Tweet
So, here's a thread bound to piss everybody off 
And it's important to remember that listing a stereotype here doesn't mean that Apolytoner in question holds it or supports it in any way. It's more like what some random guy at the bar might say after having taken bit too much.
So, Finnish stereotypes, first intra-Finnish (there's even a handy map for regions!):
Savonians: Crookeder than, er, a crooked stick. You just can't have a straight answer from Savonian. Savonians often represent, to a Helsinkian, the worst rest of the Finland can offer. Pretty weird, considering that goodish part of Helsinkians are Savonians who've moved to the Big City. (Don't laugh. It's a big city for Finns.)
Tavastians: Slow, silent, blonde, big burly farming folks. The main characteristics is slow. City of Tampere is, for some reason, called 'Manchester of Finland.'
Bothnians (okay, Ostrobothnians for you, Aivo): Violent and unpredictable folks, who use their traditional knifes for everything, including killing people. (Gangs of 'häjyt', which for some godforsaken reason has been translated as 'badmen' in English, were in habit of freaking stuff up in Bothnia in 1800s.) Conservative, and name of their conservatism is "foreigners out, steel to Eastern border, EU is the apocalyptic beast, gimme my subsidies", and fundamentalistically religious. Most Finns who moved to America were Bothnians, incidentally.
Laplanders: Santa Claus lives there, along with hardy 80-year-old men who think anyone who can't walk 80 miles in January swamp with wolves chasing him is a Southern wuss and who *love* to castrate reindeer in old-fashioned way. (hint: name of this old-fashioned way is 'reindeer-biting'. You can guess the rest.)
South Finlanders: No specific stereotypes exist, except for vague "They're all just buncha socialist city slickers there'. Well, except for city of Turku, which is universally thought to be the arsehole of Finland.
Helsinkians: Endlessly arrogant little city weenies who are ready for murder when they can't find lacto-ovo-vegetarian Thai restaurant in Podunkville, Savo, and who think they know what to do with the land farmers own better than farmers themselves.
Karelians: Jolly people who love to evilly mock other Finns with their mean-spirited, insulting humor and then claim they were just kidding. Guess what Stefu is!
Then, for foreigners:
Swedes: Ahh, our beloved neighbours! Swedes in Sweden are thought of as hopelessly idiotic and homosexual, and Swedes in Finland as hopelessly idiotic and homosexual elitists who hate regular Finns and have really far too much money and power for their own good.
Russians: Another nation Finns have traditional love for! Believed to be untrustable thugs and thieves who are just waiting for another chance to have a go at Finland. While anti-semitism didn't really take off in Finland in 30s, right-wing extremists have *always* found Russians to be a target they can aim at.
Norwegians: Bit like a cross between ourselves and Swedes. Traditional type of Finnish joke is "Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian guy do something blahblah" where Finn always does well, Norwegian does second-best, and Swede does the worst.
Germans: Fat, gluttonous people who believe rest of Europe is for their tourist parties. In certain parts of Lapland, there still are memories (like landmines) from one particularily vigorous tourist party in 1944-1945, which took a whole Lapland War to get rid of.
Americans: Fat, stupid, arrogant, warlike. Standard European stuff.
Rest of the world: SSA (Standard Stereotypes Apply.)
And it's important to remember that listing a stereotype here doesn't mean that Apolytoner in question holds it or supports it in any way. It's more like what some random guy at the bar might say after having taken bit too much.
So, Finnish stereotypes, first intra-Finnish (there's even a handy map for regions!):
Savonians: Crookeder than, er, a crooked stick. You just can't have a straight answer from Savonian. Savonians often represent, to a Helsinkian, the worst rest of the Finland can offer. Pretty weird, considering that goodish part of Helsinkians are Savonians who've moved to the Big City. (Don't laugh. It's a big city for Finns.)
Tavastians: Slow, silent, blonde, big burly farming folks. The main characteristics is slow. City of Tampere is, for some reason, called 'Manchester of Finland.'
Bothnians (okay, Ostrobothnians for you, Aivo): Violent and unpredictable folks, who use their traditional knifes for everything, including killing people. (Gangs of 'häjyt', which for some godforsaken reason has been translated as 'badmen' in English, were in habit of freaking stuff up in Bothnia in 1800s.) Conservative, and name of their conservatism is "foreigners out, steel to Eastern border, EU is the apocalyptic beast, gimme my subsidies", and fundamentalistically religious. Most Finns who moved to America were Bothnians, incidentally.
Laplanders: Santa Claus lives there, along with hardy 80-year-old men who think anyone who can't walk 80 miles in January swamp with wolves chasing him is a Southern wuss and who *love* to castrate reindeer in old-fashioned way. (hint: name of this old-fashioned way is 'reindeer-biting'. You can guess the rest.)
South Finlanders: No specific stereotypes exist, except for vague "They're all just buncha socialist city slickers there'. Well, except for city of Turku, which is universally thought to be the arsehole of Finland.
Helsinkians: Endlessly arrogant little city weenies who are ready for murder when they can't find lacto-ovo-vegetarian Thai restaurant in Podunkville, Savo, and who think they know what to do with the land farmers own better than farmers themselves.
Karelians: Jolly people who love to evilly mock other Finns with their mean-spirited, insulting humor and then claim they were just kidding. Guess what Stefu is!
Then, for foreigners:
Swedes: Ahh, our beloved neighbours! Swedes in Sweden are thought of as hopelessly idiotic and homosexual, and Swedes in Finland as hopelessly idiotic and homosexual elitists who hate regular Finns and have really far too much money and power for their own good.
Russians: Another nation Finns have traditional love for! Believed to be untrustable thugs and thieves who are just waiting for another chance to have a go at Finland. While anti-semitism didn't really take off in Finland in 30s, right-wing extremists have *always* found Russians to be a target they can aim at.
Norwegians: Bit like a cross between ourselves and Swedes. Traditional type of Finnish joke is "Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian guy do something blahblah" where Finn always does well, Norwegian does second-best, and Swede does the worst.
Germans: Fat, gluttonous people who believe rest of Europe is for their tourist parties. In certain parts of Lapland, there still are memories (like landmines) from one particularily vigorous tourist party in 1944-1945, which took a whole Lapland War to get rid of.
Americans: Fat, stupid, arrogant, warlike. Standard European stuff.
Rest of the world: SSA (Standard Stereotypes Apply.)
Attached Files
Atleast, my paternal side is from the Swedish-speaking part of Finland. Lappträsk to be exactly. From the name it does not exactly appear to be a metropolitan. Any of you Fincoms familiar with it?
Comment