People might assume that the Finns have a wide open enthusiasm for alcohol, given their use of the word kalsarikänni, which refers to the positive restorative emotion that comes from drinking alcohol while sitting at home alone in one’s underwear. Culture is not uniform, however. It contains contradictions, caveats, and conflicts.
So it is that kalsarikänni is just one of many words that people in Finland use to describe the emotions that accompany drinking alcohol. Another Finnish word is morkkis, the foggy yet potent feeling of waking up after a night of drinking alcohol, worrying about having done something socially unaccepteable, without necessarily being able to clearly remember what exactly it was. Morkkis refers specifically to the emotional aspect of this experience, with the physical symptoms of a hangover adding to the intensity of morkkis, but remaining conceptually distinct, with their own word, krapula.
One obvious way to avoid morkkis is to pursue the solitary pleasure of kalsarikänni. Of course, the emotional safety of solitary drinking deprives us of the pleasures of social drinking. Every emotional pursuit requires an emotional sacrifice.
