Poppy was supporting me during a ‘ticcing fit’ earlier and, as usual, towards the end I went into the ‘lying zone’. This is how my friends refer to the period when I’ve got my speech back and keep insisting the fit has finished even though it obviously hasn’t.

This time my assertions took a new turn when I insisted that I’d “finished in Finnish.” This made Poppy laugh, and then instantly curious about what the Finnish for ‘finished’ was. A quick Internet translation revealed a surprising array of options:

valmis = ready, prepared, complete, finished, done, ready-made
päättynyt = finished, over, up
yiimeistelty = finished, polished, round
loppunut = out, finished, out of stock, over, off, past
mennyt = gone, past, finished, bygone, undone, sunk
hioutunut = polished, finished

The fit finished properly while Poppy practiced each pronunciation.

Much later, at the end of another fit, I found myself saying “Valmis.”

I’ve ticced in different languages before and it always makes me laugh when it happens.