Frida in Marquette, Michigan, shares a proverb from her Finnish heritage that translates as “Until the food is ready, feed your guests with words.” She also asks about pank, a term she often hears there in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It means “to pack down,” as in to pank down snow or pank down sugar in a cup. The origin of pank is uncertain, although it may derive from a combination of pack and spank. This term is also heard in parts of Pennsylvania and upstate New York. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Pank and a Finnish Proverb”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello.
Hi, who’s this?
This is Frida Wara, and I’m calling you from Marquette, Michigan.
Frida, welcome to the show.
Well, I’d like to share a couple of things. I heard a show a little bit back that got me thinking about a Finnish proverb, and in Finnish it says, until the food is ready, feed your guests with words. And I just love how you gather around the table, and that’s just a real special part of any meal. And if anybody’s ever read the Kalevala, that’s our epic poem and always about stories. And those proverbs are just a real special part of our heritage.
Yeah, that’s really wonderful. Until the food is ready, feed your guests with words, huh?
Yeah.
What does that sound like in Finnish?
Oh, boy. Don’t even make me get there. But it’s like, ennen kuen ruaka on nevalamis sueta virorasi sanoela.
Cool.
There’s never a silent letter in Finnish. I also wanted to share another word that we have that is in everybody’s vocabulary right now, because we are at over 200 inches of snow.
200 inches in this season?
Yeah, and we’re just, you know, not even wrapping up. We have a very, on the calendar, we either call it a St. Patrick’s Day storm, which is on March 17th, or it’s a St. Orho’s Day storm, which is the Finnish god of the grapes. And that’s on March 16th. So you wear purple on the 16th and green on the 17th. But don’t you dare wear green on the 16th just because St. Orho chased the grasshoppers out of Finland to save the grape crop. So we always have a big storm around that time of year.
And is there a lot of wine involved?
Yeah, and usually that means that your hangover then is like you don’t even want to look at a green beer, if beer at all. But certainly not a green beer on the 17th. We use the word PANK, P-A-N-K, and I don’t hear it many other places. I mean, certainly there’s a lot of regions in the country, even Las Vegas, that’s shoveling snow this year. But, you know, when you go camping, you certainly don’t shovel the snow at your tent site. You have to PANK the snow. And if you’re making a good trail for either skiing or snow biking or dog sledding or skidoring, you don’t shovel there either. You pank the snow.
So you can also pank dough and make biscuits or cookie dough or whatever it might be. But that word pank is to flatten it out and pank it down.
Right, to pack it down, right?
Yeah, you youpers are very proud of using that word. That often comes up when we’re talking with youpers. It’s chiefly there in northern Michigan, also in parts of Pennsylvania and upstate New York. And we’re not sure what the origin of pank is. It might have to do with a combination of pack and spank, or it might go back to a Scandinavian term. It means to knock or beat or something like that. But, yeah, y’all are really proud of that word. And you can do it to snow or sandcastles. Pank down the flower in a measuring cup, right?
Right.
That’s a good example. Or the brown sugar. Pank down your hair if you’ve got bedhead.
Yeah, it’s a great word, but you don’t hear it much outside of your part of the country. Definitely a regional term.
Frida, you’ve been a delight. Thank you for calling us. We really appreciate it.
Oh, and thank you so much. I just so enjoy your program. And, you know, way back when the Kalevala first started, they said it was born where words, not swords, were the tools of magic. And I like that.
I like that too. That’s lovely.
All right, take care of yourself.
Bye-bye.
