Our icy layer starts to melt a bit in high temperatures of sauna, so we'll get a bit more chatty. After leaving sauna, our natural subzero core quickly cools down and we're back to the familiar cold facade.
Saunas are to Finns what dogs are to the English. It's a permit to talk to strangers. If you want to talk to strangers in England, borrow a dog and walk down the street. People will smile at you and ask you what the dog's name is, how old, and say how nice it is. . . . Otherwise they never notice you, it would be intrusive.
Finnish people are defined by silence. Is that healthy?
"The key to the Finnish character is quietude. Finns rarely enter into conversation with strangers; words are chosen carefully; small talk is considered suspect. Instead Finns revere "sacred silence" and hold that keeping quiet is healthy and promotes thoughtfulness. In his book Cultures in Conversation, author Donal Carbaugh quotes a young Finn who admits, "I never realized that people in other cultures might regard the word 'shy' as a negative word... 'Ujo' or 'shy' in Finnish has a neutral or positive meaning."
"Finland is no place for complainers, and long, dark Arctic winters have shaped some of the hardiest—and most stoic—human beings on Earth.
@lulicassa Heh, stepping into a Finnish sauna while wearing a bikini can be seen as an inconsiderate gesture, actually. Bikinis might contain chlorite from swimming pool water that evaporates in the heat... and it just happens to be an unhealthy substance to inhale. ;)
@Hienohelma It's true that Cl² is very poisonous to almost all lifeforms, but I think you need it to be concentrated enough for that. And I'm pretty sure that with only the amount you get from a bikini you are on the safe side. It's already diluted enough in pool water for it to be harmless anyway (well I suppose if you were to boil the entire pool, that would cause problems, but if it's just the amount contained in a bikini that gets vaporized...)
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