Czechmatediary

As I have said many times in the past, without the Czechs, people would be still dancing naked around the fire like they were  in the Neanderthal era. This list is yet another proof of this:  English words that were originated from the Czech language (take that!!!!):

CZ: Jak jsem rekla jiz mnohokrat v minulosti, bez Cechu by lide na celem svete stale tancovali jako neadrtalci kolem ohne. Nize uvideny list je toho dalsim dukazem: anglicka slova prevzata z ceskeho jazyka (diky za typ, Vlastiku!):

* Absurdistan (in Czech Absurdistán) - word created by Eastern Bloc dissidents, passed into English mainly through works of Václav Havel.
* Budweiser - after Budweis, the German name of Budějovice, a city in southern Bohemia
* dollar - from German thaler, a nickname for the silver coins that were minted from the ore found in Jáchymov in western Bohemia, called Joachimsthal in German (literally Joachim’s Valley)
* háček - a diacritical mark, literally “little hook”, e.g. č is letter c having háček. Also known as “caron”.
* howitzer - from houfnice, a 15th century Hussite catapult; houf meaning crowd or band

* kolache - from koláč or koláček. (more…)

This amazing story is about Lilly Friedman, a woman who was raised in a former Czechoslovakia and who also survived Auschwitz, a forced labor camp, a death march and  Bergen Belsen concentration camp (also a famous Czech painter and writer Josef Capek died here). Her unfortunate life experiences did not break her spirit, however, having managed to have a special wedding during those hard times, wearing a very special gown. It really is amazing that some people nowadays have the audacity to say that Holocaust did not happen…how would they justify the following story, then?

CZ: Toto je neuveritelny pribeh Lilly Friedmanove, rodacky z ceskoslovenske Zarice, ktera nejen ze prezila Auschwitz, concentracni tabor v Bergen Belsen (kde mimochodem umrel take Josef Capek), ale take hruzny pochod smrti. Tezky osud ji ale nezlomil po strance dusevni, prave naopak. Dokazala totiz usporadat nejen ze mimoradnou svatbu, ale take nosila mimoradne svatebni saty. Je opravdu nevidane, ze jsou na svete lide, kteri veri tomu, ze Holokaust je pouhy mytus.

‘LILLY FRIEDMAN doesn’t remember the last name of the woman who designed and sewed the wedding gown she wore when she walked down the aisle over 60 years ago. But the grandmother of seven does recall that when she first told her fiancé Ludwig that she had always dreamed of being married in a white gown he realized he had his work cut out for him.

For the tall, lanky 21-year-old who had survived hunger, disease and torture this was a different kind of challenge. How was he ever going to find such a dress in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Person’s camp where they felt grateful for the clothes on their backs? (more…)

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! And thank you to all of the veterans that have served this great country and faught for the freedom of other countries as well. To help us appreciate what many of them sacrificed, here is a great top 10 list of war movies you should put on your must see list.

CZ: Uzijte si Memorial Day! A dekuji vsem valecnym veteranum, za to jak pekne ocharnili/ochranuji tuto krasnou zem. Jestlize vas toto tema zajima, zde je vyborny  list 10 nejviznamnejsich valecnych filmu vsech dob.

I was searching for some YoTube videos about Czech and Slovak moms and ended up looking at the World War II videos, specifically the town of Lidice. So here we go, from Czech moms to Lidice. Its history is, indeed, is incredibly tragic:

CZ: Pokousela jsem se na YouTube najit video o ceskych a slovenskych maminkach, ale skoncila jsem se divat na videa z druhe svetove valky a to hlavne na filmy o Lidicich. Historie tohoto mestecka je opravdu neuveritelne smutna:

LIDICE is a village in the Czech Republic which is built on the site of a previous village of the same name. As a part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, it was destroyed under the direct orders of Heinrich Himmler in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (the Nazi deputy protector of Bohemia and Moravia) by a couple of Czech guys during World War II. (more…)

The theory of relativity is probably the most famous accomplishment of Albert Einstein, the scientist of all times. A few people know however, that the idea may have been born in Prague. ‘How is that possible?’, you may ask. ‘Einstein was not Czech he was German!’ That is true, he was born in Bavarian Ulm (1879) and died in the USA in 1955. But in 1911 and 1912 Einstein spent 16 months teaching at the German university in Prague.  He and his family lived in Lesnicka Street while he was lecturing theoretical physics at Klementinum and at the German Institute of Physics in Vinicna Street. There he had met a mathematics professor, Mr. George Pick, who advised Einstein on what books to study in order for him to find answers for his unanswered questions. During his stay in Prague Einstein published numerous articles on theory of relativity, gravitation, thermodynamics and quantum physics. (more…)

Hi Everyone/ Ahoj vsichni,

This is the 3rd part of Ivana’s research paper on a current situation of Czech-Americans (myself included). I found these results rather intriguing (question no. 10) and also found myself pleasantly surprised at times (question no. 11 and 12). Check it out:

PS: for part 1 click here and for part 2 click here.

CZ: Zde je treti cast Ivanina veledila zabyvajici se  situaci soucasnych Cecho-Americanu.  Jsou to opravdu velmi zajimave vysledky, zejmena otazka c. 10 a otazky c. 11 a 12 mi udelaly velkou radost. Mrkntete na to:

PS: Prvni cast najdete zde a druhou zde.

•    Question no. 10 asked about the knowledge of the Czech language among respondents (159 total). More than half, 82 answered positively, 77 acknowledged their inability to speak Czech. Out of the 82 respondents with knowledge of Czech language 31 also use it at home, 23 were relearning the language in courses. 11 respondents mentioned the way the knowledge of Czech language disappeared in their families, they all concurred in the assimilation forces and their parents desire to blend fast in the major American society from which arose the disconnection of passing the language to other generations. (more…)

Hi Everyone/Ahoj vsichni,

here is a 2nd part of Ivana Stavarova’s research essay, which describes a current situation of the Czech-American minority in the US. As she said in the first part of this article there is virtually no statistical information on this topic so it is great that she picked something like that for her thesis! Although her sample group is quite small (159 people) you can still get an idea of what we, the Czech-Americans (and partially also Slovak-Americans), are like in these days. Don’t get freaked out by those evil-looking pie charts, they just make it easier for us to see the results. I thought the results to question no. 5 were very surprising and answer no. 7 made me feel a bit like an outsider since I do not belong to any of the official Czech organizations….but wait, I belong to Czechmate diary!!! So I am safe…..

CZ: Nize je uvedena druha cast diplomove prace super ceske studentky Ivany Stavarove. Esej se zabyva soucasnou situaci  Cecho-Americanu (a zcasti take Slovako-Americanu) zijicich z USA. Jak jiz Ivana zduraznila v casti prvni, o tomto tematu neexistuji skoro zadne informace, a proto se na nej take vrhla. I kdyz celkovy pocet vyplnenych dotazniku nebyl az tak obrovsky (159 lidi), stale vam to da dobry obecny prehled, jak to s nami vubec vypada. Odpoved k otazce c. 5 me dosti zaskocila a diky odpovedi na c. 7 jsem se citila chvilku trosku menecenne, protoze k zadne oficialni organizaci nepatrim; ale pak jsem si vzpomela na Czechmate Diary a oddychla jsem si :0)) Jo, a nebojte se tech grafu, ty vam zivot jenom ulehci - uvidite!

(more…)

Remember, when you guys were filling out a Ivana’s questionnaire in order for her to complete her Master’s thesis on Czech-Americans? Well, the results are here! Ivana did a great job and since it is quite a long and meaty essay I cut it up into parts (I did not want our brains to explode):

CZ: Pamatujete is lidicky, jak jste pred nedavnem vyplnovali Ivanin dotaznik? Iva ho totiz potrebovala k dokonceni sve diplomky, zabivajici se tematem dnesich Cecho-Americanu. Moc se ji  esej povedla, ale jelikoz je to kusanec poradne prace, rozdelila jsem to na casti, aby se nam z tech informaci neprevarily mozky:

21st century - the Czech-Americans questionnaire survey

by Ivana Stavarova

Following the time line this chapter describes the lives of Czech-Americans in the 21st century. There are very little sources concentrating on this particular group of people now when borders are open and there does not exist any severe political, religious or social pressures that stand as push factors, especially any factors serious enough to push the citizens of an independent, free, and relatively prosperous Czech Republic to move to the USA and seek better lives there. (more…)

My linguistic buddy Jamie forwarded me this awesome YouTube video the other day (thank you Jamie!) which you just have to watch; it is a REAL documentary about what Czechs and Slovaks  in 1957 expected in the “cosmic” year of 2000 to look like. When I watched it for the first time, I could not believe it was real! But it is real!!!
PS: the movie has English subtitles :0)

CZ: Muj linguisticky kamos Jamie mi nedavno doporucil YouTube video, na ktere se proste musite podivat. Je to vynatek ze zpravodajstvi ceske televize (CT1) z roku 1957, ktere divakum predstavuje, jak by mel “kosmicky” rok 2000 vubec vypadat. Je to fakt sranda - tedy to, ze to ti zpravodajove mysli vazne :0) (more…)

I like this article; not only does the writer not call the Czech Republic “Czechoslovakia” anymore (yes!) but he also defends our side! Hot Air made a post on the Munich Agreement (1938) arguing that it was never OK to carve up Czechoslovakia, like other people (i.e. the Seattle Times) seem to think so…to read the whole heated debate, click here.

CZ: Nasledujici clanek se mi opravdu zamlouva; nejen ze autor nenazyva Ceskou republiku “Czechoslovakia”, ale take se nas zastava!! Jak se rika po cesku, zabil dve mouchy jednou ranou :0). Onen spisovatel se tu zabyva Mnichovskou dohoda (1938) a obhajuje byvale Ceskoslovensko pred “hulvaty” jako jsou Seattle Times, ktere v jednom jejich clanku naznacili, ze Hitler mel plne pravo rozkrajet Ceskoslovensko na kousky. Mate-li zajem precist si celou vasnivou diskuzi, klikntete sem.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/05/17/it-was-never-ok-to-carve-up-czechoslovakia/