A hatred of Helsinki unites the rest of the country

Tampere: "They are so damn uptight"

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By Ritva Korpimo
     
      The initial response to this Helsingin Sanomat  vox-pop survey was not encouraging: the message in the Tampere market hall is that once again there is no limit to what the egocentric people from Helsinki will do. Now they are making people from elsewhere think about the special characteristics of Helsinki-dwellers!
      "Why don’t we talk about what it is like to be from Turku?" butcher Jouko Lindgren smoothly suggests.
      No. Instead, let us grab hold of the arm of Heidi Martikainen, the head of the Tampere Society, and mosey around the market hall.
     
People from Helsinki poke at these cheeses all the time, don’t they?
      "No, they don’t", cheese vendor Eija Ahvenjärvi retorts. "Those Helsinki residents whom I know are wonderful."
      Eventually Ahvenjärvi gets a bit worked up. "Well maybe you get the feeling that people from Helsinki think they are a cut above the rest. And you can’t understand the slang at all."
     
The tour continues just as exasperatingly. If they can’t find something in the capital city, they come to Tampere to shop. And they probably pay with smoother notes than others.
      Surely there must be something wrong with them?
      "Yes, there is", vendor Markku Koivisto admits.
      "They drive on the freeways one metre behind the car in front. And when there is a yellow line, or on hilltops, they simply must pass. Unbelievable."
     
They are proud as well, entrepreneur Ilkka Salminen and construction worker Mikko Koppanen point out. A friend of the Rauma-born men lived in Stockholm and Rome, and made local friends effortlessly. The friend did not bump into haughty people until he went to Helsinki.
      But people who were born and raised in the capital are a good crowd, Salminen observes.
      The problem is when newcomers to the capital become more Helsinki-esque than the natives within one month after moving there.
     
Now Martikainen voices her opinion. Lovely people or what?
      Martikainen snorts, as her disgust is directed more at Helsinki than at its inhabitants. But hold on a minute: "Helsinki people do not usually start conversations. And they do not help out in problems."
      "If I ask how to get to Kamppi, they do not ask where I am going and start to explain. Someone from Tampere would practically guide you there personally. But after all, in Helsinki they are so damn uptight."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.9.2005

More on this subject:
 "They make fun of you and shove you aside. They’re not as humble"

RITVA KORPIMO / Helsingin Sanomat
ritva.korpimo@sanoma.fi