Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences
It is true that Finns are not that open about their emotions compared to Americans, for example. In our opinion, Americans talk a lot and don´t mean what they say. It´s mostly that Finns don´t talk that much, but they definitely mean what they´re saying. And often everything is said shortly, leaving out what we feel is needless – extra words. I, and lots of people I know, feel that foreigners (OK, mostly Americans) talk so much and mean so little, i.e. they ask ‘How are you’ but don´t care to listen to what your answer is. ‘How are you’ seems to be like ‘Hi!’ and you´re supposed to say ‘fine,’ no matter the truth. We do say ‘I love you’ more than once in a lifetime, especially younger people, who might say it daily. I suppose we have high rates of suicides, but so do other northern countries, meaning countries with the same kind of climate and long, depressive winters: Sweden, Norway, Russia… Talking loud is all right, especially here in the capital. Old people are more quiet and conservative, but as this generation ages… I saw a documentary about about Finnish ‘dances,’ too, and it was ridiculous. It was like 30, 40 years ago! Nowdays they might keep them sometimes for historical value, but not like monthly and everywhere … I´ve never been in ‘dances’. Yes, we have reindeer up north, but I, for example, have never seen one, except on TV. They don´t walk around in the streets, and that goes for icebears, too. Finland does not have icebears, except in the zoo.