sounded like Swedish, if anything, to me too. Or at least gibberish with a Swedish accent. They threw in a few English import-words just to make it sound plausible ("football").

Still, it was amusing nonetheless. Who would have expected that people who knew Finnish would listen to it?

A couple of decades ago we were very anxious to know what other nationalities thought about us, and we were literally stunned if foreigners started speaking Finnish. In this respect, we have done considerable progress. This must be due in large part to certain Finnish performers who have shown that it is possible to have audience when singing in this strange language which resembles nothing else on earth.

Except Estonian.


I will be honest Krabo. What most of the world thinks about Finland is.....nothing. We hear no news from there. Very few Finnish people are famous (race drivers excepted). I believe, as you say, some Finnish musicians and groups are known, but that is only to fans, they are not 'famous'.

I tell some people I am learning Finnish and I get a blank look, and I actually have to say "Finnish, you know, from Finland" before light dawns on them. Even then, I'd be surprised if may people could pick out Finland (or even the general area) on a map.

If it makes up for it, those of us who are fans of Finland are big fans.

Except Estonian, right. It's so close to Finnish that you can read net news in Estonian if you know Finnish. -- The other subject... my point was that I don't care any more (most Finns don't) what the rest of the world thinks of us. Why should I? Not every corner of the world can be well-known. And what do I personally know about, say, Niger without googling? I know what their flag looks like but this is because I know every flag. About the country itself and the people there, nothing.

Is Himma an Estonian / Finnish name? I had a professor who claimed ancestry from one of the small, former Soviet-bloc Baltic countries; and I think it was Estonia.

That's really cool, I didn't know the connection until recently.

I'm actually learning a lot more about that part of the world right now... I had no concept of all the wars that have been fought up North, nor that Russia (although losing badly to the Finns at various junctures) has laid claim to quite a bit of land which used to be Finnish.

I at least "get" why Russia would be trying to get access to land for ports on the Black Sea and in the Baltic (not saying it's right to be bullying their way to it), but what I don't get is why the largest country on earth (by land area) needs to carve little bits off the countries around it that have nothing to do with water access. It seems rather egotistical and un-neighborly.

I think they're in for a shock some day in the future, when China decides its people need more room, and decides to annex Siberia to the north.

Ya want me to say somethin'?

sure. get it off your chest.

It could be either. There's this semi-famous philosopher Kenneth Einar Himma, and I think he is Estonian.

Aannd.....moving on.

Ummmm, that's my professor. He was my primary adviser on my final honors project.

So if it's either Finish or Estonian, and not Latvian or Lithuanian, then he's definitely Estonian. I remember now that it wasn't Finland, but rather one of the small Baltics.

On the left.


By the way, one of the classes I had that he taught was held in the hall at SPU where the shooting just happened. (He is ok.)

And Prof. Himma was the reason I asked about the name Himma in the first place, because I was trying to remember where he said his name came from.

Wow, you were taught by someone semi famous.

Glad to hear he is ok though, Theta, I was so sorry to hear about your old school.