Thursday, November 29, 2012

Terveisiä Suomesta! Greetings from Finland!

I just adore bad characteristic postcards from Finland, and these two are my gems. What kind of people design postcards like this?! And who wants to pose in them? This one I bought in Saariselkä:




Obviously, these hot hunks have probably never been to Finland, let alone posed in a yellow speedo (or nude!) by a Finnish lake. Where do you think they're from? Young and desperate for money, did they know that their pictures would end up in a postcard with a Finnish sunset? Anyway, this postcard totally says Tervetuloa Suomeen. - Welcome to Finland.

The other card portraits three naked ladies enjoying the kesämökki life. (Or is there a woman hidden somewhere in the upper right corner?) The upper left picture looks like it was taken by a stalker neighbour. The lady throwing löyly seems quite happy with the situation, even though the sauna is probably cold and the photographer didn't bother giving her a pefletti. However, my favourite is the lady hiding her face in her perm while trying to avoid sliding into a May-cold lake. Is this good PR for Finland or what?



Here are some typical post card phrases:


  • Terveisiä Suomesta! - Greetings from Finland!
  • Täällä on ihanaa. - It's lovely in here. 
  • Olisitpa sinäkin täällä. - I wish you were here, too.
  • Terveisiä Pirkolle! - Say hi to Pirkko!
  • Terveisiä Markulta! - Greetings form Markku!
  • Terveisin - With greetings
  • Rakkaudella - With love

About the author of Random Finnish lesson: 


My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if your want to be the first one to know when I post something new. 

5 comments:

tigareth said...

This is my favorite (awful) Finnish postcard. I bought it because it's so terrible. It's as though Jyväskylä is all about big box stores!

http://i.imgur.com/grD1Z.jpg

Hanna said...

Oh, that's the lovely Keljonkeskus, maybe ten years ago. And I can almost see my house! Now there's even more box stores instead of forest. If you look at closely, Citymarket is called KKKK Citymarket. They used to show the size of the market by the amount of K's. I hope they don't do it anymore.

Tommy Quist said...

Wow. That is absolutely hilarious.

May I suggest in your series of "similar verb" articles a "päättää - päätä - päästä -päästää" article?
Or maybe a series on semi-productive verb relations (like the relationship between verbs ending in aa/ää and their ua/yä , or most verbs and their frequentative or momentane aspects would be cool.

Hanna said...

Excellent ideas, kiitos! For those wondering about the meaning of the verbs:
päättää - to decide
päätä - a)imperative of päättää b) partitive of 'pää', head
päästä & päästää - check out sanakirja.org for a ton of meanings.:)

Anonymous said...

Tigareth, it used to be fashionable to advertise the hipness or modernity by depicting stores, commercial centers or industry.