this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 26 points 1 day ago (2 children)

and ground is equally everywhere

You make an interesting point; Lapland is known for being relatively flat, often stony and pretty much treeless. I'm sure that contributed to an increased radius.

[–] colourlessidea@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Small correction: this was in southwestern Norway; Lapland is in the far north of Finland.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Oh, sorry I just assumed Lapland when I saw reindeer.

Lapland - or Sápmi to be precise, but that's an even larger area - is in the North of Finland, Sweden and Norway.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

When you correct people, double-check that you're correct.
I spent several weeks in Lapland, and I was nowhere close to Finland at any point

[–] colourlessidea@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I did, and I suppose you did as well which would have shown you what I meant and the differences between the Lapland of Finland and the general Sápmi region which is not often referred to as Lapland any more.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] colourlessidea@sopuli.xyz -4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I hope you put more effort and nuance into discussions you have elsewhere!

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Idk man. They're completely in the right. I've never heard of anyone thinking Lapland is solely Finnish?

Even the Finnish Wiki doesn't think that.

[–] virku@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Lapland is in Finland. Hardangervidda is in Norway. It is flat as well though.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

But isn't just in Finland.

What do they teach in schools nowadays..?

[–] virku@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

In Norway we don't use the lappland term for that area. That is just the area the sapmi originates for us. I knew that lappland was an official region in Finland, but didn't know until now that it was an official region in Sweden as well. In Norway however the outlined area roughly consists of Finnmark, Troms, Nordland and Trøndelag.

I guess we didn't learn Sweden and Finlands regions in elementary school here in Norway in the 90s. I didn't at least.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Its just a different name for the same region.

Lapland (Sápmi in Northern Sami, Sää'mjânnam in Koltan Sami, Säämi in Inari Sami, Norwegian and Swedish Lappland, Russian Лапландия, Laplandija) is a historical region in the northern part of Fennoscandia in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. [1] The Sámi are the indigenous people of the region.

Lapland does not form a unified administrative region

It's just that collectively there's a change trying to stop using any terms with "lapp" in the due to its connotations, but since our language is very different, the connotation didn't ever transfer and people have no idea it's offensive in origin. So se do talk about the Sami people, when talking about the indigenous people, but anyone living in that area would be reasonably called "a lapplander".

Or idk, at least some people I've seen online have said it's been used as an ethnic slur against the indigenous peoples at times, but I can't find anything of that in Finnish. Which would explain why you call it Sapmi, because that's the indigenous name for the people and the area and there may have been historical connotations with "lapp", which we don't have.

I thought you we're Finnish from the username sounding a tad Finnish and being on sopuli. And I thought Finns ought to know that despite it being also an administrative region in Finland, it also refers to the whole area.

My mistake.

[–] virku@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

No worries!

Lapp is a slur in Norwegian and not much used but I don't know if it is used as an insult.

What does sopuli mean?

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

Thanks for asking, just made me realise why they've chosen it.

It's the Finnish word for a lemming, the animal. And seeing that people using Lemmy are called lemmings...

Lapp is a slur in Norwegian and not much used but I don't know if it is used as an insult.

Well slurs can be used as insults anyway? My point is that in Finnish "lappalainen" only connotates people living in the North of Finland, Sami or not, and because the term also encompasses not only the north of Finland, but also the larger area, it'd depend on the context, but generally, "lappalainen" as in "lapplander" refers to the Finns, and to refer to the indigenous people you use Sami. But the Sami who live in the north of Finland can thus also be called lapplanders in Finnish, without there being any connotation of a slur. At least I was never aware of the connotation, but to be fair I live in the south of Finland.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Oh, sorry I just assumed Lapland when I saw reindeer.

Lapland - or Sápmi to be precise, but that's an even larger area - is in the North of Finland, Sweden and Norway.