For youse too, Stan and ganulv;
"I'm going town to," doesn't really cut it (translating from Finnish, "Menen kaupungille", to English).
So, let's just translate it as "I'm going town." That's perfectly understood from Hancock to Kowsit Lats - by every Hilltop Heikki who went Michigan Tech and became inginer.
To inject some scholarship into this Finnish-English discussion, I refer to the article by that learned Suomalainen American, Kent Randell, Finglish (Boston University, 2004) (yup, he's really a Rantala; see p.15):
and:Impact of Finglish on speakers of English
Anybody who visits a heavily Finnish area of the Americas will report back that the thick brogue is unmistakable. Below are two examples of the Finglish accent on American English from two different informants. Although they originate in very different parts of the country, it is interesting to note how similar they are:
Finglish-English code switching from Fox, Montana:
"Paappa is vit his ractori butting the hein in da paana"
"I vould like to puy a bare of klopes (gloves)
"Dat boor peipi vas left on da seitvooki krying so muts"[57]
[57] Kujala, M. (e-mail). Request help with Finnish in America. E-mail (14 April 2004).
Finglish-English code switching from Chassell, Michigan
"Too pits" (two bits)
"Pig rout in mall ricks (big trout in small creeks)
"Ko dis vay tu akat peets" (Agate Beach) [58]
[58] Seppala, H. (e-mail). Request help with Finnish in America. E-mail(14 April 2004).
I immediately related to "Maĵin" and "He's poustu"; but "Go Head" threw me for a few minutes - until "Go Head, M***er F***er, take your best shot !" came out of some 50-year old, rusted brain cabinet.Although my mother does not speak Finnish or Finglish, these constructions, unique only to Finglish, are part of the lexicon of my family and many others in Northern Michigan:
...
English
Go Ahead
Imagine
He is supposed to
Finglish
Go Hed
Maĵin
His poustu ...
Finglish-English
Go Head
Maĵin [as in Maĵin that? Or, Can you maĵin?]
He's poustu
We Hankooginlaiset are attached to our Finglish, as attested by its immortal monument (Randell, p.16):
Leave it to Julie Stevens Beck (a nice gal) to tell us why that sign exists. Wimpi Salmi - I wooda neva dunk. And, a beer named Kowsit Lats, to boot.Local residents in Hancock, Michigan, are so attached to the Finglish influence on their language that a monument has been constructed in its honor. On highway US-41 the following sign stands at the top of Quincy Hill:
Kowsit Lats.jpg
Fig. 2 Clyde Randell next to the Kowsit Lats sign in Hancock, MI.
Using the properties discussed in this paper, we can see that Kowsit Lats translates from Finglish to Cow$hit Flats [62].
62. This is perhaps the only sign in the United States to allude to an American cuss-word. When Wimpi Salmi approached the Houghton County Road Commission to construct the sign, he had to prove that there was in fact a cow pasture down that road. Beck, Julie Stevens (e-mail). Kowsit Lats sign. E-mail(14 April 2004).
And, from Suomi itself, 'Finglish' and the Finnish-American People (Fall 2008, Katri Mattila, Helmiina Munukka and Sanni Pulkki):
The local (Lake Superior and Minnesota) Ojibwe summed up the Finns in two words: madoodoowininiwag (sweat bath taking people) and omakakiiwininiwag (croaking frog people).This is how the folklorist Richard M. Dorson described the Finns in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 1952:
The coming of the Finn has rocked the northwoods country. He is today what the red man was two centuries ago, the exotic stranger from another world. In many ways the popular myths surrounding the Indian and the Finn run parallel. Both derive from a shadowy Mongolian stock - "just look at their raised cheek-bones and slanting eyes". Both live intimately with the fields and woods. Both possess supernatural stamina, strength, and tenacity. Both drink feverishly and fight barbarously. Both practice shamanistic magic and ritual, drawn from a deep well of folk belief. Both are secretive, clannish, inscrutable, and steadfast in their own peculiar social code. (123)
Regards
Mike
PS: excuse the lack of umlauts in "Maĵin" (same old issue with the editor). And, BTW, FinnFest 2013 will be held in Hankooki - Here's the agitprop page. The legal work was pro bono.
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