How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country • Hacker News Board

Re: How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

#21

Post by theoh » Wed, Jul 18, 2018, 10:56 PM UTC

craigsmansion wrote: post #8

icebraining wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English will still be the official language of two EU countries :)

Still be one official language of two EU countries. Ireland has Irish, and Malta has Maltese; both non-Germanic languages, very different from English. Oddly, Brexit can solidify the use of English as a common language in the EU, since its general use can now be considered not to give a political advantage to the UK. (Of course, English is already a default de-facto common language in the EU, but some larger countrie…

Irish in Ireland is adminstratively mandated, but as a language it is on life support.

There's a particularly pernicious habit here (Ireland) of bleating about the requirement for bilingual versions (Irish always first) of official texts. It serves only to bolster the self-importance of gaeilgoirs (Irish speakers) who have voluntarily made the language part of their identity.

Of course, it is impossible to refute the arguments they put forward for the cultural value of the language... so it goes on.

Re: How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

#22

Post by saagarjha » Wed, Jul 18, 2018, 11:48 PM UTC

lainga wrote: post #7

hodgesrm wrote: post #2

Finland has some interesting literary quirks. My favorite is that it's one of the few places other than the Vatican where you can read the news in Latin, for example: https://areena.yle.fi/1-1931339 It's an account of the US/North Korea meeting in Singapore. A little out of date on July 18 but still appealing since most other 'news' you can read in Latin happened 2000 years ago.

Off-topic from the OP article, I encourage anyone who knows a Romance language or two to read this. With a little knowledge of current events and a few choice neologisms ( methano, Coreae, nuclearibus ) it's astounding how much you can understand.

I can kinda read Spanish by virtue of taking it in high school, but I think most of my understanding of that article comes from similar-sounding words:

> armis nuclearibus in paeninsula Coreana

I don’t think you need a Romance language to understand that.

Re: How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

#23

Post by P5Wl » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 1:03 AM UTC

digi_owl wrote: post #19

AltVanilla wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other quirkiness: - Finland has 45 firearms per 100 people (3rd highest in the world) yet is was ranked the safest country in the world. - Enough saunas that the whole population could do it at the same time. - Most heavy metal bands, per population. - Annual championships in wife-carrying, air-guitar, boot and phone throwing, sauna, cattle calling, swamp soccer, mosquito swatting, ant nest sitting, etc. - Mämmi: foo…

> - Finland has 45 firearms per 100 people (3rd highest in the world) yet is was ranked the safest country in the world. I wonder what the ratio between hunting and handguns are...

That statistic is not correct, anyway. It's an outdated estimate by a single entity, with an unsubstantiated claim for a huge number of unregistered weaponry.

More commonly accepted estimates put Finland in line with many other European countries at around 30 firearms per 100 people. Most of those are indeed hunting rifles. (In Finland, like perhaps most other European countries, you need a license to buy or legally own a firearm. A gun license requires an acceptable reason like hunting or sports; notably, self defense is not one for the general public.)

Re: How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

#24

Post by microcolonel » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 2:30 AM UTC

hodgesrm wrote: post #2

Finland has some interesting literary quirks. My favorite is that it's one of the few places other than the Vatican where you can read the news in Latin, for example: https://areena.yle.fi/1-1931339 It's an account of the US/North Korea meeting in Singapore. A little out of date on July 18 but still appealing since most other 'news' you can read in Latin happened 2000 years ago.

I never thought I'd hear a Finnish accent in Latin, very cool.

Re: How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

#25

Post by anateus » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 2:32 AM UTC

mr_overalls wrote: post #9

One Finnish scifi author that I've particularly enjoyed is Hannu Rajaniemi, who has a PhD in Physics and writes excellent speculative novels like The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannu_Rajaniemi

And is a YC founder (post-books)

Re: How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

#26

Post by jhbadger » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 3:45 AM UTC

hodgesrm wrote: post #2

Finland has some interesting literary quirks. My favorite is that it's one of the few places other than the Vatican where you can read the news in Latin, for example: https://areena.yle.fi/1-1931339 It's an account of the US/North Korea meeting in Singapore. A little out of date on July 18 but still appealing since most other 'news' you can read in Latin happened 2000 years ago.

It's particularly interesting in that Finnish is non Indo-European. You'd think it would be a IE speaking country, particularly a Romance one, that would be into Latin, but no.

Re: How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country

#27

Post by usr1106 » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

AltVanilla wrote: post #16

mar77i wrote: post #12

Finland has a huge collection of quirky things, really: - the allegedly worst musicians: Elekäläiset - Literature that starts with glorification of collective suicide only to be attempted, failed, called off some pages later. Then rescheduled, and called off again, lather, rinse, repeat. - the most quirky looking blues-harpists: Sväng - allegedly Finland remains the only nation without weaponizable satellites - Finni…

Other quirkiness: - Finland has 45 firearms per 100 people (3rd highest in the world) yet is was ranked the safest country in the world. - Enough saunas that the whole population could do it at the same time. - Most heavy metal bands, per population. - Annual championships in wife-carrying, air-guitar, boot and phone throwing, sauna, cattle calling, swamp soccer, mosquito swatting, ant nest sitting, etc. - Mämmi: foo…

> yet is was ranked the safest country in the world.

Don't trust any statistics you haven't fabricated yourself.

While you are unlikely to be shot in a robbery in Finland there are many categories where Finland is far from being the safest country in the world:

* suicide rate is still very high. e.g. 50% higher than Sweden (despite having gone down a lot in the last 20 years). Is it a safe society were people end up killing themselves?

* murder rate is one of the highest ones in Western Europe. Well, Finland would like belong to Western Europe, although geographically it is far in the East, deep in the vodka belt, which is part of the explanation. Firearms might well be "underrepresented" in the murders, but that doesn't make it any safer for those being murdered.

* drowning rate is high (a combination of too much alcohol and many lakes)

* dying in building fires is more common than in many other countries (again too much alcohol so you cannot leave the bed lit by a cigarette is not a good starting point)

* road traffic is at most mid-range in European comparison. Nothing close to being the safest one.