HS asked its readers for their views on Finns' manners. The answers broadly highlight the good customs of other cultures, which we would like to see in Finland as well.
At last no one offers a seat to a pregnant woman.
In France, at a bar, they asked if we were from Finland. When we asked how they knew, the answer was “Finns never say please”.
When HS before Christmas asked readers to answer whether Finns' manners or the lack of them confused them in a positive or negative way, more than 400 responses were received. According to many respondents, Finns lack even the most basic manners.
Finns' manners came to the fore at the end of December, when HS interviewed the University of Helsinki's new assistant professor of French Johanna Isosavää. He has studied Finnish and French concepts of politeness.
The points in italics in the story are excerpts from the answers to the survey. HS only publishes answers whose author's identity is known to the editor.
Johanna Isosävi, assistant professor of French, said in an interview with HS at the end of December that the French are especially confused by the behavior of Finns.
Major note according to is a myththat the French would be more polite than the Finns.
However, the answers to HS's survey give a different picture of the situation.
In the diverse answers, it is widely understood that the way Finns consider others is shocking, especially compared to foreigners.
“In Italy, Finns are considered scum,” writes a 52-year-old woman who has lived in Rome for 10 years in her answer.
According to the woman, Finns expect to be entertained at parties.
“An Italian, on the other hand, does everything he can to make sure that others have a good time and that the evening leaves you with a good feeling. A Finn does not know how to greet, smile, thank, say goodbye. A Finn never asks in return 'how are you and your family doing'. When asked, just answer 'fine' and the conversation ends there.”
The 73-year-old man, on the other hand, compares Finnish table manners to American table manners in his answer. The man tells an example of behavior at the dinner table.
“The local customs include excessive and constant bragging. This doesn't really come naturally to a Finn. I've seen how an American hostess almost has a nervous breakdown and asks her husband what's wrong when no one (the guests were Finnish) compliments or praises,” the man writes.
Johanna According to Isosävi, the thing that most confuses French people living in Finland is Finns' door behavior – in other words, the fact that Finns almost always don't hold the door open for those coming behind them.
Door behavior also came up in numerous answ
ers to HS's survey.
Door behavior! Especially when traveling with a stroller, I have repeatedly noticed that people do not hold the door open.
Opening or holding the door open is an act of courtesy that Finns, especially women, completely lack. Men seem to do that to women.
In the answers, it was also repeatedly brought up that fellow humans – both neighbors and other passengers, for example in traffic gaps – seem to Finns to be “air”. They are not greeted or smiled at.
Many women wrote in their answer that pregnant women are not taken into account in Finland. A pregnant woman abroad may, for example, be let past others in the toilet queue, and a seat is offered on the means of transport.
One woman who answered the survey says that she was visibly pregnant in Helsinki on the Nelonen trolley, where passengers arriving from the ship came.
“The trolley came to a stop, where the companion of one of the passengers got off. I had time to take a step towards the vacated bench, but a sledgehammer was placed on it in a flash,” the woman writes.
Young people, on the other hand, were criticized in the survey for not giving a seat to the elderly on public transport. On the other hand, many people commented that young people, for example, greet their neighbors more briskly than the older generation.
In the opinion of many respondents, Finns do not know how to take into account pregnant women, for example, in means of transport. The picture shows people going to the tram in Helsinki in January 2021.
In part however, it was pointed out from the answers that some Finnish customs may seem pleasant to foreigners compared to their own culture.
“My English husband finds the Finnish way of giving another person space to be polite and likes it more than about the culture of forced speech“, writes a 38-year-old woman.
The answers also tell about funny clashes between cultures.
This is what a 78-year-old woman says:
At the home of a French couple living in Finland, there was no butter on the cheese tray for dinner! A few Finnish guests asked the hostess for it and the rest of us Finns were ashamed. We told them afterwards that in France you never use butter with cheese, but their reaction was 'in the country the way the country is'. The next time there was butter on the cheese tray and the Finnish flag on top of the butter.
And this 48-year-old woman:
A shortcoming in my own manners happened to me. I went to the omelet queue at breakfast in a hotel in London. The man above said good mo
rning and showed that I can go to him further. Of course, I stupidly asked why. A little confused, the man replied that it was polite. I muttered, “But I'm from Finland, I'm not used to this.”
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