Day Of Finnish Literature - Embarrassing School Memory

Today is Aleksis Kivi's Day. It's a national flag day in Finland. Aleksis Kivi (born Aleksis Stenvall) was playwright and a poet, some of whose works are considered classics including Seitsemän veljestä (The Seven Brothers). He died a broken man in ignomy and poverty at the age of 38 in 1872, plagued by alcoholism and serious mental health problems, some of the latter of which have been suggested to have been the result of advanced borreliosis. Critics hated his work in his day because it didn't fit with the nationalistic idealism of his day.

This is Aleksis Kivi's brother's and his wife's house. The couple had three children, which means that this cabin was inhabited by six people. It's been made into a museum. My family and I visited it in July 2018.

This day is associated with an embarrassing school memory of mine. Finland is bilingual. Swedish is the second national language like French in Canada. The other national language is a compulsory subject in school for everyone.

One morning I was sitting in Swedish class. It was in the late eighties when I was in middle school. I was very tired that morning and not really thinking straight. Suddenly, the teacher addressed me asking me a question. The exchange went as follows:

• The teacher: Vilken dag är det idag? (What day is it today?)
• Me: Det är Aleksis Kives dag.

That put a wry smile on the teacher's face. I heard someone chuckle in the back of the classroom. Kivi is a Finnish family name that means "stone". Proper nouns are inflected in Finnish just like common nouns and the genitive case of "kivi" is "kiven". In Swedish, however, you just add an "s". The right answer was: "Det är Aleksis Kivis dag."

• The teacher: Ursäkta, jag hörde inte. (Excuse me, I didn't hear that.)
• Me: Det är Aleksis Kives dag..

I was completely oblivious to what I had just said. Everybody was laughing because "kives" means "testicle". My half asleep brain just didn't register.