Culture
Towns on the Torne River often have both Swedish and Finnish names, like Haparanda (from Finnish Haaparanta, "Aspen Shore") and Tornio (from Swedish Torneå).
Historically, the language used on both sides of the river was Finnish. In the late 19th century, schools were opened in both countries. Then there was a decision to make the Swedish part of area Swedish speaking by teaching the school children only written Swedish and allowing only Swedish to be spoken during lessons, sometimes also during breaks. As an effect, during the second half of the 20th century, Swedish was the dominant language on the Swedish side. The Finnish spoken in informal conversation is similar on both sides of the river, although some newer words differ. To support the traditional language on the Swedish side a new written language has been devised, Meänkieli. On the Finnish side only Finnish is used in written communication. These two languages differ considerably in spelling.
Read more about this topic: Torne River
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“The anorexic prefigures this culture in rather a poetic fashion by trying to keep it at bay. He refuses lack. He says: I lack nothing, therefore I shall not eat. With the overweight person, it is the opposite: he refuses fullness, repletion. He says, I lack everything, so I will eat anything at all. The anorexic staves off lack by emptiness, the overweight person staves off fullness by excess. Both are homeopathic final solutions, solutions by extermination.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their common denominator—the commodity form. The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value, counts.”
—Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
“When we want culture more than potatoes, and illumination more than sugar-plums, then the great resources of a world are taxed and drawn out, and the result, or staple production, is, not slaves, nor operatives, but men,—those rare fruits called heroes, saints, poets, philosophers, and redeemers.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)