The tankero was a

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

that was quite popular in Finnish media in the 1970s. The word comes from a popular Finnish joke, where the prime minister of Finland

Ahti Karjalainen Ahti Kalle Samuli Karjalainen (10 February 1923 – 7 September 1990) was a Finland, Finnish economist and politician. He was a member of the Agrarian League (later known as Keskusta, Centre Party) and served two terms as Prime Minister of Finlan ...

visited a

Kenyan The Demographics of Kenya is monitored by the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya is a multi-ethnic state in East Africa. Its total population was at 47,558,296 as of the 2019 census. A national census was conducted in 1999, although t ...

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

in the 1970s. Reportedly, he said ''"Kaikki eläimet ovat tankeroita"'' ( Finnish for ''"All animals are'' tankeros''"''), after misunderstanding a sign that said, ''"All animals are dangerous."''"Ahti Karjalainen avaa Etykin ykkösvaiheen"
November 11, 2008 This was so popular that one Finnish magazine held a drawing competition of what the tankero would look like. The Finnish

political cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current ...

Kari Suomalainen Kari Yrjänä Suomalainen (15 October 1920, in Helsinki – 10 August 1999, in Valkeakoski) was a famous Finnish political cartoonist, known as Kari. His cartoons appeared daily in ''Helsingin Sanomat'' from 1951 to 1991 and they became popula ...

drew a strip where

Kalevi Sorsa Taisto Kalevi Sorsa (21December 193016January 2004) was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland three times: 1972–1975, 1977–1979 and 1982–1987. At the time of his death he still held the record for most days of incumb ...

meets Karjalainen and a strange-looking animal. "Is that a tankero?" asks Sorsa, and the strange-looking animal replies "No, that is Ahti." During the same period a certain number of jokes, based on English–Finnish language misunderstandings, were current - such as a person mistakenly greeting a

Crimean Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...

by calling him criminal. These jokes were labelled as "tankero jokes" and generally told with Ahti Karjalainen as the main character. The original meaning fell into disuse after Karjalainen's death, and today it is a

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

word for something awkward or not properly developed, abysmal knowledge of the

pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. To This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or all language in a specific dialect—"correct" or "standard" pronunciation—or si ...

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

of a foreign language. The most common use of the word ''tankero'' today is "tankero-englanti" or "tankero English", meaning poorly pronounced English. The term has connotations of awkward-sounding pronunciation with an extreme Finnish accent. The actual grammar and vocabulary of "tankero English" may well be correct, though. The word tankero appears in the names of two Finnish songs.

Juha Vainio Juha Harri "Junnu" Vainio, also known as Juha "Watt" Vainio (10 May 1938 in Kotka, Finland – 29 October 1990, Gryon, Switzerland) was a Finnish lyricist, singer, composer and teacher. With the lyrics or music to over 2,400 songs to his name, ...

recorded a song “Tankero tango” in 1974. The following year, “Tankeros love” performed by was released.

References

{{reflist Fictional animals Finnish humour Finnish folklore 1970s neologisms 1970s establishments in Finland

See also

References