helsinki syndrome
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.31 in modern English
29
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
2
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- ""It's called Helsinki Syndrome.” Dr. Pantu said to the Doctor over the telephone. “The kidnapped, or hostages, begin to identify with their captors.""
- "In the same field as brain washing but acting with almost immediate effect is a response now called the “Helsinki Syndrome" after an event that occurred in that city. Bank robbers took captive some bank staff after a robbery went wrong."
- "Danny claimed he fell in love with Jeannie, but what seemed to Storms more likely was that she had developed some kind of Patti Hearst-like, Helsinki-syndrome, teenage crush on him."
- "It's the Helsinki syndrome, Striker. We've encountered it before in the SAS. When hostages are totally dependent on their captors and do not know whether they'll live or die, they begin to identify with the terrorists."
- "Niles wanted to know if Dr. Davis was familiar with the Helsinki Syndrome, where hostages were brainwashed into thinking of their captives as friends."
- "This is a variation of the Helsinki Syndrome, in which hostages come to sympathize with their captors."
Etymology
Probably due to the 1988 film Die Hard in which an ignorant TV expert calls Stockholm syndrome "Helsinki syndrome": * 1988, Jeb Stuart (screenplay), Die Hard: Gail Wallens (a news anchor, live on air): ...author of "Hostage/Terrorist, Terrorist/Hostage, a Study in Duality." Dr. Hasseldorf, what can we expect in the next few hours? Dr. Hasseldorf: Well, Gail, by this time the hostages should be going through the early stages of the Helsinki Syndrome. Harvey Johnson (Gail's co-anchor): As in Helsinki, Sweden? [a crew member facepalms]