It has been used as a curse as a cry for the god for strength. It still is a common curse word in colloquial Finnish. Finnish people use the word to be more serious and powerful than less powerful curses. When the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland held a contest to nominate the "most energizing" word in the Finnish language, one of the suggestions was Perkele because "it is the curse word that gave the most strength for the reconstruction of Finland after the wars."