Pissapoika
Pissapoika
People who know me know I am a Tolkien nerd of epic proportions. I can recite Namárië, Galadriel’s Lament, pretty much by heart. At a recent poetry event, the host introduced each of the features with a somewhat false and somewhat true bio. Mine included the “fact” that I had known Tolkien. In response I recited the elven greeting Ellen síla lúmenn omentielmo. Like I said.
Anyway, Tolkien led me to the Finnish National Epic, The Kalevala. Recently I needed some Finnish curse words for a piece I am working on. Wikipedia had an offering “Finnish Profanity.” Like ours, most come from hell and damnation, body functions, body parts and sex. The word for “piss” kusi, means “urine” and is not considered offensive, but combined with other words it is considered vulgar, for example kusipää, which means pisshead. Pissapoika, literally “pissing boy,” is what the windshield washer squirter jets on cars are called. The windshield washer fluid is called by the Finnglish word Superpiss.