Insulted twice by Norwegians on the r/Geography sub for saying that here in Portugal we are taught Estonia is a nordic country. Am I unaware of some weird feud going on up there? Please enlighten me as I’m just baffled at this.

38 comments

  1. A Norwegian and a Finnish* forgot in the title

    If this is the reaction of your neighbours to the thought of Estonia being Nordic as well, then Dios mio…

  2. Seeing your neighbors being smarter and more successful than you and starting a campaign to try to insert yourself under their common denominator is the pettiest and most self-humiliating thing I can imagine. Why not instead work and improve yourself so that on one day being a Baltic country would sound as prestigious as being a Nordic country?

  3. Basically we live in a Nordic climate, but due to the sea being between us and the Scandinavians, we are geographically not a part of them.
    The Baltics is where we are situated and due to some nations seeing us as a post soviet country (and some even consider us a part of Russia (fuck them)) the Baltics are seen as an insult to some. Since the Nordic countries have a higher rep among other nations some Estonias try to ride on that wave and proove that we are better than a post soviet hellhole.
    Estonia is actually way better off than some post soviet countries (some allies of Russia for example) so we have nothing to be ashamed of, but the big boys don’t recognise us or our accomplishments, so we have to talk tough and claim to be nordic.

  4. Nordic Council is about as nordic as EU is europe or USA is america.
    Nordic Council does not have a copyright to nordicness, because there is prior art in both IE languages and in finnic languages.

    Nordic as a region (not as a Nordic Council) spans the Bottomlands of the Baltoscandian glacier during LGM (Last Glacial Maximum).
    And ‘Baltic’ as a region designates the subset of the Flow Area of it (except the North Sea water catchment area).

  5. Nordic is just a cultural title, estonia isn’t Nordic. Estonia is eastern/northern European

    Also btw, this whole Nordic is or isn’t debate is just moronic nationalism imho, who cares where a country exact specifically is or what it’s (for the most part not that important) cultural differences are. Just hope that in the future it keeps getting richer and a better place to live in

  6. Some Scandinavians take that “Nordic” tags a bit too seriously I suppose.

    Some of them also argue that even Finland is not really Nordic as it does not speak the same scanidinavian language as they do but rather something that is more like Estonian than Swedish or Danish or Norwegian.

    Ethnically you have the germanic stuff up there in Norway, Sweden, Danish, etc, then there is Finnish and Estonia that are finno-ugric (basically Hungary, Finland, Estonia and several tribes up in Siberian direction which are still occupied and being gencoided by russians), and then there is the Slavic group, with Poland, Ukraine and also Lihthuania and Latvia.

    Some Estonians take it seriously and are horribly hurt if they are not considered “Nordic”. Most I know personally seem to claim to be Nordic only to troll Swedes and Norwegians when the opportunity arises as this seems to get their underwear all twisted up real fast.

    ​

    Edit: As far as I know, offcicially Estonia is considered to be Nordic. It is in most relevant organizations, like, for example “Nordic Computation Mechanics Assosiation”.

  7. That user is Swedish-speaking Finn and seemingly very Sweden-orientated. Often Swedish-speakers don’t have that kind of connection with Estonians as Finnish-speakers (the language similarity between Finnish and Estonian has a huge meaning). Swedish-speakers are more Scandinavian oriented and can take it offense to call Baltic state as Nordic. Heck, some Svecomans even claimed one hundred years ago that Finnish-speaking Finns are not Nordic but Mongols.

  10. Just some geopolitical bullshit.

    >The Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland; and the autonomous region of Åland.

    and

    >The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, typically used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The three sovereign states on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea are sometimes referred to as the “Baltic nations”, less often and in historical circumstances also as the “Baltic republics”, the “Baltic lands”, or simply the Baltics.

    Denmark is considered “Nordic” yet they are further south than Estonia.

    >The term “Baltic states” cannot be used unambiguously in the context of cultural areas, national identity, or language. While the majority of the population both in Latvia and Lithuania are indeed Baltic peoples (Latvians and Lithuanians), the majority in Estonia (Estonians) are culturally and linguistically Finnic.

    Theres mainly just historical and cultural similarities over the years between the countries. Mainly just meaningless geopolitics.

    So the clowns trolling you there are just some kids with nothing better to do with their lives.

  12. The Nordic 5 consider Estonia too poor and not progressive enough – regarding social and economic policies – to be considered as such. It used to be a big talking point in Estonia because it meant we could somehow shed our past as a Soviet occupied state. I don’t think people in Estonia care about it as much these days. Estonia is quite prosperous and 30 years have passed since we restored our independence. I think younger folk have come to embrace our troubled past and the interesting cultural links that have come from it.

    In terms of geography we are obviously Nordic, as are arguably all the states that are situated around the Baltic Sea. But people make it out to be this really specific thing which maybe in English it is. But in Estonian “nordic” is synonymous with “northern”.

  14. Only an Estonian would say that he/she is from a Nordic country, when asked “Where are you from?”. All the other Nordic people would name their country. Some Estonians would try to hide their Eastern European heritage.

  15. I am half Swedish, born and raised in Sweden. Mother is from Estonia. My opinion: Estonia is Nordic. If Finland is Nordic, than Estonia is.

    But that doesn’t make Estonia any less Baltic. One does not have to choose, it’s both

  16. What’s wrong about being a balt? What’s so good to be scands? Finnish are most understanding compare to scandinavia. Swedish are known for backstabbing and behind talkers. Norway known for small brain,these people don’t know nothing,don’t mention politics when you see one. They just don’t understand nothing. Baltics are poor because politician don’t have any love for their people,thats why younger flee from here. Am I right?

  17. We were wiped off the map for half a century and during that time rest of the world forgot who were are. Even many Estonians don’t know how Nordic we’ve really been throughout history.

    Many Scandinavians take offence when somebody suggests Estonia might be Nordic because in their minds Nordic represents everything that is good and rich about their countries, and Estonia represents everything that is poor and backwards in Eastern Europe (e.g. the movie “Lilya 4 Ever”).

    Officially speaking Estonia is not part of the Nordic Council, therefore we are not officially Nordic.

    Many Estonians grow up calling themselves the northern people and nordic land. In our language there’s hardly any difference between the words nordic and northern, many known songs reference us as nordic people (e.g. Laul Põhjamaast). This adds to the confusion.

    Our country is Baltic, our language is Finnic, we’re in Northern Europe, we’re in Eastern Europe, we’re ex Soviet due to occupation, we’re very much nordic-like in culture and history, but not officially a part of the Nordic club.

  18. As an Estonian having lived abroad in Switzerland for 30 years no one ever would consider us nordic in the German speaking countries.

    Sorry dudes, it ain’t happening, harsh reality check here. And Germans have no agenda such as Norwegians for example. Its not even a topic.

    Geographically speaking, were not nordic because the Baltic Sea divides us. Culturally we share just as much German and russian traditions as well as nordic ones.

    The only thing that makes us more nordic is our language (but then again it does only have common roots with Finnish)

  21. All the people I met from the Nordics are either super nice, intelligent and friendly or complete assholes. There is no in-between. The assholes turn out to be a bunch of awkward people irl.

    I admire a lot the Nordics in several ways and I even envy them in some stuff but this sense of superiority kinda disgusts me. And all of their cuisine sucks.

    Edit: I’m Portuguese.

  23. I studied and lived in Portugal for a year and my host said the same thing. He even joked every once in a while that “cold weather won’t bother this guy, he’s from a nordic country”

  24. Portugal North-African. I don’t think I’ve ever heard something so stupid in my entire life. IT DOESN’T EVEN BORDER AFRICA FFS. Not only border, it doesn’t even touch Africa, and neither does Spain.

  26. Does it really matter that much which region some country belongs? Im cool with Estonia being in baltic states (which is much cooler imo) and finland is always our big brother.

  27. Dont waste your breath or time explaining to nitwits on the internet. Most people have shit for brains

  28. I think whole ‘nordic’ topic is bit outdated. It was truly a ‘thing’ for some reason to call Estonia a nordic country … and even numerous comparisons where made with either Finland, Sweden…and even Norway (rather rarely though). BUT … haven’t heard the topic for longest of time (well..except this thread in here).

    After 30 year of independence … Estonia is more like … well Estonia

  29. In a big enough selection of persons, one can always find a person silly enough to get triggered about stuff… that doesn’t really matter.

  32. It’s so cringe to ‘Nordic’ people talk about Eesti. Genuinely makes me mad every time but I know better than to engage with that bs

  33. Greetings! I’m am Estonian currently visiting Porto, I love it! And I’m sorry you got insulted by this, internet is filled with all kinds of creatures.

  35. As a Norwegian I’ve always been taught that Estonia is Baltic. To me it has always been more about historical ties than anything, Finland has had way more interaction with Sweden in particular(not always voluntarily ofc), and still has a swedish speaking minority today.

    I definetely dont care about the economic status or anything like that, I generally have a very positive view of Estonia.

    I dont see any the reason for the comments to be so mean, though, Nordic is not a well-defined term at all.

    Edit: I am a bit offended about the food comments, though. Maybe you dont need us to export any stockfish then?

  38. Estonians just can’t win. whatever they do, it’s always either ignored, forgotten or people simply aren’t interested. They have always been ignored, people don’t know anything about them and quite frankly don’t even know they exist, Nordics don’t even know they exist for Christ sake. But as soon as Estonians dare call themselves Nordic, it’s a huge scandal and everybody hates them. (even if it’s geographically correct, they do kind of fall under the nordic part) i mean ok i get it, the country isn’t that great, lot of homophobes, sexist, racist people but for people to call them russians and think they’re just some little part of russia is just disrespectful.

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