I need a Finnish phrase that is used in the same manner as an exasperated "for fuck's sake" in English.

[eclectech@things.uk]

It is extremely clear that a second poll will be required

I'll leave this one to run, then gather all the other suggestions, and as it seems that there are MANY options that are appropriate the final choice can be a popularity contest amongst the Finnish fediverse.

[neotheta@toot.finfur.net]

@eclectech "voihan perse" is also a good one (it means "oh ass"), I think it's more about who's using the phrase whenever it fits, vittu is often considered a more young/teenage swear and some don't like it, it has a type of annoying whiny flair, older ppl use more "jumalauta, saatana, perkele". Depending on severity it could also be "vittu saatanan perse" (cunt devils ass).

[eclectech@things.uk]

@Neotheta Thanks!

Is "jumalauta, saatana, perkele" a single phrase, of three different ones?

Finnish does seem to be a very rich seam of swears (I'm going to do a follow on popularity poll as I do need to narrow it down and there have been a *lot* of new options )

[cazfi@social.linux.pizza]

@eclectech Depends a bit on the context. In a monologue, "(voi) vittu soikoon" is used the same way as English "for fuck's sake". But if you are disagreering with what was just said, one would start with "(ja) vittujen kevät"

[cazfi@social.linux.pizza]

@eclectech While you are expecting responders to be fluent in Finnish, you ignore the fact that our grasp of proper FFS usage in English might not be that good, affecting the proposed translations. Maybe add a couple of example sentence in English for us to better understand the nuances you are looking for.

[eclectech@things.uk]

@cazfi Not ignored, but there is little I can do if someone doesn't understand my English description of the project (I just wouldn't expect them to be answering).

My link for those unfamiliar with it did include a variety of words that I'm getting at & an example situation - "frustrated, angry, exasperated, slightly sweary" while checking the news headlines.

(& it is just a fun arts project, of no great importance)

[zeggo@mastodontti.fi]

@eclectech me reading the news:
Ei helvetti
Voe helevetti
(No) voihan vittu (sentään)
Voi hitto (milder)
Hiivatti (even milder)

There's so many variations from mixing these around, and dialects, too!

[eclectech@things.uk]

@zeggo Yep, very clear the Finnish have a lot of variety

Will gather the suggestions together into a later poll and do a popularity contest (it's of no great importance, just for a flavour).

[anotherdream@mementomori.social]

@janvenetor @eclectech Yeah I'd go with this, at least as often as Voi vittu.

[Gæst]

@eclectech

Answering questions like this is a lot easier if you give several sentences where the phrase is used.

[otterside@mementomori.social]

@eclectech "No voi hevon vittu" (lit. "oh horsie's cunt") is one my phrases. Can't actually say if it's actually unique to me, though - I cant' recall hearing it from other people, but I must have picked it up somewhere. I'm the only male in our team at work and the ladies do occasionally remark upon my creative swearing and rants against whatever pisses me off at the time (not that they are any more averse to swearing, but don't usually do it in Teams meetings).

[eclectech@things.uk]

@iju Yeah, I'm going to revamp the post for future ones. The link gave a bit more info (keywords / situation), but it's obviously not clear.

Deep down there is no right answer in any language.

So I think I need to ask - if you read a news headline that makes you frustrated, angry, exasperated - what slightly sweary expression do you enjoy using? Be it to shout out or mutter under your breath.

If there are many - what's your favourite?

Then I pick based on popularity.

[Gæst]

@eclectech

To give you an example: in English there's this debate what counts as an sandwich. Does hamburger count (I've seen McDonalds use the word at Glasgow)? How about hotdog or pizza?

In Finnish (and other Nordic languages) this debate couldn't happen, as "sandwich" is translated as butter+bread. As none of the listed examples have butter on top of a bread, none of them are "butter+bread". But you can't translate this back to sandwich and conclude that hamburger isn't a sandwich.

[eclectech@things.uk]

@iju Yep, I've passed exams in a couple of other languages but consider myself monolingual.

That said the threads about the project discuss idiomatic translations rather than literal ones, so I am aware of these issues, but it is only a fun arts project.

I'm asking "When you're pissed off at the world, what do you say?"

I'm not asking what *everyone* would say.

I'm asking for an example that a bunch of people who speak that language would recognise.

It's just a bit of fun.

[k_purpose@post.lurk.org]

@eclectech
I asked my Finnish friend (who is not on mastodon).

He says:

Maybe... "Voi vittujen kevät."
Also, "voi herran tähden", but it's directly like for god's sake...
Or "Ei jumalauta"

[eclectech@things.uk]

@iju I understand this. The thread that the poll links to explicitly states I'm not after a literal translation. I understand that cultural differences exist.

When I first discussed the project Finnish people volunteered suggestions. That's why I ran the poll.

I will try to clarify my posts (this is only language number 5) but nobody is obliged to make a suggestion, or answer the poll.

It's just a bit of fun.

[silhelm@craftgoblin.club]

@eclectech @Neotheta chiming in, with my third home country where I'd been intending to sit out to not take over the conversation for fennoscandia but I saw you hadn't gotten an answer to this q, and this I can clarify: they're three different, the first being equivalent to dear god in usage, the second two are devil synonyms. As usual, you can stack them, so some people might start listing them all when exasperated.

[eclectech@things.uk]

@silhelm @Neotheta Hah, thank you! My task later on is gathering all the suggestions from this thread. In theory these should go in as individual ones then? But should I also add a stacked version?

I'm chuckling a little, as I chose Finnish next because there had been two suggestions, obviously similar, and I thought it was going to be a quick one ‍️

[silhelm@craftgoblin.club]

@eclectech oh dear you didn't know what you were up against. It was a bit of a culture shock when I moved there, the casual and extremely varied and creative swearing. It's a language where inflection will turn any word into a swear, though the base selection is also varied. Though most common are devil synonyms, and cunt (vittu). And then stacking them, and adding extra syllables for force.

[eclectech@things.uk]

@silhelm Haha, I am picking that up