Narina (literally "creaking" in Finnish) is a combination of sounds produced by certain people that are extremely aggravating. Having noticed it mostly occurring among Finnish people, I have dubbed this condition by a name in the Finnish language.

In essence, narina is a (seemingly voluntary) condition where the speaker's voice is accompanied by a strained creak. Between the formation of words (at the beginning and end of words) a strange, relatively low-pitched sound is emitted from the throat. It almost sounds like a low-pitched balloon whine, where the air is let out from between the tightly stretched balloon mouth.

Narina can be said to be characterized by the Formula 1 driver Kimi Räikkönen with his frequent "Noemmätiiä" ("Idunno") lines. Many teenage girls connect the words in their spoken Finnish with this kind of creak. In addition, many older women tend to creak in this way while speaking, as if their vocal cords were overstretched in some way.

Currently (March 2002) there is a TV advertisement on Finnish television that advertises a cholesterol-lowering margarine. One of the speakers in this ad is a woman in her fifties whose words run together connected by extremely annoying narina.

Narina is a definite turnoff.

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