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There’s a large percentage of the population who looks to the nights and weekend as an opportunity to get dressed up and get on out.
And then there’s the rest of us who spend that sweet, supple, precious time in our knickers, sometimes watching television, and almost always drinking. I fall into the latter category, and I have for the last 1,456 weekends of my life (that’s 28 times 52, btw).
Thanks to Finland’s tourism site, I can finally name my weekend wardrobe: kalsarikannit.
A mouthful of a term, it means “the feeling when you are going to get drunk home alone in your underwear — with no intention of going out,” which roughly translates to how I feel 85 percent of the time. Finland introduced this word on the heels of Denmark getting all of the attention for that cozy “hygge” concept which dominated 2016.
Over the years, my weekend routine progressed in the following chronology: From milk + diaper + Sesame Street to apple juice + Hanes + Rugrats to Diet Coke + The OC + Victoria’s Secret string bikini cuts. These days, the equation is Cabernet + giant sweater + Gap Body cotton hipsters + Parks and Recreation. Peak kalsarikannit, if you will.
So there you have it. In case you were feeling insecure about a weekend routine that involves lots of booze and zero pants (and certainly not basketball shorts), at least now there’s an official term for it. So the next time one of my friends is all like, “Sup, Chavie... Flywheel?” I can be like, “Wow, thanks, I totally would... but kalsarikannit, you know?”
I’m unclear about how to pronounce it, but lucky for us, Finland’s site also debuted kalsarikannit emoji, so you can just download it and blast it out to anyone who attempts to bother you between Friday and Sunday.
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