A name that, in the wake of this weekend's NHL draft, all Edmonton is suddenly trying to figure out how to pronounce. I'd like to hear a Finnish person say the word (the player is Swedish, but the name belongs to his Finnish maternal grandfather), but as far as I've been able to cobble together myself, the äs are simple short a-sounds (in terms of English phonology) like the ones in "badass"; the stress is on the first syllable; and the whole thing should probably be spoken with a four-syllable cadence, PAH-ah-yar-vee. I am hopeful some expert will instantly be along to correct me in the comments. We had it easy with Kurri and Tikkanen, guys—let's try to get this right.
Also, I don't know what "Pääjärvi" means in Finnish, but I'm hoping it translates to something like "a taller Markus Naslund".
Comments (8)
Ah, but what will be the Oilers' oh-so-clever locker room nickname for him? If recent trends are any indication, it'll be "Parvy" to rhyme with "marvy".
Sadly, Rod Phillips will likely be retired by the time Parvy is ready to make it to the show, so we'll always have to wonder what that would have sounded like.
As for what "Pääjärvi" means, I've already maxed out my IKEA joke quota for the day. (And of course that part of his name is Finnish and not Swedish, so it doesn't work. But in my mind it's Finnish for "Knotty Pine"... Crap! Couldn't resist!)
Posted by Krankor | June 27, 2009 9:56 PM
Posted on June 27, 2009 21:56
His new nickname: Half-Swedish, All Finish
Posted by Anonymous | June 27, 2009 10:06 PM
Posted on June 27, 2009 22:06
As soon as the first photo of him groping some local lass on whyte ave surfaces, I'm sure they'll dub him "Përvy"
Posted by grey wall | June 28, 2009 9:45 AM
Posted on June 28, 2009 09:45
It's not worth polluting the tweetosphere to respond to your MJ piece, so here:
Quincy wasn't a hack. He did exactly as good a job for the Brothers Johnson and Sinatra and George Benson and several other acts within a decade of Thriller & Off the Wall. Brilliant, brilliant arrangements, but he can't write choruses for *every* little songwriter who shows at the studio pretending the dog ate his charts. (These album notes acknowledge that Francis didn't even bother to remove his chewing gum for many takes; what's a genius producer to do?)
Maybe Thriller is a mediocre record. But the monoculture's having a bad week anyway, as it takes the rap for all those panic-smile posters of Farrah. So maybe we should also give some blame to the then-new and powerful distribution channels as well. I don't have any numbers to prove it, but I'd bet a lot of the Tower & Virgin-type superstores were coming online in those years, just as Sam Walton was lashing his just-in-time empire together with them newfangled computer modems. It wasn't just about the paucity of sources, it was also about market penetration. As Janet would say a few years later, "We go deep..."
Even at the time, critics acknowledged that MJ's success didn't represent a great emotional allegiance, as had Beatle fandom twenty years earlier. It was just a fun cassette for your Walkman... Then you'd turn it off, start walking forwards again, and get on with your life.
Which makes the wailing of the bereaved this week all the more hollow.
Posted by Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] | July 1, 2009 1:34 AM
Posted on July 1, 2009 01:34
Supporting documents (until the links rot):
Listen the first 47 seconds of this just before the vocals begin (via widget at bottom). All Quincy; all genius. You can listen to the rest of the tune if you want, and I'll send a dollar if you can remember the chorus to whistle in the morning. It's not QJ's fault. Really good songwriters don't grow on trees.
(Also– Yes, that is the same cowbell pattern as is heard at the start of LIAML.)
And...
Posted by Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] | July 1, 2009 3:04 AM
Posted on July 1, 2009 03:04
This book isn't the worst afternoon of your life. There are fun stories about fun people, eg how Picasso picks up the tab at lunch. Many of the overwrought scores I remember from cheesy 60's TV crime dramas are explicated. This guy did a lot of really great stuff with really great people; Thriller is only the bedrock of his reputation for people who were only going to know his name from that project (and perhaps the Austin Powers films) anyway.
Bonus factoid: Seven kids by five women, just like Eastwood. And just like Clint, he had a (beautiful) 'type'.
Posted by Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] | July 1, 2009 3:07 AM
Posted on July 1, 2009 03:07
Mo' Q.
Posted by Crid [CommentCrid@gmail.com] | July 3, 2009 11:11 AM
Posted on July 3, 2009 11:11
Indeed, the a-sounds are quite similar to the sounds in "badass", but it's a three syllable name, PAH-yar-ve.
And it means "headlake". Paa is head, jarvi is lake (sorry, umlauts don't work on my keyboard, for some reason).
Posted by Markku from Finland | July 11, 2009 2:45 PM
Posted on July 11, 2009 14:45