Angry birds are for real - Estonian World Review

Angry birds are for real (1)

Kultuur | 25 Feb 2012 | Eesti Elu

This näljane lind (hungry bird), masterfully painted by kindergartener Ekke-Kaarel leads his parv (flock) in asking: "Kas sa oled mind juba toitnud?!" "Have you fed me yet?" His or her likeness has most likely been inspired by those other, new angry birds; characters in a strategy puzzle mobile game created in Finland that has swept the planet. It's been called "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far". Perhaps the little guys at your linnu/söögi/maja (bird feeder) will also benefit from this high-profile success.

Angry birds get that way when you forget to feed them in desperate times. At least Estonian tihased (chickadees), those spirited, curious characters who make no bones about tapping on your window pane. They don't look angry when they tap, just uudishimulikud (inquisitive). But the ones on the packages of päeva/lille/seemned (sunflower seeds) are really good at guilt-tripping. On the wrapper they ask ette/heitvalt reproachfully: "Endale ostsid küll süüa... AGA MULLE?" "You bought yourself something to eat... BUT (WHAT ABOUT) ME?"

The catch phrase "Kas sina tihaseid oled toitnud?" (Have you fed the chickadees (yet)?) is well-known. If memory serves me correctly, there was a poster posing the question that made the rounds during the Soviet era.

For many, Angry Birds means one distinct thing: a highly popular, highly addictive, "clever and challenging" virtual puzzler game created a few years ago by a couple of bright Finnish lads. Being a technical slacker, I heard talk of Vihased linnud a mere few months ago. 5 year-old Joosep was hounding his Dad to please let him play "linnu/mängu" on his nuti/telefon (smartphone). My two girls cozied up on either side and watched in amazement. Since then my older child has expressed a previously non-existent interest in "mängud sinu telefonis" (games on my mobile phone), which to her great disappointment I don't know tuhkagi about. (Nutin'. Not even a puff of ash...) What I do know is Angry Birds must be purchased, albeit for an extremely low price. That is a huge part of their appeal. Say, if you're in a lennu/jaam (airport) and your kids are turning antsy (sipelgad püksis) and getting a new level of LINNUD costs about as much as a snack – for you or the linnud...

An app (or application software) is called a RAKENDUS in Estonian. The Angry Birds game is more specifically a nuti/rakendus (smart(phone) app). To download is alla/laadima.

The first verse of Juhan Liiv's classic, beloved poem Talvine tihane / Winter Chickadee, known by most Estonians goes like this:

Tihane lendab mu aknale, (A chickadee flies to my window,)
kaela alt valge, kõht kollane, (white beneath his neck, belly yellow,)
nokib, nokitab, vaatab targasti (pecks, picks, looks knowingly)
sisse – tihase viis on see -, (inside – such is the chickadee's way -,)
kaela alt valge, kõht kollane! (white beneath his neck, belly yellow.)

Just so you don't forget what a real lind looks like, here's one every Estonian knows: a RASVA/TIHANE (literally "fat or suet chickadee") on a rasva/pall (ball of suet). In British English chickadees are known as tits; this one being a Great Tit. Like Black-capped chickadees of North American fame, it wears a black cap with contrasting white cheeks, but unlike its cousin, its back is olive-green and underside is KOLLANE, yellow. You can't see from this angle, but another distinguishing mark is a black stripe straight down the centre of its chest. They are just as precocious as chickadees and/or tits the world-over. Photos: Riina Kindlam - pics/2012/02/35345_002_t.jpg — Just so you don't forget what a real lind looks like, here's one every Estonian knows: a RASVA/TIHANE (literally "fat or suet chickadee") on a rasva/pall (ball of suet). In British English chickadees are known as tits; this one being a Great Tit. Like Black-capped chickadees of North American fame, it wears a black cap with contrasting white cheeks, but unlike its cousin, its back is olive-green and underside is KOLLANE, yellow. You can't see from this angle, but another distinguishing mark is a black stripe straight down the centre of its chest. They are just as precocious as chickadees and/or tits the world-over. Photos: Riina Kindlam

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sheila potter28 Feb 2012 08:59

I recently learned that the number of "dee"s in a NAmerican chickadees inquisitive song (the one that they spit at passers-by on wooded trails, or at delinquent feeder-fillers) is proportional to their degree of alarm. Love reading your stuff!

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