Sounds like the entire country should be on Prozac....

Wow this goes against my experience of every Fin I have ever met. In my opinion, The Fin's I have met are similar to the 80's lounge lizard Miami Vice types. In fact one that I work with even looks like Don Johnson but act more like "The Rock". Lalalalalalala!

Axiomatic: Wow this goes against my experience of every Fin I have ever met. In my opinion, The Fin's I have met are similar to the 80's lounge lizard Miami Vice types. In fact one that I work with even looks like Don Johnson but act more like "The Rock". Lalalalalalala!

I actually read it thinking "aaah that explains it". I've only met one Finn who was outgoing and loud, but he was raised in the USA from age 3. The rest are quiet. I say the rest, but there's only 2 others that I know.

Looks like the average American would make an ass out of him or herself in just under 8 minutes in Finland anywhere in the world

FTFY

Also important to note is never go drinking with Finns, especially if they want to drink their version of moonshine, which tastes like it was made with gasoline and licorice.

/and which will leave you with a please shoot me in the head to stop the pain hangover

FTA: Finns rarely enter into conversation with strangers; words are chosen carefully; small talk is considered suspect. Instead Finns revere "sacred silence" and hold that keeping quiet is healthy and promotes thoughtfulness.

Sounds like a peaceful, productive and above all quiet society. Frankly, something must be done about it. (new window)

Do they only have sex every 7 years?

God, I hate Finland. I need a hundred beers.

Sounds a lot like the typical Midwest Scandinavian-American get together. "How are things?" "Good, things are OK here, how about you?" "Fine, everything is doing OK here too." "Good to hear it." and then silence with the occasional "Could you please pass the lutefisk/kringle/casserole?" I know these all too well.

I think I'd like Finland. I spend most of my time wishing everybody would STFU.

I love staying quiet. I love a quiet room with people in it.

How in the world do they get their kids to be quiet? I've got a six year old little chatterbox.

So an American is writing about how it may not be healthy for Finns to be silent?

Seriously, why to Americans think that everyone should aspire to be like them. We don´t like you and we don´t want to be like you. At least the British had cool eccentrics and some sophistication. What have you guys got?

I have caused quite a few Twin Citians a moment of alarm.


Its kind of fun

.

Tr0mBoNe: Do they only have sex every 7 years?

Darn, you beat me to it :(

40yoVirgin: Looks like the average American would make an ass out of him or herself in just under 8 minutes on the flight to in Finland anywhere in the world.

FTFY

FTFY

TheXerox: Sounds a lot like the typical Midwest Scandinavian-American get together. "How are things?" "Good, things are OK here, how about you?" "Fine, everything is doing OK here too." "Good to hear it." and then silence with the occasional "Could you please pass the lutefisk/kringle/casserole?" I know these all too well.

The Upper Midwest is downright talkative compared to the German-Americans in Missouri.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Hungry?"

"Yep."

"Sizzler?"

"Yep."

Maybe their language has such a strain on their tongues that it's better to keep quiet? I tried to read the lady's name on the article and gave up midway (Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen)...

/That's it, I'm finnished.

My mom and Dad told me not to talk to strangers so I am getting a kick out of....

cryinoutloud: I think I'd like Finland. I spend most of my time wishing everybody would STFU.

This. Very.

OZZ: Seriously, why to Americans think that everyone should aspire to be like them. We don´t like you and we don´t want to be like you. At least the British had cool eccentrics and some sophistication. What have you guys got?

Eh... Obvious, but I'll give you a 5/10 since you made me want to respond anyway.

It would take a lot less than 8 minutes...

Looks like I found my new home, then. I wish people would just STFU all the time too. I mean seriously, do I really need to hear all about your new child? It happens all the time. Get over it.

/maybe not
//but seriously, just STFU

OZZ: So an American is writing about how it may not be healthy for Finns to be silent?

Seriously, why to Americans think that everyone should aspire to be like them. We don´t like you and we don´t want to be like you. At least the British had cool eccentrics and some sophistication. What have you guys got?

How did you get ANY of that from the article?

OZZ: So an American is writing about how it may not be healthy for Finns to be silent?

Seriously, why to Americans think that everyone should aspire to be like them. We don´t like you and we don´t want to be like you. At least the British had cool eccentrics and some sophistication. What have you guys got?

Judging from this post, I'd rather not be like you - so the feeling is mutual.

But, I'll feed this anyway:

FTFA: Some researchers view the trademark Finnish reticence as more pathological, linking it to depression and emotional repression and citing Finns' high rates of suicide, alcoholism, and high blood pressure.

That's called "trying to tie behavior to empirical evidence" and has absolutely nothing to do with cultural preference or origin.

On a personal note, my wife is Finnish and tended to agree with the article when I sent it to her based on her own subjective observations growing up there.

I'm in the library and someone's cellphone just rang so I'm getting a going to kick out of these replies her.

/ftfm

Beg to differ.
/nothing is obscure on Fark.

Lebronandwade:My mom and Dad Dio told me not to talk to strangers so I am getting a kick out of....

/they're only there to do you harm

The only Finn I ever met was a huge, obnoxious freeloader named Jarmo Tuocco. He once poured a beer into my eyes while I was sleeping, and his favorite catchphrase was "I am Jarmo Tuocco from Finland and I am very dangerous. You will give me cigarette, yes? No?"

vossiewulf: Also important to note is never go drinking with Finns, especially if they want to drink their version of moonshine, which tastes like it was made with gasoline and licorice.

/and which will leave you with a please shoot me in the head to stop the pain hangover

Linie Aquavid The nastiest stuff I've tasted. They admit it tastes like shiat but drink it like water.

Finland's brilliant. I found the people to be pretty open, a few times somebody would sit next to me and start up a conversation in Finnish, I'd say that I couldn't speak it, and then they'd start up in English.
Incredibly helpful, also, to the point where I felt guilty asking for directions because on the first two occasions, the people actually accompanied me to where I was going, which was quite a ways away.
Awesome people.

Just where the fark is Finland and why should I want to go there?
Climate? Jobs? Babes? Living standards?

I would rather go to Ireland again than to Finland again. Or any other country again, for that matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wno8tWg-Q4g

DrForrester: The only Finn I ever met was a huge, obnoxious freeloader named Jarmo Tuocco. He once poured a beer into my eyes while I was sleeping, and his favorite catchphrase was "I am Jarmo Tuocco from Finland and I am very dangerous. You will give me cigarette, yes? No?"

Awesome.

DrForrester: The only Finn I ever met was a huge, obnoxious freeloader named Jarmo Tuocco. He once poured a beer into my eyes while I was sleeping, and his favorite catchphrase was "I am Jarmo Tuocco from Finland and I am very dangerous. You will give me cigarette, yes? No?"

Thread is Finnished?

Ha! Apparently I'm from Finland. Who knew? It's amazing how many strangers start conversations with me at the bus stop and proceed to spill their life stories, all the while I'm either ignoring them or making non-committal sounds and thinking "Leave me alone! I don't even want to know this much about my friends. Go be lonely somewhere else!"

On another note, I have a friend who cannot stand silence if there is another person in the immediate vicinity. He'll ask questions he already knows the answers to just to fill the void. It's rather amusing, and at the same time, I get tired of having the same conversations with him.

w0nka: vossiewulf: Also important to note is never go drinking with Finns, especially if they want to drink their version of moonshine, which tastes like it was made with gasoline and licorice.

/and which will leave you with a please shoot me in the head to stop the pain hangover

Linie Aquavid The nastiest stuff I've tasted. They admit it tastes like shiat but drink it like water.

mmmmm that was Norway.
/I fail

I work for a Finnish company and trips to their beautiful country were definitely "different" at first. When they get to know you, in a more personal setting, they are a blast. Almost to the person, they have a dry sense of humor that is refreshing to be around instead of our highly advanced, Git-er-done style of humor.

/Goths got nothing on these guys

If they are so quiet, why do they all own cell phones? So they can not talk to each other?

They must accumulate a lot of rollover minutes with all of that non-talking.

Maybe it's because Finnish has like 14 noun cases and is supposed to be (next to Magyar, to which it is closely related for some reason) the most difficult language in Europe to learn. I'd be quiet too if every time I spoke three people thought I was an idiot for using the wrong case...

/Of courses, I does that in EEnglish too...

"What have you guys got?"

Having just got back from SE Asia, I can say that our group of four was hurried by a korean man who shoved us physically twice because he didnt think helping someone pick up their dropped glasses was worth holding him up for. There was also the middle aged group of 6 dutch travelers who felt the need to cut into the front of a line of 15 people because they got into the wrong one.

Anyone who biatches about American tourists really hasn't taken a good look at how they themselves might look to other people. People suck kind of universally.

Funny, but this article goes against every Fin I ever met.

I mean they are not like us Americans, but thank god few are, we do tend to be loud and brash to a fault; but they were not "quiet" by any stretch, if anything they were very outgoing and pleasant.

cbcs: Beg to differ.
/nothing is obscure on Fark.

Arrr that be a mighty sack of potatoes!!!

four12: cryinoutloud: I think I'd like Finland. I spend most of my time wishing everybody would STFU.

This. Very.

Me three.
Though I'm not much of a drinker, so I don't know if they'd take me.

I wish there were more people like that. I consider myself a pleasant, polite person, but not outgoing by any means. I've never felt the need to engage people I barely know in pointless conversation just because they're in the same general area.

But I feel paranoid because so many people regard it as rude or unfriendly, and I find myself saying stupid things just to make conversation that make me look even more rude or ignorant than I would have if I'd just kept my mouth shut.

Sounds nice. I can't feign interest in smalltalk very well, and people get their feelings hurt if you don't pull it off.

Companionable silence ftw.

I Like Bread: four12: cryinoutloud: I think I'd like Finland. I spend most of my time wishing everybody would STFU.

This. Very.

Me three.
Though I'm not much of a drinker, so I don't know if they'd take me.


May I suggest not going there in winter....

The Finns I met while living in Berlin were the nicest people you'd ever meet... though like a lot of the "stoic" Berliners, add a few liters of beer, and they're just as let-loose-crazy as anyone else.

Love the saunas though. Man, what a way to destress at the end of the day.

/I'm still trying to find one in Houston.
//Seriously. People give me the oddest looks when I ask at spas where I can find a sauna in which to relax with friends.

If you were from another culture, you'd have another annoying trait from the perspective of yet another.


Personally, I think some of the older tribal cultures are way farked up. But y'know what? It's relative

.