Preparations - Prologue Y0 and chapters 1&2

[Suominoita]

Shovels and spades... it's all lapio in Finnish - with compounds to specify if need be. It's not the only such word either-- say, katto goes for roof or ceiling. Never mind hän going for he or she or any other singular third person pronoun if we don't just go for demonstratives.

[JoB]

A tidbit from her in the discussion - the station guard has a radio thing, and she confirms not only that it works but also that they are able to manufacture more of them. They are just very expensive.

It should be noted, however, that the guard is unlikely to use it often, and doesn't need to communicate beyond the area of Björköfjärden. Given the beyond-current-RL capacity (read: sheer power) of their batteries, that allows for a technologically simple AM radio that can punch a couple sentences through the ether before the Black Voices step up their game and disable further communication. Sophisticated radios for 24/7 long range communication (like on Öresundsbro base) could still be a whole different thing in terms of manufacturing from scratch.

Why the lone patrolman would need such an expensive device (instead of a policeman's whistle or such, after all, Björköfjärden is essentially just the endpoint of the train line, which has a cleansers' tabula rasa around it, hence few grosslings to take offense at noisy humans) is a different question ...

A funnier thing is a long discussion whether a spade is the same thing as a shovel (apparently not). And some discussion about how the team appears to actually be made up of idiots.

My takeaway knowledge from that one is that, depending on the language used, there may or may not be different terms, one can be a subcategory of the other either way or strictly separate, and laymen and experts can have wildly different interpretations of the same terms.

It's almost as if agriculture/gardening has to deal with different types of soil in different places.

[tehta]

Maybe the point of giving the guard such awesome technology is not to use it, but to impress any Finnish visitors with Swedish awesomeness.

[Róisín]

Spade has usually a rectangular blade with a sharp edge for cutting through turf, roots or hard soil, and is used for removing turf or other groundcover, turning over and breaking up compacted soil or digging over garden beds, digging holes in which to plant shrubs/trees/bushes (smaller plants such as vegetables can be individually planted out with a trowel), and similar tasks. The term is also sometimes misused for a pattle, a spade-shaped tool with a smaller blade and a longer handle, used for cleaning clumps of turf and mud off an oldfashioned ploughshare. Whereas a shovel blade is shaped more like a shallow spoon with a rounded end and a long handle, often bigger than a spade, and is used for moving things like loose soil, compost, sand and gravel in bulk. Though I have used a shovel to dig/scrape a shallow pond in loose sandy soil as part of building a bog garden.

[Jitter]

My main point in mentioning the discussion was my delight at the fandom spreading information back then already (Finnish only has the one word lapio like Suominoita said, although I recognize the different types and uses).

[dmeck7755]

Well i should comment on some things (some will be from past pages)

Page 99.  The thought of sleeping on 90+ year old sofa's is gross.  (I would not even put my coat down.  I'd need something like a tarp.) I'd sleep on the floor.  They mop that occasionally

Page 100.  I wish my hair would look sparkly with a hair fluff.  Emil's magic power..

Page 113. "Not everything is about you" No.....?
 

[tehta]

I, too, have read everything now.

A lot of Emil and Lalli speculation in the comments! Not shippy, but about their future friendship. (Which has, of course, been promised by Minna.) Also, at one point someone says they might clash because Lalli, who works on sending trolls to their rest, might be sympathetic towards them, while Emil might just want to burn everything in sight. Ha.

In retrospect, I find it weird that Lalli is so disinterested in everything new at this point. In Iceland, he stares out of the coach window quite happily. (And even in Mora, he will start acting curious.) I have also noticed in fanfics that some authors decide that Emil really is messy and have him spill stuff on himself all the time, but I can't remember any instance of that happening in-comic (unless we count the exploding troll).

Tuuri's level of curiousity will never change.

BTW, the Sami comment about them integrating is on page 115.

[JoB]

Maybe the point of giving the guard such awesome technology is not to use it, but to impress any Finnish visitors with Swedish awesomeness.

Wouldn't that suggest that Mr. Vakt should stop bothering the Västerströms, and be a smidgen more visible as some actual Finns step off the ship later?

I'd sleep on the floor.  They mop that occasionally

You and your weird ancients' customs ...

In retrospect, I find it weird that Lalli is so disinterested in everything new at this point. In Iceland, he stares out of the coach window quite happily. (And even in Mora, he will start acting curious.)

He's shown as being seriously overtired after stepping off the Timbercruiser. Considering that he worked a night shift immediately before leaving Keuruu, has been on ships ever since, displayed signs of sea sickness almost at once, seems not to have been that fast asleep, and gets explicitly told to try to sleep some more to help his condition upon arrival, my guess would be that he actually hardly slept at all during the entire trip, which would make his zonked-out state at landfall quite believable.

I have also noticed in fanfics that some authors decide that Emil really is messy and have him spill stuff on himself all the time, but I can't remember any instance of that happening in-comic (unless we count the exploding troll).

To be frank, that running gag's Emil's own idee fixe after Tuuri suggested it because it had happened (once) by external causes.

[tehta]

Of course I am quite aware of the 'messy Swede' incident. I just read it! I was assuming we all had, which is why I didn't describe it explicitly. But now I will be even more explicit and list the only other instances I remember of Emil being messy:
* When he was covered in soup. He was guiltless there, too.
* When he exploded the Tank Troll. There, he got covered in gunk while planting the explosive, which is his fault in a way, and what I was referring to before.
I guess there are other times when trolls drip on him a bit, but that's not exactly his fault, either. So I find it a bit unfair that some writers run with this and have him be a mess all the time.

[JoB]

I guess there are other times when trolls drip on him a bit, but that's not exactly his fault, either. So I find it a bit unfair that some writers run with this and have him be a mess all the time.

Well, I can't comment on the "(un)fairness" of fanworks, as I don't usually read any, but let me say that

• deviating somewhat from canon sorta is an accepted purpose for them, and
• Emil did choose a profession where getting messed up "through no fault of oneself" is an obvious occupational hazard.

[tehta]

Oh, no worries, I was just making a light-hearted comment, not expressing real upset! As a long-term consumer/producer/editor of all sorts of fanworks, I am happy with all sorts of interpretations.

I should probably add something about the comic, so I'll add that it's very interesting to me to see the commenters wondering what trolls look like and when they'll really get to see one. I can only imagine how impactful the train attack would have felt after that level of anticipation...

[Suominoita]

Lalli refusing to do magic there was good. Somehow, Tuuri and Emil talking about it immediately gave me the feel that doing magic just to show off for a non-believer would be a bad idea. Singing Emil into swamp just because he doesn't believe -- I wouldn't call it making a good impression. Not to mention poor Lalli was sleep-deprived as it was.

Later: Be Careful What You Wish For dear Tuuri. You will get to see a Troll, and it won't be safe at all. And slapping your cousin is not good manners.

Emil impressed me when he just went and got more of that meat for both him and Lalli like to eat instead of getting upset about Lalli taking the one piece he had... Much better than being overly concerned about his appearance.

[JoB]

Lalli refusing to do magic there was good. Somehow, Tuuri and Emil talking about it immediately gave me the feel that doing magic just to show off for a non-believer would be a bad idea. Singing Emil into swamp just because he doesn't believe -- I wouldn't call it making a good impression. Not to mention poor Lalli was sleep-deprived as it was.

Not that Lalli would be overly concerned about the impressions he makes for himself. But to add a point, it would have been the first feat of magic he had worked outside the region of Keuruu, wouldn't it? And all the way over in nonbelieving Sweden, no less? If location and local convictions have as much influence on magic as we're led to believe, I can certainly understand that Lalli felt way out of his comfort zone when Tuuri asked him to shake a quick demo out of his sleeve.

[Suominoita]

Said Swede notably not being there when he does do magic -- say, pray to Kuutar for moonlight (apparently it does help against the trolls, at least a little bit). Or, a bit later, fixing the radio. Or, destroying all those troll-nests -- only to end up in a coma. Not until much later, when Emil is the only one there and really can't avoid noticing Lalli being inside his head...

[dmeck7755]

I always like the end panel of page 113.  The way Lalli looks at Emil.  It reminds me of my cats stomping on me when they think it is breakfast time.  They would perch and stare just like that!!!

Also, I do not understand something.  Minna makes a comment about missing her laundry timeslot.  In Finland do you make appointments to access Laundry machines (If you do no have one of your own?)

I like that idea. When I lived in apartments; if you did not watch your laundry like a hawk, it could be this soggy mess thrown on top of the machines or on the folding bench. 

I used to get up really early 0400 ish to start the laundry.  This way I was pretty done before anyone else in the building woke up.

Scheduling Seems way more civilized.