A fantastic reklaam (advertisement) for its witty play on words. Not Tere hommikust (Good morning), but Tere ummikust (Hello from the ummik).
If a drain is umbes, it’s clogged.
If it’s umbne inside a room, there’s a lack of fresh air.
An umb/sõlm is a knot that’s really hard to untie; it’s umbes.
If there are a lot of vehicles on the road, which are hardly moving, it’s a liiklus/ummik (traffic jam).
A few of my Estonian friends, who lived in Toronto for a number of years before returning to Eesti, did a funny direct translation and referred to the fenomen of the never-before-witnessed Canadian big city traffic jam as a liiklus/moos; moos being the jam you put on your pannkook. But you won’t hear that in Eesti.
Since words beginning with an H almost always lose it in spoken Estonian – hobune (horse) sounds more like obune and herne/supp (pea soup) like ernesupp, then Tere ummikust with no pun intended is basically what you can hear in many parts of Estonia, especially in places where there is a more distinct regional dialect.
This is an ad for the Olerex bensiini/jaam (gas station) aka tankla, where you “tank” (the verb tankima) or fill your tank. It also serves kohvi to go (in a cup marked Teeline – Wayfarer) and certain ampsud (snacks / mouthfuls), such as the given breakfast sandwich. Looks like fried egg with peekon, lettuce and a slice of pickle on dark rye.
Sitting on the passanger seat of a car. The text below reads: Naudi värsket ummikueinet! Enjoy a fresh “gridlock” meal! And in the hard to see box in the upper right: Õnnelik ummikutund 7.00-10.00 – Happy traffic jam hour 7:00-10:00. Must also be the time during which you can order the või/leib (sandwich).
The image of eating said hommiku/söök or ummiku/söök (breaky) while sitting in a liiklus/ummik, with the announcer on your car raadio shouting Tere hommikust!, to which you can shout back Tere ummikust! or Greetings from the traffic jam, is perfektne. I wish I’d thought of it. Nagu rusikas silma/auku – fits “like a fist in your eye” or is kümnesse! – “into (the) ten”, as in Bullseye!
Riina Kindlam,
Tallinn
