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‘Czechs are hillbillies who specialize in the making of sunflower oil’/ ‘Cesi jsou vesnicani, kteri vyrabeji hlavne slunecnicovy olej’

Remember my post called Ode to Czechs? Well, enough of us bragging, here is the other side of the coin (and you are not going to like this side). According to a recent poll made by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Czech image in other countries is not good. The participating foreigners see Czechs as rednecks who make sunflower oil and tower clock. Zdenka Kuchynova from Radio Praha further explains: “We are not a nation abounding with prodigy hockey players and gorgeous girls, we are a primitive country inhabited by vulgar and overworked hillbillies. We are cheap laborers and excel in the  production of sunflower oil and tower clock..oh, and we tend to get melancholic.”

Which foreign country gave us the best ratings? The results show that the further the participating country is located from the Czech Republic, the better the ratings since they don’t know that much about us. Sometimes the results of those far away countries are said to be less negative or even positive.

Who gave birth to the incorrect idea that our country specializes in sunflower oil? Miroslav Knepr is one of the scientists who compiled the resulting data and he has his own theory behind these rumors: “When we look at the former (or even sometimes current) ads about the Czech Republic, most of them have beautiful images of endless sunflower and/or beet fields. When the outside world keeps seeing these images over and over then people start to connect the dots so to speak.”

How the heck did we get accredited with the clock-making business? Again, because every travel booklet on the Czech Republic has this image of a cute little baroque church and that is how the outside world translated it.

The most known Czechs abroad are:

  • Karel Gott
  • Ivana Trumpova
  • Eva Herzigova
  • filmovy Pan Tau
  • porn-star Dolly Buster

(PS: Did not know that Dolly Buster is Czech!)

The Czechs are also known by the former exporting goods such as the Bohemian Crystal and – of course – beer.

The British know us (and like us) thanks to cheap beer and – sadly – cheap girls.

How can we change this distorted image of the Czech Republic? According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it is imperative to  alert  our foreign neighbors about the inventions we have made such as the miraculous contact lenses or the atomic dome in Hiroshima which was the only building that survived the atomic bombings in 1945 and was built by a Czech engineer.

The change can come  perhaps through this blog as well 🙂

CZ: Nebude se vam to libit, ale podle nedavneho pruzkumu ministerstva zahranici image Ceska v zahranici neni dobra. I kdyz my si myslime, ze jsme tim nejlepsim narodem na svete,Cesi jsou podle cizincu prosti vesnicane, kteri vyrabeji hlavne olej (HA-HA!). Zdenka Kuchynova z Radia Prahy dale vysvetluje: ‘Nejsme narod skvelych hokejistu a krasnych divek, nybrz civilizaci neprilis zasazena zeme obyvana razovitymi a udrenymi vesnicany. Jsme levna pracovni sila a to hlavni, na co se zmuzeme, je vyroba slunecnicoveho oleje a veznich hodin a mame sklon k melancholii.’

Ktery narod nas hodnotil nejlepe? Cim dale je ta zeme dal od Cech, tim jsou pry nazory jejich obyvatel  nepresnejsi; ale zase jsou pry mene negativni, nekdy i pozitivni.

Jak vznikl dojem, ze vyrabime hodne slunecnicoveho oleje? Miloslav Knepr je jeden z vedcu, ktery zpracovaval data tohoto pruzkumu a ma o tom svou vlastni teorii: “Kdyz se podivame jak vypadali (a stale jeste nekdy vypadaji) reklamni materialy o Ceske republice, tak je to dano tim, ze se treba pouzivaji krasne obrazky, ale v rade knih vydite repkove a slunecnicove lany; a kdyz to nekdo vidi ve treti brozure za sebou, tak si rekne, to urcite neni jen tak, to ma nejaky vyznam.”

A jak vznikl dojem, ze vyrabime vezni hodiny?? “Protoze v kazde brozure jsou veze ceskych baroknich kostelnku a takhle si to prelozili.”, dodava pan Knepr.

Nejznamejsi Cesi v zahranici jsou:

  • Karel Gott
  • Ivana Trumpova
  • Eva Herzigova
  • filmovy Pan Tau
  • pornoherecka Dolly Buster

Jinak nas znaji pres byvale vyvozni zbozi – sklo a pivo.

Pro Brity je v Cechach levne nejenom pivo ale take divky.

Jak by se tento mlhavy a nepresny obraz Cech mohl zmenit? Podle ministerstva zahranici je treba ukazat vynalezy, ve kterych jsme ve svete vynikli, jako jsou treba kontaktni cocky nebo atomovy dom v Hirosime, ktery jako jediny prezil jaderny vybuch a jeho projektantem byl Cech.

Czechmate Diary s timto bremenem snad take trosku vypomuze.

http://www.radio.cz/cz/rubrika/udalosti/cizinci-vidi-cechy-jako-venkovany-vyrabejici-hlavne-olej

If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

20 comments… add one
  • Eva Z February 9, 2011, 5:43 am

    This is hilarious, I can’t help but laugh…especially the sunflower oil is funny 🙂

  • Tom Blaha February 9, 2011, 6:25 am

    Thanks, I’d never heard of Dolly Buster before. I’ll have to look her up. The Czechs are the best educated and most technologically savvy of all the “former eastern bloc countries.” That’s the way most Americans I talk to see it. I do, however, usually have to expalin to them that “pilsener” and “budweiser,” are words, products, and concepts that originated in Czech before becoming bastardized by American commercialism causing many Americans to think of them as vaguely “german,” or even “American.”

  • Marika February 9, 2011, 6:43 am

    I wonder if the people in the ministry were drunk when they did this “poll”. I also have to explain the origins of Plzen and Budweiser to Americans. The chandeliers in the State Capitol in Sacramento are made out of Czech glass! I tought the biggest production of sunflower oil comes from Bulgaria. I guess I need to get my facts straighten up:)

  • Sarka February 9, 2011, 12:41 pm

    I think the poll included only the EU countries, am I right?

  • Tanja February 9, 2011, 12:47 pm

    Yes, Sarka, I think it is only the EU countries. I have never heard an American telling me what wonderful sunflower-oil-makers we are 🙂
    And I guess Dolly is famous only in Europe? I had no idea she was born in Czech. I am sorry but could she had become famous in something else??

  • Eva Z February 9, 2011, 1:18 pm

    Ano, Dolly je z Ceska a vypada tak trochu jako Dolly Parton 🙂 Akorat asi nezpiva tak dobre…:) V Evrope je celkem znama.

  • Tanja February 9, 2011, 9:16 pm

    Aha, no tak to jsem rada, ze tady v Americe ‘neprosadila’. Mrkla jsem se na jeji fotku na Wikipedii a vypada jako klasicka zombi, stara zenska asi se 100 plastickymi operacemi.

  • Eva Z February 10, 2011, 10:05 am

    No to mas pravdu, ale to je ji pry jen 39….vypada na stopadesat, ze? Hruza.

  • Tanja February 12, 2011, 8:39 pm

    Coze? Jenom 39 let???? No to vypada fakt na 200….

  • Vlastimil February 12, 2011, 9:03 pm

    What is so bad in producing sunflower oil or tower clock? I think, it so much better than producing ethanol from corn while millions people are starving …. If I made money on sunflower oil production, I would be proud, if I made money on ethanol made from corn, I would be ashamed….
    So, better to be a proud hillbilly or redneck than a corporate farmer contributing to shortage of food.
    BTW Czechs should blame themselves for that “backward” image. When they talk to each other inside of Czech Valley, they are so brave and proud….. when they are outside of Czech Republic, they are so humble and afraid being proud. They even don’t dare to think they could compete with Americans, Germans and even Russians…. I don’t know how to translate it: “Cesi si porad srali a budou srat do kalhot”….

  • Jaryba February 13, 2011, 8:37 am

    Co se týče zemědělské produkce, tak akorát vím, že Česká republika je největší producent máku na světě (když počítáme ten legální, který není zneužit k výrobě drog – toho se jinak vypěstuje nejvíce v Afganistánu).

  • Tanja February 13, 2011, 9:26 am

    Yes, you are right! Here is the link:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy_seed

    Gotta write about this!

  • Marika February 14, 2011, 3:56 pm

    I think you are right Vlastimil. The Americans made culture out of farming (cowboys, red necks, huge pick-up trucks). The Czech version: “Jezdis s tim jako s hnojem” taky nevim jak to prelozit, aby to vyznelo spravne. Which of course means, they are making fun of you and make you feel ashamed.

  • vlastimil February 15, 2011, 7:53 am

    Marika, once I was visiting Cech Republic , I still lived in Luxembourg and had a nice Audi car …
    Then i visited my relatives and took them for ride … Of cource I wanted to obey the speed limit and drove accordingly… They started teasing me : “Jezdis s tim jako s hnojem” (please, can anybody translate it?) and theiy thought they were soooo funny….And I responded : “Koho vezu, tak i jedu”
    (please, translation?) and they did not think it was funny 🙁

  • Tanja February 15, 2011, 10:26 am

    Aha, a dostal jsi po tom tvem komentu vubec veceri, Vlastimile?

  • vlastimil February 15, 2011, 3:27 pm

    Jo, dostal jsem flasku slunecnicoveho oleje a povinne jsem se musel koukat na prazsky orloj 😉

  • Marika February 15, 2011, 8:15 pm

    See what I mean Vlastimil?(:
    Anyway, I am attempting the translations, however I don’t think it will have the same meanings in English.
    “Jezdis s tim jako s hnojem; You are driving like you would be carrying a manure in the back”. In Czech this is an idiom which means that you are driving slowly. It refers to farmers who transport the manure in the back of tractors. It is generally negative or provoking idiom telling the driver to speed up.
    The response “Koho vezu, tak i jedu” means I am driving in this fashion because the “cargo (meaning the passengers) I am carrying. Hope this makes any sense.

  • Tanja February 16, 2011, 2:41 pm

    Vlastimile, alespon te nechali koukat na orloj, mohla to taky byt nejaka nudna kaplicka uprostred pole! Teda samozrejme ze slunecnicoveho pole 🙂
    PS: Mariko, super preklad!

  • JAKUB ESOP February 19, 2011, 3:58 pm

    cesko je krasna zeme, kulturni, mame dobre remesnici, hudba znama hlavne v us, japonsku,ale ma
    stransnou vlastnost , zavist . jsem pysny ze jsem czech

  • Vlastimil February 20, 2011, 4:48 pm

    Jakube, tak to ti strasne zavidim 🙂 🙂

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