shittish

A derogatory term which refers to the policy of compulsory teaching of Swedish language to Finnish people. More generally, any unwanted imposition of a foreign language or culture on a people. In Finland, 95% of the population are native Finnish language speakers. It is considered one of the most linguistically homogenous countries in the world. Yet a small anti-Finnish elite imposes a policy which has been compared to South African apartheid in the 20th century. Shittish refers not only to the compulsory teaching of Swedish, but also the requirements for proficiency in Swedish for many government jobs in Finland. The policy is considered outdated but is kept in place by massive funding from Sweden and bribery of Finland's government officials. Over ten years of reputable public polling have shown that around 70% of Finns want an end to Shittish. The policy is also called "åpårtheid", a word containing the Swedish "Å" character not used in the Finnish alphabet.