Estonian has many colorful terms for confusing talk

In an ERR language column, Elisabeth Kaukonen examines the many Estonian words and expressions used for unclear, evasive or content-free talk.

One of the most common is udujutt, a word whose name itself suggests unclear speech. One corpus example says: “There is no point in talking nonsense here about everything simply happening somehow.”

Confusing or misleading talk can also be called umbluu or umbluujutt. The first is often used with verbs meaning “to spout,” “to make up,” “to spread” or “to talk,” as in: “He is making things up, based on coffee grounds.”

In folklore, umbluu also means the shinbone of a person who died accidentally or was left unburied, said to howl and moan. Kaukonen suggests that the meaning “confusing talk” may have developed from such ghost stories, referring more broadly to speech that sounds invented or unbelievable.

A similar word is hundijutt. It can describe either made-up or frightening talk. Examples include: “I do not really believe this story,” and “Do not frighten people with scary stories.”

Returning from these eerie digressions, Estonian has several other words and expressions for empty or incomprehensible talk. They include käojaan, as in “That story was yet another käojaan,” as well as jura, iba, kelbas and häma.

Häma also appears in compound words such as poliithäma, teadushäma, laushäma and meediahäma. One example reads: “Wild media confusion has broken out.”

The Dictionary of Estonian Phraseology lists expressions for spouting nonsense, including haussi ajama, kägu ajama, seaputru ajama and pada ajama.

Although Estonians have often been considered a quiet people, the language has a wide range of colourful expressions for talking, whether the speech is vague or takes some other form.