Clear communication is essential to starting relations off on the right foot or keeping them in order. A group of young Estonian entrepreneurs have launched a line of fun pins sold at hubs of Estonian design including Hoochie Mama within the downtown Kaubamaja and Nu Nordik on Vabaduse Väljak (Freedom Square).
VALLALINE is printed on a green background and means single, available, let’s go! Why not save someone needless hours of investigation and speculation where you’re concerned? HÕIVATUD is printed on stoplight red and in this case implies “accounted for”, taken or reserved. It’s actually most commonly used in the context of being busy, for example, “I’m sorry, she can’t come to the phone right now, she’s
hõivatud”. If your loved one is going away on a solo trip, this is the perfect going-away present! Cute, with just the right amount of subtlety.
PILVES SELGIMISTEGA is a catch phrase from Estonian weather reports. “Cloudy with a chance of clearing” (sunny periods) is by far the most common prediction and state of weather here. Not currently, but throughout most of the year. If a person is
pilves, they are literally “in a cloud”. This can imply the influence of alcohol or drugs (being high), but can also simply mean you’re a bit out to lunch – having a dreamy picnic in the sky but are scheduled to arrive back in the clarity of the everyday soon enough. Or perhaps you’re a bit overcast and need some cheering up. Luckily there is also a pin for when you’re feeling quite the opposite, with the message HEA TUJU MÄRK – a play on words meaning sign (pin) of a good mood.
The word
selge (root of selgimistega / selginemine) means clear in the sense of a cloudless sky as well as something being understood. If you explain something to an Estonian, you will undoubtedly be pleased to hear the usual single-word reply: SELGE. This means I gotcha, crystal clear.
SUVI SÜDAMES is the way to go right now; a declaration of carrying “summer in your heart”. It has been sunny and dry in Estonia for weeks now with temperatures hovering between 25 and 30 degrees and the UV index is high. Although thundershowers and rain are finally in the forecast, people are being warned to be extremely careful with fire. Estonia’s version of the Weather Network can be found at
www.ilm.ee (weather =
ilm). They get their facts from the Eesti Meteoroloogia ja Hüdroloogia Insituut, whose webpage is
www.emhi.ee.
