Czech Update

Dictionary of Czech culture

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:56:48 -0400

The Amazon reviewer got it right! read more »

Svátky: The holiday season

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:03:13 -0500

MF DNES To, že jsou Vánoce již za dveřmi, lze poznat z nabídky a výzdoby obchodních domů a od čtvrtka je bude připomínat i výzdoba v ulicích Prahy 8.

The holiday season is upon us, around the corner, or behind the door (za dveřmi). More and more Christmas trees are showing up in the streets of Czech cities and soon they will be joined by tubs with carp. But first, we will have to celebrate St Nicholas on Mikuláš day (5. of December). Last year I put together a Christmas vocabulary, and here are the key words for the season again: read more »

Babí léto - Indian Summer

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:24:17 -0400

Well, we've said nashledanou to okurková sezóna (the summer slow news season) and are about to welcome another time of year: babí léto (Indian Summer). I don't really know why it's called that but it seems to be reminiscent of bába (hag) but hag's summer sounds a little strange. Unfortunately, I don't have any etymological dictionaries to hand. This is what Czech wikipedia has to say about it:

Babí léto bývá charakterizováno obdobím suchého, málo větrného,
slunného a přes den velmi teplého počasí. Noci ale bývají již poměrně read more »

Okurková sezóna? Cucumber season?

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 03:04:59 -0400

I finally have time to update this blog and nothing interesting is happening. Oh, I somehow missed the new Czech government and Czech exit from the world cup, but that's really rather dull. When I say nothing is happening I mean nothing with interesting linguistic or cultural implications. The summer months are notoriously slow newswise - Czech has a term for this: okurková sezóna - ĺiterally 'cucumber season'. Let's hope things pick up soon. In England, this period is often refered to as the Silly Season characterized by stories of the "Dog bites man" variety (for which Czechs have no idiomatic equivalent). read more »