Täti means
an aunt, but it is also used for referring to any woman who is too old to be called
tyttö, a girl. Children use it a lot, but unfortunately so do also adults when talking to kids.
- Katso, tuolla tädillä on leipää ankoille. - Look, that lady has bread for the ducks.
- Täti antaa sinullekin leipää. - The lady gives some bread for you, too.
- Sano tädille kiitos. - Say thanks to the lady.
The problem is that there isn't really a good alternative for
täti, as
rouva, madam, sounds old, I cannot really expect anyone to refer to a 35-year-old as
tyttö, and
henkilö, a person is too official. Sure, I'm
ihminen, a human being and
nainen, a woman, but those sound kind of distant, too. Especially in a friendly duck-feeding context.
Have you experienced any
tädittely in Finland
? (For men, it's
setä and
sedittely.)
I got used to täti and setä more quickly than I'm getting used to the pink hue that this site now has.
ReplyDeleteOh come on! Which colour would you prefer? :)
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't really matter which color it is :) but I do have to get used to it, and since you don't have an article out every day, I don't get used to it very quickly.
ReplyDelete