Joka pieremättä kusee, se naimatta kuolee.

-- Traditional Finnish proverb

Unsurprisingly enough, this proverb is used nearly exclusively at urinals when the (male) speaker happens to let loose a particularly impressive fart. The meaning has become more low-brow lately, since the verb naida originally meant "to marry" but nowadays means merely "to have sex".

Still, the physiological underpinnings of the proverb are interesting. Perhaps being able to fart in public is indicative of a certain level of self-confidence needed to attract a mate. Another possibility is that it takes a degree of mastery over your body to be able to simultaneously take a leak and expel gas without accidentally defecating in your pants, the (admittedly somewhat dubious) implication being that you must have known a woman in order to accomplish this.

Most proverbs have parallels in other languages, but this one is probably unique to Finnish.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.