Category Archives: Vaasa Janks

collected between December 1 and January 31 in Vaasa, Finland during a residency at Platform.fi

121915001

Swedish: Jag är fet, du är ful, jag kan banta, vad kan du?
English: I am fat, you are ugly. I can lose weight, what can you do?
collected: Vaasa, Finland (12-19-2015)
origin: common comeback joke used in upper secondary school in Northwest Finland (Swedish speaking)

121715007

Romanian: nu vrei sa inchizi usa pe dinafara?
English: Would you be kind and close the door from the outside?
collected: Vaasa, Finland (12-17-2015)
origin: Romanian expression, commonly used among friends

121715004

Swedish: Du svettas lite med tanke på hur fet du är
English: You sweat very little considering how fat you are
collected: Vaasa, Finland (12-17-2015)
origin: Heard it from her grandmother, who was retelling a story of how a man had asked a woman to dance (supposedly an attempt to be complimentary). In Swedish dialect from the Ostrobothnia region of Finland.

121715003

Finnish:Sinulla ei taida olla kaikki Muumit laaksossa
English: Seems like you don’t have all your Moomins in the valley
collected: Vaasa, Finland (12-17-2015)
origin: common Finnish expression (based on a Finnish fairy tale) to say someone is dim-witted