Finns get seksi

Johanna Tukiainen. Singer, model, host and poetry in motion.

Oh là là, and they get seksi all the time. They get seksi because of translatiivi! What? Sexy transsexuals?! In Finland?!? Well, might as well be, I wouldn´t know. Being rather unkinky by nature the translative however is a grammatical form used quite often in Finnish. It indicates a change and refers to something or someone transforming into a different state.

The ending of the translatiivi is always -ksi and is added to the stem of a word.

For example: if you want to say that you´re planning to become an engineer (= insinööri), it will translate to "minä aion insinööriksi."

Another one: if you´re thirsty but penniless in a bar and the local drunk has again passed out over his beer, you can give him a tender punch in the liver and ask him: "Juotko lasin vielä tyhjäksi?" - "Will you still empty your glass?"

Good example, bad advice. If you pull that one off, you´re on your own! But I guess you got it now anyway and "tämä riittää perusteluksi" - this suffices as an explanation.

But why do the Finns get seksi now? Well, when the translative is used for adjectives, especially when they describe a feeling, this rather dry subject becomes quite juicy and funny. Many adjectives have the suffix -nen, e.g. iloinen (cheerful), onnellinen (happy), surullinen (sad) or vihainen (angry). The stem form of these words ends on -se- and is always used when the basic form is altered. So the genitive of vihainen would be vihaisen. When we let the translative kick in now it finally happens: you take the stem vihaise-, drop the n and add the suffix -ksi. Now you can say: "Tyttöystäväni tuli vihaiseksi" but it doesn´t mean that your girlfriend looked pretty hot when she got angry. Your gal just got mad, plain and simple, pleasant side effects not included.

So Finns get iloiseksi, onnelliseksi and surulliseksi etc. day in, day out and it seems only foreigners like me find it so goddamn funny. The best of all is that "seksi" used as a noun means nothing but "sex". Still nobody here turns punaiseksi (red) when saying these kind of things - absolutely elusive!


Maybe just goes to show that I have a dirty mind but there´s another funny thing.
It is a.) the favorite joke of many a tourist who went to a Finnish supermarket and b.) apparently invisible for the Finns, they don´t seem to see the obvious. Here´s what I´m talking about: like many other nations the Finns like their sweets and potato chips, preferably in biiig bags. What is bag in Finnish? PUSSI! Ahem...and how are biiig bags advertised in Finland? Right:

Also minipussis are available, if that´s more to your taste.

As opposed to many other languages Finnish only knows one sound for the letter S. It´s always a feast for me to see trailers for foreign movies/series on the tube and hear them announce for instance an Arnold Schwarzenegger flick in thickest "finniss prronanssiessen". If you pronounce the letter S Finnish style it will sound just like "ass". One big supermarket chain over here is called S-Market, so you can actually go to the (as)S-Market to buy some megapussis and no one gives a damn. Isn´t that beautiful?

SONGS FOR TODAY:

Rod Steward -  Da ya think I´m seksi?


The Cramps - Can your pussi do the dog?