Riddle time!

[JoB]

JoB, the boat carries you on top of the water

Yes, and I'm not going to tire from that unless I make the independent decision to actually row it ...

(... which is maybe not a legit scenario in Saimaa, but anywhere there is enough of a current to take a boat downstream on its own ...)

if I understood you correctly, you already know that, because you googled it. (Do I have to clarify that googling the answer is cheating?)

Yes; no. But I have to say that I find it surprising that nobody here (besides you, of course) seems to remember having seen it before ...

[RanVor]

Yes; no. But I have to say that I find it surprising that nobody here (besides you, of course) seems to remember having seen it before ...

Well, I have to get those riddles from somewhere, don't you think?

[Jitter]

JoB, the land of a thousand* lakes! Rowboats have been a very important, in many places the chief means of transport in Finland since time untold. Not anymore of course, but if we were to return to unmotorized means, it would definitely make a spectacular comeback even if the land routes weren’t lethal. These are traditional riddles

*188000 and then some lakes to be more exact

[JoB]

On J1 you are again practically on top of the right answer but give the wrong one (as my dad often says, if it were a dog it would bite you by now).

German has that idiom, too. Can't say that I'm fond of nippy doggos, though.

Spoiler: show

"Narrow sounds, long capes", both plural. So it's not just "breakwaters" (no "narrow sound" between), "harbor entry" (even if protected by jettys, that's just one "sound"), "channels" (by definition, capes extend out into open water), or an entire harbor (same reason). Not to mention that all those facilities nowadays are usually built with concrete, not rock.

Some lake instead of the regular sea? Well, I suppose that Saimaa has lots of "narrow sounds", a number of "capes", if possibly not all "long" ones, and there's lots of rock in galcier-scraped Finland, but what would you specifically call an "end" there?

Still smaller? Tideways? There's not a lot of coast with tides in Finland, is there ...

J5 is not about the sauna, but again you are onto something!

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I'm getting more and more fond of the concept of a book that's flipped open on the table (= lies on its back) during the day, and gets put away into a bookshelf (= usually stands upright) for the night. There's no need to properly store a book away every evening in a private household, though, so it'd need to be something like a hotel's guestbook or a ledger in a bank. (And I don't think that many people would be using a cookbook every day all day long.) But of course none of those are "a very Finnish thing" ...

Spoiler: evil addendum • show

... and if you feel the need to put your très Finnish Tom of Finland book out of sight at night, you certainly wouldn't leave it around all day, either ...

[Jitter]

JoB you are thinking of the right shape now with the sounds and capes. But this is a riddle, remember

And yea the other thing is something that gets put away for the night. Not a book though.

[RanVor]

Hmm, when you say "very Finnish", I think of those traditional Finnish knives, whatever they were called, but I don't think "lying on their back" is their preferred position during the day...

[JoB]

JoB you are thinking of the right shape now with the sounds and capes. But this is a riddle, remember

Well, if it's just about the shape ...

Spoiler: show

... I have pondered to reply "a comb".
I would have hoped that them ancient Finns had carved their combs out of wood and not rock, though.

And yea the other thing is something that gets put away for the night. Not a book though.

And you said that it's a "very Finnish" thing to do ...

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Given the regional social standards, Finns wouldn't happen to take the doormat inside and lean it against the windscreen wall as they go to bed, would they?

[Jitter]

Ran, a puukko goes the other way: stands upright (by hanging from the owner’s belt) by day, and may lie flat during the night when placed down to wait for morning (although alternatively it could also hang on a peg with the clothes). Good try!

JoB, it’s not a comb. Not entirely bad though! A further hint, you practically said it already, kind of like you mentioned the boat as part of your answer, which unfortunately was water

[lumilaulu]

But I have to say that I find it surprising that nobody here (besides you, of course) seems to remember having seen it before ...

I know I've seen it before, but I can't for the life of me remember what the answer is.

[JoB]

A further hint, you practically said it already, kind of like you mentioned the boat as part of your answer, which unfortunately was water

... palm trees!?
(If this continues, I'll have to rename my account to "SolvesEverythingAlmost" or "Mr. Close Shave" or somesuch ...)

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The term that appeared both times you told me I almost got it is "breakwater". I can see those qualifying as "long cape" and "rock at every end", and they can come in bunches and merit the plural, too, but they don't get packed so densely that I'd see them forming "narrow sounds" between adjacent ones ...

[Jitter]

Palm tree is the thing where you almost say the right answer Keep at it, you’ll get it eventually! Or if ylu get bored and want me to give the amswer, do let me know. You deserve to get for trying so hard.

[RanVor]

Palm tree is the thing where you almost say the right answer Keep at it, you’ll get it eventually! Or if ylu get bored and want me to give the amswer, do let me know. You deserve to get for trying so hard.

COULD IT BE BORNHOLM?

[Vulpes]

COULD IT BE BORNHOLM?

 

I was puzzling over the rocks... are they rocks as in geology or something else? Like rock candy? Although I can't imagine how that would relate to sounds and capes, even metaphorical ones.

[JoB]

Palm tree is the thing where you almost say the right answer

?!?!?!?

As for J1 ...
... Palm Islands? I suppose that the rock used in building them is most prominent in the breakwaters at the ends of the sandy island strips ...

Spoiler: now what the ... ? • show

I tried "palm (tree)" and "breakwater" by now, and "rock" and "ends" are direct quotes from the riddle, which pretty much leaves "island(s)" as the only specific noun/object not yet spoken for. However, generic islands aren't required to have anything that resembles sounds, capes, or rock. Not even generic islands of Finland, as far as I know. So, one or several specific island(s)? Fat chance that I know any specific Finnish ones ...

A different sense of "palm"? Palm of a hand? The fingers certainly make for the "sounds" and "capes", but even if you wear a lot of jewellery, you're not going to have "rock at every end" (of a finger), unless "rock" is somehow a nickname for a fingernail as well. (And trust me, fingernails are nowhere near being that indestructible.)

The shape of whatever letters that make up one of the words I'm carelessly looking past? The "m" in "palm" would fit the shape, I suppose. But again, a serif is a serif and not a "rock".

I was talking about "sand(y)" as well ... sand is (very small) rocks ... dunes?

[JoB]

COULD IT BE BORNHOLM?

Attributing "narrow sounds" to Bornholm might prove a wee bit difficult, and claiming it to be material of "traditional Finnish"ness ought to arrange for a boatload of visits to other islands for you.