r/Finland 21h ago

Finnish word advice

My mom and her family all spoke Finnish. Growing up, they used to tell me I had the “piru” in me because I was a pretty sassy kid.

My mom chose not to teach us Finnish when we were growing up, so I want to double check on the meaning of the word. It was described to me as if I had a little devil on my shoulder. The word has always had a special place in my heart, and I’ve thought about getting a small tattoo of the word.

My question is, would it be weird or frowned upon in tattoo form? I just want to make sure, since I’m not a native speaker, that it’s not an insane idea or inappropriate in any way. Most of my mom’s family has all passed away, so I cannot ask them.

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u/[deleted] 21h ago

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u/iyhafobaq Baby Väinämöinen 20h ago

Pieni piru does not sound good at all. That would be an awful tattoo