Etymology
From Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ, “sable”),[1] from Old East Slavic соболь (sobolĭ).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsopuli/, [ˈs̠o̞puli]
- Rhymes: -opuli
- Hyphenation(key): so‧pu‧li
Noun
sopuli
- lemming (several rodents in the family Cricetidae, especially those of the tribe Lemmini)
- lemming, true lemming (any rodent of the genus Lemmus)
- Norway lemming, Lemmus lemmus
Synonym: tunturisopuli - lemming (a member of a group given to conformity or groupthink; used especially of journalists)
Side note, is there the same misconception in Finnish culture that lemmings will in large groups run off cliffs and dash themselves into the sea below?
There was a disney “nature documentary” or something that showed a very misleading picture of lemmings (I think in artic north america?) and it has become a cultural meme of misinformation. Hence the “lemmings” video games.
Lemmings are cool though, the misconception is annoying.
same misconception in Finnish culture that lemmings will in large groups run off cliffs and dash themselves into the sea below?
What misconception? I learned that from Donald Duck in 1990s and surely they draw only pure facts.
Yes, or at least there used to be. It was “common knowledge” at least in the 80’s and 90’s, but I don’t think the younger generations really know about that misconception anymore. Which is good.
Hey now, some of us played those Java games and we were born after 2000
Some of you stumbled upon this, yes. But our teachers actually confirmed this crap to us in school, at least mine did.
I think these kinds of animals we frequently use to insult people by comparing to are ever evolving flashes of stupidity that illuminate the receding or extending border of creatures that deserve empathy and those that don’t (and can be mindlessly killed).
tangent!! kind of double tangent really
I know this is usually a small thing, but my problem isn’t with how passionately people believe these things, like that lemmings are stupid or that goldfish have a 6 second memory or that lizards are dumb (used to be superrrr popular) or that “monkey brains” are “less evolved” or that the concept of “less evolved” has any serious meaning in a scientific sense or indeed that it has any non-problematic interpretation past an unserious handwaving…**my problem is that these things are treated as serious evidence that lends legitimacy for totally unrelated shit like the way human economies should be structured or what kind of behavior is acceptable in society and what isn’t or what kinds of rules are acceptable to create in a society and what is “”“unnatural”“” **
Sorry for the rant, I just think it is interesting.
A tangent within a tangent, at least in the US the “monkey brain” is a super common thing in certain circles, people constantly use it in a deragotory sense to reference some cruder, base instinctual part of ourselves but it is cruel, silly and drastically wrong to call monkey brains less evolved in ANY way than human minds.
Are there any particularly problematic things like this in Finnish? I don’t mean that it is a super oppressive belief or anything, I mean precisely the opposite. Casual phrases, metaphors or insults that use an animal as the butt of the idea.
Oh, we have a lot of those. Here’s a few from the top of my head:
Omata lehmän hermot / To have the nerves of a cow (a really calm person).
Lauhkea kuin lammas / As gentle as a sheep.
Viedä kuin pässiä narussa / Being lead around like a ram on a leash. (Stubborn as rams can be, they can be easily made to follow you if you don’t walk in a straight line. You have to make small curves on your way to distract the ram. A metaphor of apparent deception.)
Viekas kuin kettu / Cunning as a fox.
Olla kuin perseeseen ammuttu karhu / To be like bear who’s shot in the ass. (A truly pissed off person.)
Lämpö menee harakoille / The warmth goes to the magpies. (When a window or a door is kept open too long during cold weather.)
I learned that misconception from the game called Lemmings 😄
