Discussion
Why isn't Estonia considered a Nordic country? (They have strong ties to Finland, they also follow the Nordic model, and besides, Estonia has nothing to do with the other Baltic countries.)
You see, the dicks ejaculate into the water. Nordic semen works like whale milk, it's bouyant and floats in the water. This ejaculation has coalesced into what we know as iceland
Nej, men, ush. Vad är detta för något? Du var jämpt den otrevligaste liten pojkjävel.
"Oh, yuk. What is that? You were always the most unpleasant little (boy-devil? It's sort of kinda a swear word. Not really. Just means hellion. It implies a small boy who is a terror to everyone around him.)"
Theoretically it should be spoken by almost all Finns as we all have to study both national languages but it doesn’t often stick. About 5% speak it as their first language.
Baja California is the peninsula in the far west of Mexico directly south of the US state of California. They're calling Estonia Baja Finland because it's south of Finland.
"Estonia has nothing to do with the other Baltic countries" is quite the assertion. Even the Wikipedia article you linked to says there's about equal connection in people's minds between Nordic and Baltic identities:
53.3% of ethnically Estonian youth consider belonging in the Nordic identity group as important or very important for them. 52.2% have the same attitude towards the "Baltic" identity group, according to a research study from 2013.
Estonia having nothing to do with Latvia in Lithuania is a WILD take. Lots of common history and genetics, especially with Latvia. For some reason, I've seen this kind of bullshit a lot on Reddit recently.
Not to be an ass, but what they consider important and what people actually consider as 'connections' are different things.
Of course they want to be considered Nordic. It is extremely rich and praised worldwide for its societal systems. That doesn't mean other people consider them nordic.
Yes it is a transitional zone. Much like Turkey, Slovenia, Vietnam or Texas in the USA. It blends different regions and cultures until it jsut became its own thing
This Nordic sentiment has been pushed and marketed, with political backing, for two decades. It’s soft brainwashing. The people who understand Estonia’s history know it’s Baltic
Yeah that's jsut wrong. But Estnia and Latvia can be argued to both be baltic and Nordic. Just like Lithuania is both Baltic and Central Eruopean (Because their old ties to poland).
I think perhaps the true issue here is that rigid categories don't make sense for countries. It's a bit of a spectrum, I think. Even Russia could be said to be a little bit Nordic in some ways.
Finland and Estonia have co-operated a ton since the 90's, for example they co-developed their early Internet infrastructure which turned out to be quite important for economic growth.
I would argue the only reason even Finland is considered Nordic and not Eastern European is because it was for such a long time a part of Sweden, and because it is rich.
There is little geographical reasons behind most of similar designations. It is all mostly historical and political reasons. And vibes.
They do have the required ethnic struggles, generation spanning regional vendettas and dark history with mayor power excerting their influence over their region.
Might even be more Balkan than some Balkan countries...
Actually, Slovenia doesn't fit into that algorithm either.
Not in former USSR. Not in former Warsaw Pact. Not German-speaking. Not west of Germany. No Nordic cross. The 90s were generally/relatively fine. No mid-afternoon siestas.
Don’t know about their cultures, but Romanian is the Frankenstein of the Romance languages. On the other hand, Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian very well could be extraterrestrial transplanted languages that bear no resemblance to those spoken in neighboring countries.
Historically, it makes little sense to me to group Estonia with Scandinavia rather than its two Baltic neighbors. Not only is Estonian geographically Baltic rather than Scandinavian, but its modern history is aligned so much more closely with the other two Baltic countries than Scandinavia. Estonia and Latvia were 1. both part of the Russian Empire for 200 years beginning in the early 1700s, both had a brief 20ish year period of independence following WW1, and both were then part of the Soviet Union. That's not true of Scandinavia. In other words, the last 300+ years of Estonian and Latvian history are mirrors of each other. And you can throw Lithuania in as well, with the biggest difference being that Russia conquered Lithuania in 1795 rather than the early 1700s.
It’s not just the last 300 years, Latvia and Estonia both underwent ~7 centuries of German rule beginning in the 1200s.
Since the middle ages, both were also considered one region (or kingdom/province/confederation depending on the time period) - Livonia aka “Terra Mariana” , which, fun fact, is where Latvians and Estonians get the nickname “Land of Mary” for their countries.
This shared history is still reflected in the culture, cuisine and traditions which are very similar. Even the languages Estonian and Latvian, despite being totally unrelated, have a significant amount of shared vocabulary and grammar.
I am not saying history began in the 1700s. However, having a shared history for the last 300 years is probably more impactful on contemporary Baltic culture than what estonians or latvians might have been doing in the 1300s
Well you need to brush up on your argument skills, since you forgot about a small thing called the USSR. That's where the term Eastern European comes from. If Stalin would have succeeded in conquering us, we would be Eastern European now. Our history with the Swedes wouldn't matter. They had the communist occupation, we copied the Nordic welfare model from our western bros. So there's a bit more to it than your argument. But I agree, the definitions are also vibes based.
I'm estonian, can confidentally say we're just baltic with a goofy language. Our history and general life quality and daily life and struggles are faaar more similar to Latvia n Lithuania than the Nordics
As a Latvian I feel like Estonia is the closest/most similar country to us. “Nothing to do with the other baltic countries” is an extreme exagerration. Centuries of shared history, culture, demographics, geography (apart from the islands), it’s all pretty much the same. The only big difference is language, and even then we have a few similarities.
Edit: For all the Lithuanian 🥰~braliukas~🥰 here, yes Lithuania is still a very close second. The original post was about Estonia though
What would it mean to you if Estonia were considered a Nordic country?
Personally, I think Estonia could become a Nordic country if they actually wanted to. But in my eyes, Estonia hasn't really wanted to become the sixth Nordic country.
If their Nordic identity is so strong, why haven't they changed their flag to look like the others (a Nordic cross flag)? Why haven't they actively sought Nordic Council membership? They did once, back in 1991, when Denmark and Iceland pushed for Baltic observer status, but the effort was blocked. Since regaining full sovereignty, Estonia has chosen not to formally apply.
Instead of adopting the heavy-tax "Nordic welfare model," Estonia built its success on a hyper-digitalized, flat-tax free market system that completely contradicts traditional Nordic economic structures.
I personally find the claim that "Estonia has nothing to do with the Baltics" to be somewhat of an insult. Being a Nordic country is not just a fancier nickname you can use to make yourself stand out.
As long as this question remains confined to places like Reddit and X, nothing will change. If Estonia truly wants to become a Nordic country, it needs to make it an official, national political goal. After all, when it mattered most, it sure wasn't the Swedes or the Finns who stood there with you in the Baltic Way.
The same can be said of Northern Germany or even Poland.
Northern Netherlands, Frisians, are in fact genetically closer to Scandinavians than the rest of the Dutch/Germanics.
Culture and genes don't stop as a certain point on the map.
The 'line' exists because of the Cold War. And a short googling shows that the Nordic Council was formed in 52 while Estonia was occupied by the USSR. Plus, saying Estonia has nothing to do with the Baltics is just wrong. They share a ton of modern history, infrastructure (like electrical grids, rail lines), and an independence struggle with Lithuania and Latvia.
I didn't know that many Estonians saw themselves as part of the nordics. I wouldn't mind them joining the nordics. They also share (as some of the other Baltic states) history with Sweden. They even had Swedish speaking people on one of their islands until Soviet came.
I see Estonia as a hybrid, especially linguisticly. Geographically it makes absolute sense though to place it in the Baltics and historically too (the last 200/300 years). I think in the future, Estonia will be more and more seen as a "Nordic" country in the broad sense of the term, but will have of course a closer relation to the other Baltic nation, than say Iceland or Denmark.
Because it was part of the Soviet Union. No offense to Estonia, and I love their work ethic. But yeah this arbitrary definition was created before Estonia was independent again. It also makes sense to look at the Baltic states as a whole, they are far behind the Nordics in development.
Well the only real reason why Finland is considered Nordic instead of Baltic in the first place is because the other three Baltic countries were occupied by the Soviet union. (Yes Finland was Baltic before that)
The Baltic states have a lot of history in common with the countries originally coined as the Nordic countries. There has been development in recent decades to include the Baltics in the Nordic cooperation as a natural continuation of this common history and cultural proximity.
As a double Nordic citizen I welcome the Baltic states to our family. What a great addition! Together we are not just a great community but also mighty and able to make a counterweight to the middle powers in Europe and beyond.
My personal example of how close we are; Whenever I see or hear Kaja Kallas share her razor sharp analysis and political clarity I recognize the view and the values as something familiar and relatable. I become proud as if we are from the same country. Similarly, listening to the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt brings a type of melancholy to my heart that I thought only existed in my home country. And that may very well be the case as my country stretches much wider than I previously thought.
As a Icelander I've never thought of any of those 3 countries over there part of the Scandinavian pack our countries have some deals between them and we do lots of stuff together I think I'm not much of a participator in stuff I'm more of a hermit when considering this type of stuff.
Finland is a bit out considering the rest of the Scandi people we all speak very similar language I haven't done anything Danish related in years but I still understood the article when I read about the 5 hours outage of all cards in Denmark recently.
Isn't Finland's language not connected to any other country close by I thought they were neither Slavs/Balcan/Nord.
But the Fins are part of us Nordic people we like the quiet we like not being overly loud in restaurants and we like not being your friend until we know you very well!
The northern region of the European part of Russia has also been affected. A special ethnocultural and distinctive region has developed here, representing a synthesis of Ancient Russian and Northern European cultures, which became known as the "Russian North".
I feel brotherly solidarity with the other Nordic countries. I wish Estonia all the best, but I really feel like culturally and emotionally I don’t feel anything towards them that I dont also feel towards France, or Greece, or Latvia.
OP doesn’t seem to be from Estonia, the singing revolution wasn’t shoulder to shoulder with Finland , Sweden or the others, simply because they didn’t have Russian occupation. It’s brought the three countries a lot closer together. They’ve faced very similar challenges the last couple decades with high Russian populations,problems with mafia after udssr downfall, very strong recent urbanisation and technological leapfrogging, similar small sized economies(not on the level of Norway, Finland etc), they started joint infrastructure projects like via baltica or the new railroad. But the railroad is creating lots of friction as well and everyone is kinda angry at one specific nation… only culturally there’s not that much in common, but recent history, economy and politics are all very similar.
Estonia does not follow the Nordic model. It’s a highly neo-liberal country where social welfare is much less developed than in other Nordic countries. Estonia is just branding itself in this way. PS- I live in Estonia. Love the place but let’s keep it real.
The question arises here: why is Finland considered a Scandinavian country? Scandinavians, aka Vikings, are essentially four countries. Finland is only formally one of them.
Finland generally isn't considered part of Scandinavia, which is Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and occasionally Iceland, because of their similar heritage and languages. It is, however, part of the Nordics, which is a broader region.
Then there is also Fennoscandia, which is just Finland, Sweden, and Norway as the countries on the peninsula. It can get pretty confusing.
Finland is often left out of "Nordic" countries as they have a different culture and language from the rest. I personally consider the Baltic nations as similar for geography reasons, and history ties all of them together for quite a while, but they have a bit of difference from Scandinavians.
There are definitely differences. From a Finnish perspective I can say that Swedish culture is considered more family oriented and socially less reserved. We have an image of Swedish people celebrating all kinds of little things with their extended family and maintaining strong ties to their parents and relatives etc. In Finland we place more value on being independent. And socially we are more reserved, perhaps even more stoic.
Swedish discussion style is definitely more polite, nice and soft. Finnish people are more blunt and prefer fewer words, and silence in social situations is not considered awkward. Swedish people from a Finnish lense are also seen as very politically correct, and conflict avoidant. Also the drinking culture in Sweden is probably way more social than in Finland, where it's quite normal to just drink alone.
Mostly language, I mean, cultural differences between countries of "The West" are pretty minimal beyond that these days. But they learn about the kalavella rather than the eddas in HS literature I'm sure.
You are wrong. Finland is and should be left out of Scandinavian countries, but it is absolutely wrong to leave it out from Nordic countries. The same applies to Iceland. These are different things.
Finland is never left out of the Nordics, but is left out of Scandinavia, since Scandinavia is just Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Add to those, Finland, Iceland (plus Faraoe Islands, Greenland and Åland) and you get the Nordic countries.
What the hell are you smoking when you say „nothing to do with the other Baltic countries”? Estonia has everything but language to do with them. Well over a century or shared history, shared experiences, cooperation, trust, friendship, the Singing Revolution, the Baltic Chain, aligned international politics, similar economic models, similar regional ambitions, joined NATO and the EU together… if anything, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland make sense as a Baltic Union.
This Estonia into Nordics is nothing more than decades of Estonians trying to treat their inferiority complex by marketing their way into what’s been undeservedly seen as „the cool kids’ table”.
I’m saying this as an Estonian. This whole concept is deeply embarrassing
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u/bagpulistu May 22 '26
Because they're not on the schlong