Winter is beautiful when it's cold.
I noticed this article while browsing Yle recently. It discusses the word "pliis", a recent loanword derived from the English "please". After reading it, I decided to address the subject of English's ever-increasing presence in the Finnish language with my class last Tuesday. It was pretty fascinating, though perhaps more so for me than for my students.
First, their impression of the word "pliis" itself seemed less than favorable. The article mentions "pissikset", or vapid teen girls, a group with which the members of my class seemed to immediately associate the word's usage. A few people also mentioned the pleading tone these pissikset deploy.
"Pliis" assimilated only one of the many meanings belonging to its English counterpart because, I think, that's all it's needed for. Finnish conditional verb forms allow for polite requests and the like, and "ole hyvä" can be used as an interjection in polite commands. (For instance: istu, ole hyvä/sit, please.) All that's left is the entreating, solicitous "please!" used when one is in a desperate state.
I then asked them to think of a few other English loanwords. My favorite was "hipsteri", which I'd never heard before, yet is so very obvious. The word "delata" (slang: to die) was also mentioned, but I'm not certain of its etymology. Anyone care to weigh in?
[Lastly, a friend sent me this deliciously sacrilegious video, and I laughed. [It contains the word "delata".]]
I've never heard delata around here. This is the first time I read about it. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteAnd due to the fact that there are so many older/elderly people here, I don't hear pliis, either, though I do read it once in a while in my coworker's FB wall notes. But then again she's young and she does incorporate more slang in her writings.
I find that we don't use "pissis", either - again due to the fact that there aren't too many youngsters here, I suppose.
Another slang I've read is "kamoon" ha ha ha ha ha ha...it felt SO weird the first time I came across it.
I read somewhere that "delata" is specifically Helsinki slang, but I've definitely heard it around here. Being "only" 230 km away, I suppose we share a certain amount of their slang.
DeleteI think I've heard "kamoon" on tv, which is probably where I first heard "pliis" as well. Thanks for that example. But yeah, one of the things we discussed is that slang deriving from English is usually used by younger people. I think youngin's consume more English media? It's really interesting to watch a language change and progress like this, though. :)
Yeah, it happens in Indo as well. We start taking more and more English words into regular use.
DeleteI think it probably has a lot to do with how grown-up people are less of... well, not exactly drama queens, but perhaps just that those words don't really fit the adult behaviour, where even exaggeration and such things are expressed more through word choice, stress and intonation rather than the more explicit, pointed and naked way that accompanies "pliis" and "kamoon".
DeleteSome parts of Helsinki slang spread slowly across the country through media, etc. much like the expressions used by black youth spread to across the more general population in the US. The whole thing (originally) started as a street language probably used by finnish-speaking, swedish-speaking and russian-speaking kids. "Delata" might be a translation of some obscure (then) colloquial term using the Swedish verb "dela".
"Come on" is used very widely across age groups in English, but a begging "please" definitely less so. While I don't think there's anything inherently immature about using "demanding" phrases, I think you're right in that there might be a cultural difference at play. In the context of Finnish, resorting to English loans to make explicit demands might be a mark of immaturity.
DeleteThanks for the slang insight. I looked up the verb "dela"; if it means "to divide or share", maybe the implication of delata is that the soul and the body separate? One of my students seemed to be under the impression that it came from "delete", but of course the lexicon already has "deletoida". I think it would be odd if there were two Finnish verbs deriving from "to delete", one taking on the literal meaning and the other a more figurative one.
Actually, since one verb is transitve and the other intransitive, that would probably necessitate two verbs. Still, I can't remember seeing an intransitive VT4 correspond to a transitive VT2. All in all, seem pretty doubtful.
Delete"Delata" could be from delete, too. Who knows?
DeleteI'm pretty sure even those who think they do, don't.
(Pliis in action)
Yah, we have kamoon on this side of the water too. I've also heard insaid džok, nais and omaigod, though nais is used scarcastically.
ReplyDeleteThe other day passing some kids I heard: Tegin tšiidiga 'I did it with a cheat ', obviously in reference to some computer game.
In less slang language, drink means 'cocktail' and visiit means 'home call by a doctor or vet'.
Interesting! "Drinkki" and "cocktail" are both used here. I think teens sometimes say "omaigod" as well as "oo em gee" too.
DeleteI learned "dissata" from a friend who has a teenager - it seems to come from the English "to diss", i.e. to make fun of someone. My daughter came across Amel's example of "kamoon" in a Risto Räppääjä book (it was written as "kamoon mai beibi", and since she knows English she thought this was hysterical!)
ReplyDeleteIt's a different thing to hear "kamoon mai beibi", but reading it does tickle you more, no? HI HI HI...
DeleteHaha, it is hilarious to see it written! "dissata" also sounds silly but, then again, I have been known to use the word "diss" completely unironically. Maybe it'll prove useful one day!
DeleteOne of the most common daily loanwords would be "jes". And I don't think it's so common anymore, but back in the day people would use "tsoukki".
ReplyDeleteAs for "delata" (which in its proper slang form should be "delaa") I've heard it comes from book Swedish, but I don't really know Swedish well enough to figure out what this "book word" would have been. Maybe it's too archaic now?
And let's not forget the ever-present Lol! :D
My husband says "jes" all the time. "Ihan jes", "Jes, jes", etc. I almost forgot about that one.
DeleteI think all evidence points to "delata" being of Swedish origin. I wish I knew a linguist I could ask.
"Lol" and "OMG": bringing the world together, one teen at a time. ;)
It seems that delata comes from swedish slang.
DeleteDö (swe to die) döla (swe slang) dölata delata.
source http://keskustelu.suomi24.fi/node/4006109
Deletoida is new loan that refers to heavy drinking too
rgds helpdesk
Like "dela", that makes far more sense than "delete". To "delete" oneself with drink, though, that's clever!
Deletet. Elena, blogin omistaja
""Lol" and "OMG": bringing the world together, one teen at a time. ;)"
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately that's not really a world I want to be together in - especially with people like that.
Okay, I have a new slogan, then. Netspeak: the dark side of globalization.
DeleteBut Lol is quite brilliant, though! Amused, but don't feel like faking an actual laugh? Just say Lol. Too tired to roll your eyes or say "haha, very funny, NOT!"? Just lace your Lol with sarcasm!
DeleteSometimes we even say "lollero".
If I use an lol-variant in speech, I think I usually say "lulz". It's sort of hard to imagine a Finnish version of that one, for some reason, though. The American accent in particular gives "lulz" certain obnoxious je ne sais quoi.
DeleteHmm.. I think there's a load of them. Especially teenagers have a lot of loan words, mostly coming from the computer games. Also, we have a term in Finnish language specifically for English loan words: "anglismi". It's probably used elsewhere in the world as well?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, here's some examples that came into mind:
- feilata (=to fail)
- tsekkaa tämä (=check this out)
- arrogantti (=arrogant)
- brändi (=brand), brändätä (=to brand)
- tuunata (=to tune up (a car for example))
- googlettaa (=to google)
- rulettaa (=to rule, "this new game rules!"