Grendeldef

k-p-t vaihtelu. vahva & heiko, etc. Yes, decclension can be a hassle at times. But at least you never modify the beginning of the word like the Celts do.

'More then' and 'if… than' are, to quote Robert Hartwell Fiske, idiotic. My personal recommendation is that the perpetrators be hanged by the figgin.

Thanks! I'll pass it on to RO.

btw red pencil's always out. Apparently it's spelled 'dependent' nowadays when used as an adjective and the spelling with an a is 'obsolete', but I instinctively distrust English-language authorities who are usually trying to one-up the other and trying to sell more copies of their dictionaries.

I promised a certain translation after a certain Thursday on which I promptly fell sick. Then I forgot all about it. Now I can promise you another Thursday.

We were left wondering, since RO was bypassed by the technological revolution and new words… how do we declense the word 'tietokone'? We are assuming that information is 'tietokonella', e.g. 'kuvat ovat tietokonella', but somewhere we read that a virus is 'tietokonessa' (?). I don't which, if any, is correct. Is there any way to know?

btw I can make people laugh with my suggestions, such as Apple rebranding their product 'iPuhelin', etc. äm-pee-kolme music FTW!

Yes, I've called her Nti. Opettaja because of the old custom of calling teachers 'Miss'. But I hadn't ever asked.

It's always good to make up new words.

Further investigation of the Samoyed, Suomi, Sami, and similar names points to it being a word used for something like 'us'.
"The term "Samoyed" was originally a Russian word, a corrupted form of the ethnonym Saamod. Samoyed in Russian literally means "Self-Eating" and thus the term came to be considered pejorative, although this is not the original meaning, being a false etymology."
From wiki on 'Samoyed'.

I think it's 'loquatious'.

English in its present form is quite a crippled language, but once upon a time the difference between 'mitkä näma ovat?' and 'mitä nämä ovat?' would've been more noticeable to an English speaker.

I don't know much about Rva. Opettaja's life outside the course but a couple months ago I dared to ask her what the correct form of address would be in Finnish and she is Rouva something-or-other; I can't be bothered to modify all the posts previous to that.

Also, I am about to turn my attention to the homework for tomorrow. Will I need luck?

Oh no, by all means. I tend to mishandle plurals for all cases except nominatives and sometimes genitives. I remember mitä -> mitkä (e.g. mitkä näma ovat?), but get lost with most of the others. I've got to grips with adding at at the end (näma ovat autot) but that's about it.

As for the 'others vs. us' thing, it's interesting to know that most of the peoples in the area with kindred languages call(ed) themselves something beginning with s(vowel)M, e.g. Suomi, Sami/Sapmi, Samoyeds, etc. Sounds like a common feature of the northern steppe/tundra peoples.

One day I'll link Rva. Opettaja to this.

Heh, heh.

I've been giving the 'ei-…noun/adjective' issue some thought. Yes, adding 'no/not/un' in Indo-European languages is quite natural and we do it without thinking… and 'ihmiset joka eivät ole suomalaiset' is a bit too convoluted. So what would do for a foreigner living in Finland? If Finland-Swedes are called Suomen-ruotsalaiset, then maybe Suomen-ulkomaalaiset could be used. Or do you have a word for foreign residents that I'm not aware of?

I've had my location as 'up yours!' since sometime around 2006.Mr. B is a far newer addition.

Your mention of Nykänen (of whom I'd neither heard nor read anything up to this point) brings to mind that I don't know why you people spell it as 'olympia' when everyone pronounces that y as i and in many languages it's actually spelled 'Olimpia' these centuries.

I didn't know about 'penikka'. Clearly we should get a few cats and experiment on what to call them.

How's the WoWing?

Arrgh! I always forget about adding -sta!

So using Swedish words is wrong but Swedish drinks are alright then?

I'll rephrase. 'Takhisis on ulkomaalainen pikkukissa joka ei pitää kahvia - hän pitää teeta ja olutta.'

How do you say 'not-Finn'? 'Ulkomaalainen' is just 'foreigner'.

Takhisis ei pitää kahvia.

See? Finnish isn't that difficult a language for referring to coffee.

I thought that 'vittu, se ei ole oikein' meant 'your statement is untrue'.

We live and learn, Mr. Grendeldef.

Methinks everyone in the Soviet Invasion of Poland thread ought to watch Talvisota.

Well, Madam Opettaja liked the Didarasq entry.

No such thing as too much computer gaming!

Kiitos.

About sekki/shekki, etc. it's itneresting to find this comparison between the more conservative Karelian (with a wider variety of sounds) and the Standardised (one-size-fits-none) Finnish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karelian_language#Examples_of_Karelian_dialects

Lose interest? Someone has failed to notice my latest exam results…

I don't think I'm up to the level of those yet, but one day I'll watch all of the Pasanen/Loiri collaborative works of high culture if I can.
I wonder at some titles though… 'ruokaravintola'? 'fakifakilandia'?

Well, since next month N(ti). Opettaja will be doing something in Finland (being Finnish, maybe?) and I'll spend a lot of time digging into websites to find inane comments and useless data, I can also do some serious research.

Is that very last phrase a challenge, sir?