Visit my website for tour dates! ismo.fun/tour Follow me on social media: FACEBOOK: ismo.fun/facebook INSTAGRAM: ismo.fun/instagram TWITTER: ismo.fun/twitter
When I was in America recently a woman wound down the window of her car as I was crossing the road and shouted, "hey, I love your hat!"I was speechless but genuinely very happy for the rest of the day!
My thoughts had been about whether she really meant that or if she was sarcastic. The weird thing is that I have no issues with my self esteem, it's just so deep into my mentality, it's a natural response. Suspicion. But not negatively, it only raises the question if nice words are to be trusted or not. On a neutral level. Of course my reaction is a second of hesitation before I reply, in any way it might be, which, of course, could be seen as either slow minded or hostile. Genetics? Or just the legacy of the Nordic brainwash; The Law of Jante. We all bow and thank the Danish author Aksel Sandemose's words, which somehow made an imprint on the Nordic mentality. Most peculiar.
Ismo is telling the truth: when I got married, my mother shook my hand and that was the most physical affection we'd had in twenty years. But we're very close otherwise.
This man has made me think of the English language in in a whole different way... and it is hilarious... I think of the word 'sum'... if you have ten numbers... or ten efforts... or ten of anything..... the 'Sum' of them means ALL of them put together.... but 'some'.... means anything EXCEPT all of them... if you include all of them... then it is the sum of them.... if you leave out even one... then it is just some of them... all homophones have different meanings... but this one means the exact opposite... lol
This is so true! Exactly the same thing in Sweden. If you get a compliment, it's almost like "so servile that person is, what does he want?" Compliment: "What a nice jacket you have!" Instead of saying "Oh, thanks!" is the answer: "Esh, this old rag"
One day I met an American at a training course. We talked about the subject and before I knew, he introduced me to another guy. I believe he was called Jack. 'He Jack; this is my good friend .....what's your name again?' That's how easy Americans befriend you.
Non-finnish people might not find this as funny as we finns do but this is so true. Like the best compliment you can expect is sth along the lines of "well you didn't f that up totally".
I'm not Finnish, but your neighbor to the west. I think he points out at least as much about the peculiar things about the American habits and the English language, as about the Finnish. As being Swedish I can recognize a lot from Finnish culture, we're not extremely different, and close enough to know about each other's stereotypes, which makes it very easy to understand his observations. He is hilarious!! Or, maybe when I think about it, he is spot on about the weird, crazy and hilarious things and incidents, and he expresses it in a very personal way, but also with the typical Finnish humor. When you either don't say it all, you leave out just so much so the listener can understand exactly what you mean, and in the perspective you present it, one cannot not respond, usually it's a humorous comment, and funny one, or it can also tell so much more, like friendly criticism or a "please chut up and leave me alone", without mentioning one single word about that*. Finnish humor is genius! *A Finnish friend and I were on vacation in Turkey. It was a small hotel, but it had a swimming pool. One morning we were alone at the pool, trying to get some tan, but not be grilled. We had been out the night before, and had a few glasses of wine. My friend had a slight hangover, but I was in the best mood, non-stop speaking. After a while Leena rose halfway to sit up, looked around, her eyes stopped searching when she spotted a big red ball in the pool. She turned to me: "Anna, go play with the ball." 😂😂😂😂😂 The ultimate Finnish humorous way to express something that easily could be offending, and also, with as few words as possible. I got the unspoken message, and quietly went swimming...😅
It can confuse a Dane as well... I still don't know if a "nice shirt" comment I got in Florida, 10 years ago, was a sarcastic remark or an actual compliment... We don't randomly compliment eachother in this corner of the world... I checked the shirt thoroughly after getting back to the hotel... no weird ketchup stains or anything... but it was just a plain shirt... so I still don't know for sure...
Yeah. Not so much in the more populated places in Finland but a “rule of thumb” here is that when no one has an opinion of a thing, it means that everything is possibly as they should be.
Well... Not always among us Nordic people. We don't necessarily trust your words, which leads us to believe you're a deceiver, maybe criminal, of some sort. At least someone not to be trusted, and we don't want you near us. However, we might be able to control our natural response which is; to either ignore you, in the best case mutter "Thank you" and try to get away as fast as possible, or, in the worst case tell you to f--- off and tell your fairytales to someone who believe your bs. If we can manage to behave like the open-minded and positive people we actually are, believe it or not 😅, we can occasionally be up for a conversation, but don't take it for granted 😁🤷
Genuine compliments make people happy albeit a bit suspicious depending on their culture. One assignement my students often get is to give 5 random (safe) people genuine compliments. It teaches them the joy of brightening up someone's day.
In Germany, when you ask someone, "How are you?" a proper response is something like, "I'm doing well." or "Everything is going well." But in America, people say, "I'm good." or "I'm good, thanks!" which is something you will never hear from someone from Germany because to say, "I'm good." in Germany means that you're good in bed with a sexual connotation. So when I hear an American say, "I'm good!" to me it too much information that I really don't want to know. LOL!
But that's because the German for "How are you?" is "Wie gets?" ("How is it going?", or "How are things going?"). The question is not about 'you', it's about 'things' or 'life', and so is the answer...
@@davidesterchele19432:04 that is not totally true. "Wie geht's" is short for "Wie geht es Dir", which is in meaning closer to "how are you" than "how are things going" like factoring everything in, your personal feelings your emotional situation, your relationship, your family, your job and financial situation, your philosophocal view on life and everything, your health (particularly asking us 50+ this, be prepared for an hour-long medical treatise and assessment of one's personal and other people's health issues - great smalltalk! ) really everything is comprised in this "Wie geht's"/"how are you". And it is not a fauxpas to answer it genuinely and not only with a generic phrase like "geht so", "could be better", "can't complain as much as i want to" "good" "doing well" otoh i'm not so very familiar with us-american "How are you": does this express genuine interest in the other persons wellbeing? Or is this rather a greeting phrase which really doesn't expect an answer other than a polite answer like "I'm ok" ('white lie')
I am THE WORST at accepting compliments, it makes me wildly uncomfortable when people say nice things, like, directly at my face. I think I might move to Finland if they're a no-compliment-having place!
Finn here, I was over 30yo when I finally learned to take compliments, and also try to give them as much as I remember. Edit: bc I don't live there anymore lol
Yes Ismo, I already know you're good and funny, but what's the point when all tickets in my country are sold out and I can't get into the show? And you just keep teasing with these videos.
Only about 6 million Finns in the world. If you want to know anything about the world you have to speak english because not enough people to translate the information. For example Finnish wikipedia is very very short.
American compliments are some of the most disingenuous things one can experience! 🙄🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ Because usually they are, and usually they are masking a deep prejudice or a passive aggressive response….
In that case the smart thing to do is disingenuously act really appreciative of the disingenuous compliment. “Hey, thanks! That really means a lot to me! That was so thoughtful of you to say that. Nobody else noticed!. etc etc”. As in all things, two can play a game. Anyway, it’s a pretty harmless little game isn’t it.
This is great. Ismo is foreign perceptions of America and Americans. We compliment strangers. And then he takes it in a different direction that we never considered. 'I'm good' was totally unexpected.
As an American raised by a finnish immigrant, I can relate so hard to this.
When I was in America recently a woman wound down the window of her car as I was crossing the road and shouted, "hey, I love your hat!"I was speechless but genuinely very happy for the rest of the day!
😂❤
Realyl? I would feel insulted for weeks and shout back: "My hat, hmmm? Because it helps hiding most of my ugly face, doesn't it?"😡😡
😅😅😅
My thoughts had been about whether she really meant that or if she was sarcastic. The weird thing is that I have no issues with my self esteem, it's just so deep into my mentality, it's a natural response. Suspicion. But not negatively, it only raises the question if nice words are to be trusted or not. On a neutral level.
Of course my reaction is a second of hesitation before I reply, in any way it might be, which, of course, could be seen as either slow minded or hostile.
Genetics? Or just the legacy of the Nordic brainwash; The Law of Jante. We all bow and thank the Danish author Aksel Sandemose's words, which somehow made an imprint on the Nordic mentality. Most peculiar.
Ismo is telling the truth: when I got married, my mother shook my hand and that was the most physical affection we'd had in twenty years. But we're very close otherwise.
Are you finnish?
@@frednimzowi9852yes he is
@@frednimzowi9852 Based on his username, yes
@@frednimzowi9852look at that name. Very finish
Hilarious though to get a handshake
"...but what about the water"? 😂
Love this guy ❤😂
This man has made me think of the English language in in a whole different way... and it is hilarious... I think of the word 'sum'... if you have ten numbers... or ten efforts... or ten of anything..... the 'Sum' of them means ALL of them put together.... but 'some'.... means anything EXCEPT all of them... if you include all of them... then it is the sum of them.... if you leave out even one... then it is just some of them...
all homophones have different meanings... but this one means the exact opposite... lol
LMFAO!!!!! Oh my god, so true. 😄
What about power? When you translate it to Finnish, dictionary gives you like 16 different words...
I'm not a native english speaker, but isn't the differece pronounced a little bit like sùm (short & cut off) and sóme (longer)
This is so true! Exactly the same thing in Sweden. If you get a compliment, it's almost like "so servile that person is, what does he want?"
Compliment: "What a nice jacket you have!" Instead of saying "Oh, thanks!" is the answer: "Esh, this old rag"
Yes, we do that too here in Finland:
Stay humble and don't be proud of yourself 😂
If someone is proud of themselves they are automatically a narcissistic piece of shit :D
the answer: begone, thot.
In Sweden: The only people complimenting you on your jacket is going to be some teenagers from MENA countries that is hoping to rob it from you.
Im good 😂😂😂
One day I met an American at a training course. We talked about the subject and before I knew, he introduced me to another guy. I believe he was called Jack. 'He Jack; this is my good friend .....what's your name again?' That's how easy Americans befriend you.
Language can be unexpectedly funny if you look at it from different angles. Taking it as literal as Ismo does, it is a new level of funny.
in Indonesia when someone gives compliments about things you are wearing, you better run away as fast as you can 😂
Especially in an intercity bus station. Mostly thugs would give compliment. And it would be worse if you are chinese or look like a chinese.
@@yusaldyhikmara4109why? Are Chinese rich in indonesian eyes or what?
@@itkenverta That's the stereotypes of every uneducated Indonesians. But not the educated ones.
Non-finnish people might not find this as funny as we finns do but this is so true. Like the best compliment you can expect is sth along the lines of "well you didn't f that up totally".
I'm not Finnish, but your neighbor to the west.
I think he points out at least as much about the peculiar things about the American habits and the English language, as about the Finnish.
As being Swedish I can recognize a lot from Finnish culture, we're not extremely different, and close enough to know about each other's stereotypes, which makes it very easy to understand his observations.
He is hilarious!!
Or, maybe when I think about it, he is spot on about the weird, crazy and hilarious things and incidents, and he expresses it in a very personal way, but also with the typical Finnish humor. When you either don't say it all, you leave out just so much so the listener can understand exactly what you mean, and in the perspective you present it, one cannot not respond, usually it's a humorous comment, and funny one, or it can also tell so much more, like friendly criticism or a "please chut up and leave me alone", without mentioning one single word about that*.
Finnish humor is genius!
*A Finnish friend and I were on vacation in Turkey. It was a small hotel, but it had a swimming pool.
One morning we were alone at the pool, trying to get some tan, but not be grilled.
We had been out the night before, and had a few glasses of wine. My friend had a slight hangover, but I was in the best mood, non-stop speaking. After a while Leena rose halfway to sit up, looked around, her eyes stopped searching when she spotted a big red ball in the pool. She turned to me: "Anna, go play with the ball."
😂😂😂😂😂
The ultimate Finnish humorous way to express something that easily could be offending, and also, with as few words as possible.
I got the unspoken message, and quietly went swimming...😅
As a swede, I can't fully relate to this picture of finnish women.
It sound much more like finnish men... these two species are VERY different!
More please Ismo!
"I like my shoes as well, thank you!"
It can confuse a Dane as well... I still don't know if a "nice shirt" comment I got in Florida, 10 years ago, was a sarcastic remark or an actual compliment...
We don't randomly compliment eachother in this corner of the world...
I checked the shirt thoroughly after getting back to the hotel... no weird ketchup stains or anything... but it was just a plain shirt... so I still don't know for sure...
When did sarcasm actually make anything better?
"Nice shoes!"
"Yeah, that's why I bought them"
ISMO IS GOOD , SO FAR
I like your comedy
You are great! The funniest in the world!
Yeah. Not so much in the more populated places in Finland but a “rule of thumb” here is that when no one has an opinion of a thing, it means that everything is possibly as they should be.
Kiitos taas nauruista Ismo 😂
Need more of Ismo..Hours
Your hair looks fabulous ... your eyes are dazzling ... compliments are great even if they're bullshit.
Your orthography is more than fine,:and it's so amazing that you're alwaysright 😅
Well... Not always among us Nordic people. We don't necessarily trust your words, which leads us to believe you're a deceiver, maybe criminal, of some sort. At least someone not to be trusted, and we don't want you near us.
However, we might be able to control our natural response which is; to either ignore you, in the best case mutter "Thank you" and try to get away as fast as possible, or, in the worst case tell you to f--- off and tell your fairytales to someone who believe your bs.
If we can manage to behave like the open-minded and positive people we actually are, believe it or not 😅, we can occasionally be up for a conversation, but don't take it for granted 😁🤷
Rando: "Hey, I like your shoes."
Me: "Me too!"
I'm an awkward American.
Me: They're crap.
@@tiki_trashme: you’re crap
Me: thanks I got them at Ross🎉
I like your shoes is a gay pick up line in the cities
@@SRDuly2010 oooooooh so that's why that woman followed me off the bus!!
I'M GOOD ?
WHEN I'M NOT GOOD , THE WATER MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO OBSET MY STOMACH
Genuine compliments make people happy albeit a bit suspicious depending on their culture. One assignement my students often get is to give 5 random (safe) people genuine compliments. It teaches them the joy of brightening up someone's day.
You are BRILLIANT ;)
❤😂😂😂😂so lovely..❤❤❤❤😂
FUNNY GUY!
This is soo f*ng funny.
In Germany, when you ask someone, "How are you?" a proper response is something like, "I'm doing well." or "Everything is going well." But in America, people say, "I'm good." or "I'm good, thanks!" which is something you will never hear from someone from Germany because to say, "I'm good." in Germany means that you're good in bed with a sexual connotation. So when I hear an American say, "I'm good!" to me it too much information that I really don't want to know. LOL!
Or that in Finland we tell people to ba good or so good when we give them something. In two languages.
But that's because the German for "How are you?" is "Wie gets?" ("How is it going?", or "How are things going?"). The question is not about 'you', it's about 'things' or 'life', and so is the answer...
@@davidesterchele19432:04 that is not totally true. "Wie geht's" is short for "Wie geht es Dir", which is in meaning closer to "how are you" than "how are things going" like factoring everything in, your personal feelings your emotional situation, your relationship, your family, your job and financial situation, your philosophocal view on life and everything, your health (particularly asking us 50+ this, be prepared for an hour-long medical treatise and assessment of one's personal and other people's health issues - great smalltalk! ) really everything is comprised in this "Wie geht's"/"how are you".
And it is not a fauxpas to answer it genuinely and not only with a generic phrase like "geht so", "could be better", "can't complain as much as i want to" "good" "doing well"
otoh i'm not so very familiar with us-american "How are you": does this express genuine interest in the other persons wellbeing? Or is this rather a greeting phrase which really doesn't expect an answer other than a polite answer like "I'm ok" ('white lie')
And a Finn, in response to "how are you", will provide you with a detailed report on their current form.
i'm like number 1000... yay!!!
I am THE WORST at accepting compliments, it makes me wildly uncomfortable when people say nice things, like, directly at my face. I think I might move to Finland if they're a no-compliment-having place!
Actually, you can pick almost ANY place outside the US. 😅
Finn here, I was over 30yo when I finally learned to take compliments, and also try to give them as much as I remember.
Edit: bc I don't live there anymore lol
Hilarious 😅😅😅❤
I don't like these shorts. I want this to keep going and going, I want more, more, more
What’s the matter with your shorts?
Maybe trousers are the shit.
😂😂❤️
Then later he learned that "i'm good" means no. 😂😂😂
Moi, why haven´t you show your show in Helsinki?
maybe it wouldnt be funny there?
Yes Ismo, I already know you're good and funny, but what's the point when all tickets in my country are sold out and I can't get into the show? And you just keep teasing with these videos.
So you look to buy a ticket for one of his shows in another country. 😸
This is 2023. You can get notifications when his tickets go on sale.....
😂😅❤
😂😂😂
As an imaginary Fin I can absolutely relate to this
If someone compliment my outfit, i get instant in anti robbing mood, like wft?
Ismo needs to replace the "yes you are but what about the water?" with "yes you are but are you thirsty as well?"
People in scandinavia are stiff. He breaks the norm
I like turtles!
Gost say t o qute
Samoja videoita pyörität?
ive always hated that 'im good' expression.
It does sound slightly juvenile. Ok coming from a teen, not an adult.
Why this finnish humor man speak enghlish but is finnish man?
He watched too much Knight rider when he was a kid.
Only about 6 million Finns in the world. If you want to know anything about the world you have to speak english because not enough people to translate the information. For example Finnish wikipedia is very very short.
@@w4ris anything about the world 😂😂
@@w4ris english speaking ppl know anything... Wikipedia teached you this? Maybe you should go back to school.
Because he is living in the States?
A great way to poke fun at poor usage of grammar in the American way of speaking.
American compliments are some of the most disingenuous things one can experience! 🙄🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Because usually they are, and usually they are masking a deep prejudice or a passive aggressive response….
I gather from Ismo that there is little sarcasm in Finland.
Yikes
In that case the smart thing to do is disingenuously act really appreciative of the disingenuous compliment. “Hey, thanks! That really means a lot to me! That was so thoughtful of you to say that. Nobody else noticed!. etc etc”. As in all things, two can play a game. Anyway, it’s a pretty harmless little game isn’t it.
Yawn
I like Ismo, but this bit sucks imo
Compliments Suck
This is great. Ismo is foreign perceptions of America and Americans. We compliment strangers. And then he takes it in a different direction that we never considered. 'I'm good' was totally unexpected.
😂😂😂😂❤️✅
As a finnish person compliments feel weird to me