I was planning to write today a light (perhaps even humourous) posting, on the topic of washing machines, something like this:
Some time ago I discussed the use of the word "friend" in the English language compared to Finnish, suggesting that here in Finland you don't become a friend except by a long-lasting mutual reliance on the good-will of the other (and vice versa). I got some interesting comments on this topic, so now I'll try to attack the word "love". As an extreme and terrifying example someone might say "I just love McDonalds".But alas, this came not to be, as almost all (or perhaps all) of the photographs I took failed. Also, during the evening my sore throat and headache got much worse, I had the shakes, and discovered that I have a fever of 39 °C. But after taking some medicine against the fever, I felt a bit better and decided after all make a posting here today.
But in Finnish, the word for love, "rakkaus", is not easy to use at all. In fact, it is perhaps one of the least used words in the Finnish language. Typical story about this tells of a couple having had 50 years together, and the wife says one day to the husband: "Why don't you ever say you love me." The answer: "I said it when we got married. I'll let you know if the situation changes." Also, as two additional tidbits or points of evidence on the matter, there is the use of the word in UK, for example in shops: "Here you are, love." As a concluding remark, I think that the phrase "In love with a washing machine" would make an excellent subject for a short story or novel, combining Kafka with hard-core science fiction.
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8 comments:
Sorry to hear your still sick but if it's any consolation I like this photo. I also liked the "Gate" photo from a couple of days ago. Hmmm; interesting trend. Please post more photos you don't like :)
On another note have you read any Haruki Murakami?
All that talk about love had me in a bit of a spin! Get well soon.
I'm still having a fever of over 39 °C, as does my wife, but I hope this will improve soon. This week (skiing vacation) hasn't been so nice, but at least there has been a lot of time spent with the family.
@Brian: No, I didn't know of Murakami, but it appears that three of his books have even been translated into Finnish, for example "Umibe no Kafuka". Appears to be a very interesting writer.
I knew what it was the second I saw it. I took a similar shot last year:
http://www.shawleyphoto.com/index.php?showimage=802
Nice stuff!
@jshawley: A great composition in the photograph at your site!
I've been meaning to comment on this post. My wife, a Brazilian, commented on similar things years and years ago. She thought that we, as Americans, used the word friendship too loosely. She indicated that she had many acquaintances, but very few friends.
I told her something to the effect that we use adjectives to indicate the level of friendship: Friends, good friends, very good friends, and best friend. Though, I could give her no hard lines of distinction. It's easy to know who your best friend is, I think, but the rest, well I guess that it depends on the amount of contact that you have with them, how much you have in common, etc.
Anyway, I think that you and she are both correct. It may be used too casually.
@Paul: I guess there shouldn't be a problem ("culture shock") if one recognizes these differences in what words mean and how they are used, but probably there are quite a lot similar things we don't easily recognize.
As a somewhat related sidenote (cf. Myspace/Facebook/etc. "friends"), neuroscientist Susan Greenfield has suggested that social websites harm children's brains: "... these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment".
Thus, perhaps old-style real frieds (in real life) are disappearing, to be replaced by virtual and superficial relationships.
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