The Dink Network

Finnish people! Google Translate tells me this word is from your language. Long ago I found a freeware game that I love called Pakoon 2. It's a racing game where you're driving a car down a mountain, and I mean straight down a mountain, not on a road.

Google says it cames from the noun pako and translates it as "escape," but also "getaway," "flight," "retreat," and "run." How would you translate it, and why is the game's title spelled pakoon instead of pako?

"Pakoon" is kind of a strange word, now that I think about it. Well, most Finnish words are, heh. "Pakoon" basically means escape. But it's more of a word for a place, actually. Kind of if I said "Juostaan pakoon!" that would mean "Let's run to escape!" ("to", as in "to the store", not as in "to do something"), which obviously would make no sense in English, but that's what it means, really. "Juostaan pakoon" also at the same time means running away from someone/something, but it still keeps that same meaning, as in "Let's run away from that murderer to escape" ("to", again, as in "to the store"). I guess it's simply just a way to say "To an escape", except the escape in this case isn't any specific escape, but more of a general term for getting away. As if "getting away" was a place in itself.

"Pako" is the basic word, meaning "an/the escape", while "paeta" means "to escape/flee". "Paeta" can also kind of work as "retreat", which you mentioned, but I think the more correct terms for that would be "vetäytyä" and "perääntyä".

I hope that made at least a tiny bit of sense. It's really hard to explain. xD As far as the game goes, it's probably named Pakoon cause you're trying to get away from someone chasing you. Or... it could just be a random word somebody thought would sound cool as a game title. Finnish games do that a lot.

'Pakoon' is a really useful word if you're ever stranded in a dark forest in Finland, getting chased by an axe murderer. It's so dark you can't tell if there are other people besides you. Now, just running away without warning the others would be a real dick move, wouldn't it? On the other hand, you don't want to sound like a fool by yelling "Paetkaa!!" (which is really an order for other people to escape), if there are in fact no other people nearby.

'Pakoon' however is perfect, because it's grammatically sound whether you are by yourself, or in a group.

'Pakoon' is a really useful word if you're ever stranded in a dark forest in Finland, getting chased by an axe murderer. It's so dark you can't tell if there are other people besides you. Now, just running away without warning the others would be a real dick move, wouldn't it? On the other hand, you don't want to sound like a fool by yelling "Paetkaa!!"

LOL! I never thought about it that way. But it's true. English doesn't really have such an awesomely useful word.

Also, "Smallwood" in Finnish is "Pikkumetsä". Just thought I'd throw that out there while we're on the topic of Finnish. Cause when the hell am I gonna get to give out such random trivia.

Thanks, that was all very interesting! Language is so great. So is pakoon in the illative case?