Three weeks ago, Lars Wirzenius described Linus Benedict Torvalds:
quoted text
> .........................
> Linus is currently about 22 years and 7 months young.  He speaks
> Swedish, English, Finnish (badly :), and a bit of Latin.  He studies at
>..........................

The "speaks ... Finnish (badly :)" part has been bothering me ever since.
I can't bear it any longer; I simply MUST point out that it does not, not
necessarily at least, mean that Linus, by all reports a Finn (but see below),
has a speech problem. Rather, I take it to mean that he belongs to Finland's
Swedish-speaking minority, i.e., he's a Finn whose mother tongue is Swedish,
a Finn/S for short (I'm a Finn/F myself).


However: describing Linus's birth, Lars Wirzenius writes:
quoted text
> ......................
>Outside, the storm became even more violent, almost ripping the whole
>Karpatian mountains to pieces.  The count ran swiftly to his wife's
> ......................

Karpatian mountains? Linus was born in Rumania? I suspect that Lars
Wirzenius, too, is a Finn/S. Finn/S's, after all, are known for their
gifts of invention. Tove Jansson, the creator of the Moomintrolls, is a
Finn/S. So is Lars Hulden, a professor at the University of Helsinki,
who recently published some allegedly autobiographic sketches entitled
"When Queen Silvia Cried". It's a pack of lies, really; he probably never
even met Queen Silvia (of Sweden), let alone made her cry. HER mother
tongue is German, anyway.


Thus, it's hard for me to believe Lars Wirzenius when he writes
quoted text
> ...................................(Linus) is shortish (around 170 I
> think), wears glasses..............................................

I believe Linus is tall and handsome and doesn't wear CONTACT LENSES even.


Thank you,
s.a


-- 
=============================================================================
Sakari Aaltonen                             Helsinki University of Technology
Email: sakaria@vipunen.hut.fi
---  You can't keep a Finn down without him getting all red in the face  ----