If two things make an unusual pair, Estonians say that they are
nagu siga ja kägu – like a pig and a cuckoo bird. For instance, this large, bright red lightbox type of sign on an otherwise humble, weathered housefront in Tallinn's
südalinn ("heart of the city" or downtown core). In some ways it could be a blessing in disguise, an indication that this old wooden house is not slated for demolition. The same cannot be said for many of its ca 100 year-old compatriots, sitting on valuable midtown land; wooden houses that miraculously survived the March 1944 bombing raid. The house is on Lennuki tänav (Plane St., although there isn't a runway in sight), opposite the expansive parking lot of Stockmann¹s department store, thereby guaranteeing the sign plenty of exposure. So it seems wooden houses CAN do their small capitalist part in the neighbourhood of high-rises known as Maakri or "Tallinn City", pronounced
siti. (Stockholm has a "city" too, don¹t you know.) As for what @ SPIT means,
jään vastuse võlgu – I'm left owing you an answer.
Text and photo: Riina Kindlam, Tallinn
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Anonymous18 May 2006 11:32
I hope that everyone reading this is a subscriber to EE because it can't continue without your support.
Overall, it's a fine newspaper which occasionally prints some sub-standard writing. (I'm not referring to the article at hand.) It's probably due to constrained budgets and overworked editors.
If you are reading this, then you obviously care about EE. Do your bit to keep it afloat.
Anonymous18 May 2006 07:34
I have always found her English language writing to be perceptive and enjoyable to read. I hope she continues to write these interesting articles about her life in Estonia for this paper.
I agree that sometimes the quality of English language articles has not been what it should be, particularly some of EKN's pompous Espistles which can be torture to wade through. Too bad, because their worthwhile messages often get lost. Perhaps Mrs. P. could overcome her obvious reluctance to have a competent English language editor look over their material as well as that of some others, probably older generation people, who are obviously more comfortable writing in Estonian.
curious17 May 2006 19:00
I've seen plenty of worse writing in EE and by Canadian-educated writers to boot.
Just as a matter of curiosity, I wonder if OK Frank could specify what it is that he believes to be sun-standard? Perhaps, we can learn something.
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