Finland

878 readers

1 users here now

English-language discussions and news relating to Finland and the Finnish culture.

The Finnish community for natives and proficient users of the language ----> [email protected]

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Kuivaa läppää (self.finland)

submitted 1 year ago by whaleross to c/[email protected]

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Heya. Swede with Finnish parents here. I understand "general" Finnish or at least follow the gist and I can sorta speak but my writing is terrible, hence this question in English.

I heard on the Swedish news a Sverigefinne use the term "kuivaa läppää" that I've never heard before.

Dry... flap?

I got it that it means approximately "unfunny" or "joke in bad taste", but my wonders - what kind of flap? And why is it dry?

I'm trying to keep my mental image clean but I'm struggling here.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] random_character_a 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Läppä" is a indeed slang word for a joke/humor. "Kuiva" means it's boring, unfunny...dry

If somebody knows the etymology how the word "läppä" became to mean joke/humor, I'd also be interested.

I know there is a older word "leipäläpi" that's directly translated as "bread hole" that mean mouth. I wonder if it's related. Joke/humor is something that comes out of your mouth.

[–] whaleross 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, yeah, that made sense. I've heard leipäläpi before or maybe read it in an ancient Aku Ankka.

My mind speculated it was a joke so terrible that whomever heard it had their nether flaps dry up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

According to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/l%C3%A4pp%C3%A4 that comes from swedish word 'lip'.