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like Enschede, which boosts the ugly Finnish cities' self esteem.
Thank to all for the replies so far. This quote cited above is the most pregnant with immediate significance (beyond the chiding of some inevitable others which I both shudder and relish to do) ....
However, I'm not sure what you mean there. Might you intend ironically to say "boasts"? It seems you're alluding to some fundamental cultural dimension there which distinguishes perhaps typical (by your lights) Finns from Dutch. I would be very interested to understand what exactly you mean by "Finnish cities' self esteem," and especially how this differentiates them from the "better" (in your view) of the Dutch places (if that's indeed what you meant to convey).
No, sorry, Linda. We Finns are always honest, have no decency and very bad on PC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by parrhesiastes
However, I'm not sure what you mean there. Might you intend ironically to say "boasts"? It seems you're alluding to some fundamental cultural dimension there which distinguishes perhaps typical (by your lights) Finns from Dutch. I would be very interested to understand what exactly you mean by "Finnish cities' self esteem," and especially how this differentiates them from the "better" (in your view) of the Dutch places (if that's indeed what you meant to convey).
What I meant was that most post WWII cities in Finland are brutally ugly and people know it, so the fact that there's ugly cities in other countries as well, comforts us and our ugly cities.
Like Kouvola:
or Kerava:
Finnish people usually get well along with the Dutch, as they don't take themselves so seriously and have a sense of humor. The Germans like us for the weirdness factor and the Spaniards for the exotic factor, while we don't get so well along with peoples who take them too seriously, like the French, Italians, Greeks and Russians.
most post WWII cities in Finland are brutally ugly and people know it, so the fact that there's ugly cities in other countries as well, comforts us and our ugly cities.
Interesting. Thanks for clarifying. If you (and the people who also "know it") consider cities with an urbanscape reflected in your posted photos "brutally ugly," what is it specifically then about the contrasting Dutch cities that you admire by comparison? I'd appreciate it if you could articulate the specifics, but photos are welcome too.
My mother family hails from Zevenaar in the Gelderland province. Though we live in an overwhelming 'Anglo-Saxon-cultured nation', my grandparents made sure that we learned how to speak Dutch. This made easy for me in my trips with my parents in the early 1990's to the Netherlands, Belgium, I was able to understand when people spoke to me and was able to answer back. In Germany, many things written I was able to read or at least understand the meaning of many things. One of the things that marked my mind about the Netherlands, apart from the magnificent tulip fields, narrow roads, are the old-fashioned windmills so picturesque and so Dutch. The people at least to my knowledge seem quite friendly and ready to speak English, if they knew you were a foreigner. One thing my grandmother told me was that 'God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands.'
At least this thread is about culture alone. If I see one more thread about haplogroups and the "Germanic" race (and the inevitable pictures of blonde-haired blue-eyed Dutch people), I will lose my mind
Tell me about it. I'm actually reading through this thread as I find it interesting.
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