This is a short writeup on some of the stranger words used in the Finnish newspaper and magazine business. Updates will be forthcoming after I get my hands on Mediasanasto (a media-related dictionary).
- jokapaikanhöylä (lit. 'smoothing plane for every place')
- This word is used to refer to a general editor with no specific area of expertise.
- kainalojuttu (lit. 'armpit story')
- An armpit story is an independent news story, attached to another, covering the subject from another point of view.
- kesäheinä (lit. 'summer hay')
- An editor employed for the summer.
- lehtineekeri (lit. 'newspaper negro')
- Although 'neekeri' (negro) is no longer found in politically correct Finnish, the word still appears as part of the compound word 'lehtineekeri', which means 'editor'. The etymology is simple: editors were often smeared with black ink from freshly printed newspapers.
It's not considered an offensive word, although I imagine a black editor might take offence if he or she was called a newspaper negro.
- linssilude (lit. 'lens bedbug')
- Any person obsessed with getting photographed for newspapers or magazines.
- mappi Ö (lit. 'folder Ö')
- The trash can. Ö is the final letter in the Finnish alphabet.
- rötössivu (lit. 'crime page')
- The page(s) in a newspaper on which all crime-related news are collected.
- uutisankka (lit. 'news duck')
- A story which has been shown to be false. (This word is in general use.)
Source:
http://www.ess.fi/koulussa/kieli.htm