Belated Thanks
I am remiss in not thanking those of you who wrote in to help me out with the ‘hen party’ phrase. Katerina wrote the very next day with the suggestion “Divci Jizda,” or “girls’ ride,” meaning a women-only party(not necessarily pre-wedding). She added that in Czech referring to woman as a hen (“slepice”) would be very unwelcome. Martin suggested also “Damska Jizda,” which sounds like it has a more mature sound to it. Both suggested “Panska Jizda” for the masculine equivalent. Katerina also said that there is a pre-wedding tradition of “Zapijeni Svobody,” which she translated as “drinking one’s freedom away, or washing one’s freedom down,” but that it’s usually a male tradition (surprise surprise). Thanks to both Katerina and Martin for the help!
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Vesele Velikonoce
Vesele Velikonoce: Pagan Easter Tradition Whips Up
Controversy in the Czech Republic. The article makes it sound like women are chased through the streets by hoards of drunken whip-wielding men. I’m sure we were in Prague for Easter the last time we visited, but I don’t remember seeing any of that.
Czechs Fight Light Pollution
Czechs rule: Czech Republic Enacts World’s First National Light Pollution Law. This would never fly in the United States because people would scream bloody murder that their rights were being violated.
Hen Party?
I just had a request to translate the phrase “hen party” into Czech. I had to reply that unfortunately I don’t speak Czech well enough to charge for translations (or even suggest them without much research). But I was intrigued, partly because I’d never even heard the phrase “hen party” before. Dictionary.com settled that quickly enough, but now I wonder if there’s such a phrase in Czech?
Prague Trip Plans
My wife and I are planning a trip to Prague in June. We hope to be able to stay the whole month. If anyone has any suggestions about places to stay–either reasonably-priced hotels or apartments which rent by the month–I’d love to hear them.
Kafka’s work goes back to Prague
Kafka’s work goes back to Prague. Good news, to be sure, but the article doesn’t answer all the obvious questions: How long did Porche own the manuscripts, and what were they doing with them? Where have the manuscripts been all this time? They should have spent more time on the story and less time posting a skanky picture of Jeremy Irons. via librarian.net
Czech Cheese
Someone came to this site the other day via a search for ‘Czech Cheese.’ I don’t know if they found what they were looking for, but it made me curious what other things might have turned up. A couple of interesting results came right up: Cheese labels of Czech, part of a collection of cheese labels from around the world (boasting more than 2000); and Czech Fried Cheese, on this Czech Recipes page. Mmmm…. Fried Cheese.
P.S. Someone else reached this site the other day via a search for ‘Czech Butter,’ implying that the demand for Czech dairy products via the interent is skyrocketing! This was at the same time that I was over at Harrumph! hassling Heather about how big a stick of butter is. I guess butter’s important to lots of people.