statistics

Are you considered old or young according to the Europeans? / Jste podle Evropanu mladoch nebo staroch?

A new EU poll uncovers some surprising data. The Europeans consider themselves to be young until they reach their 42nd birthday and call themselves old when one hits the 64th year of age.

The Czechs are even more harsh: a ‘spring chicken’ is anyone under the age of 40 and an ‘old hag’  is anyone who is 60 years old and older.

The most gentle people are the Dutch when it comes to age since they think one is not old until they reach their 70th birthday (I would probably have to agree with them). The harshest of all are Slovaks who will call you an old lady at 58! Now that’s just wrong…
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Tagged as: EU, statistics

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Czech Film Academy (FAMU) is the best school in Europe / FAMU je nejlepsi filmova skola v Evrope

According to the Hollywood Reporter, FAMU (Film Academy of Musical Arts in Prague) is the best film school in Europe. It ranked  number 7 (!!) from 25 other most prestigious film schools in the world, which is a huge success. The first place won the famous American Film Institute, the second place goes for the University of Southern California, and the third place goes to the Film Academy in Peking. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: movies, statistics

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Czechs are the biggest EU potheads/ Cesi jsou ti nejvetsi hulici z cele EU

It’s quite shocking for me but the recent EU study showed Czechs to be the biggest lovers of marihuana. Even countries like Neatherlands or Denmark are bellow us, together with Slovakia (check out the following chart). How embarrassing!

CZ: Je to pro mne docela sok, ale z nedavneho pruzkumu vychazeji Cesi jako nejvetsi milovnici marihuany. To, ze je Nizozemsko a Dansko jsou nekde dole pod nami me opravdu prekvapilo. Slovensko ma take mene zahuleny mozek nez Cesi – to je ostuda! [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: bad news, drugs, statistics

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Czechs are the second biggest drunks in the world / Cesi jsou druhymi nevetsimi opilci na svete

BREZNICE, CZECH REPUBLIC - JULY 19: Teammates watch a colleague down a glass of Herold lager July 19, 2003 during a beer drinking competition at the Herold Brewery in Breznice, Czech Republic. Pub life and beer are an intrinsic element of Czech culture, and contribute to the Czech Republic's first place world ranking in annual consumption of beer per capita, at 156 liters, well ahead of second-place Ireland (125 liters per head) and third-place Germany (120 liters per head). (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

What a surprise that the Czech Republic was given a second place as the drunkest country in the world! But don’t worry, we still hold the world record when it comes to beer (read the caption below the image). Here is a very nice image that may give you a feel of what a second place in this ‘competition’ might look like. Notice the beer bellies :) )

And who beat us? [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: beer, Slovakia, statistics

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Czechs: the poppy-heads / Cesi: Makove palice

I think everyone would agree that Americans are not  crazy about poppy seeds. The Czechs on the other hand put them into everything, including cakes (kolache), noodles and dumplings. Although each poppy seed is less than one millimeter in length it sure has a mighty power. Besides its culinary uses (condiment, decorative garnish, thickener, poppy-seed oil) poppy seeds have long been used as a folk remedy to promote sleep (opium) and fertility.

We are crazy about the poppies so much that we make movies about them too. Makova Panenka (= Poppy seed girl) is a Czech children cartoon which depicts a beautiful, big-eyed brunette whose skirt is made out of the petals of the poppy flower (see her image below). Heck, we even have a saying “You are such a poppy-head!” (= Ty jses takova makova palice!) meaning “You are so forgetful!”.

Why are we so obsessed about the poppies? How about if I tell you that the Czech Republic is  the number one producer of poppy seeds in the world?! We make  33,101 tons of poppies per year (2007) which is 54.32% of the world production!!!!! That explains everything….although it does not really explain WHY are we so fond of cultivating this plant (ideas anyone?).

Here is a  fun fact: [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: cooking, nature, statistics

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Only the disonest become rich in Czech? /Bohatnou v Cechach jenom darebaci?

Do only crooks get to drive the limos in the Czech Republic or can  honest and hardworking people become rich as well? The 2/3rds of Czechs lean toward the more pessimistic outlook, claiming that the rich became rich because they were using dishonesty and shady contacts instead of their competence.

Almost 90% of Czechs think  the differences between social classes have increased considerably in the last decade, yet the smart, honest and diligent members of the society are not part of the upper class. According to them it is actually the crooks who took that spot.

What’s interesting is that when the same question was asked 13 years ago, 80% of participants thought that smart and honest Czechs could become successful in their home country (what happened?).

The 2/3rds of the poll participants would handle this unfair situation by taxing the heck out of the rich people. They  (1/2 of them) would also  increase wages all across the country. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: economy, money, polls, statistics

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Help us create the Czech-American history! / Stante se soucasti Cesko-Americke historie!


Ivana is a grad student from Prague who is doing her thesis on us – the Czech-Americans! She has a fabulous questionare for people to fill out so please, if you get a few minutes, contact her and let her know you are willing to share your Czech-American life with her….and help building the Czech-American history.

‘Hi, I am a grad student from the Czech Republic and I am doing a research for my thesis, which concerns the Czech-Americans living in the U.S., but I don’t have enough contacts for nice people who would be willing to answer me some questions. The thesis concerns the generational gaps in perceptions of Czech identity, so I am especially interested in how much of the Czech identity do you actually keep in your lives. So please, if you want to help or if you know someone who would like to tell me about the life in the U.S., let me know on my email ivana.stojankova@gmail.com. Thank you very much.’

CZ: ‘Ahoj, jako studentka VŠ dělám výzkum k diplomové práci, která se týká čecho-američanů žijících v USA, ale chybí mi kontakty na hodné lidi, kteří by byli ochotní mi odpovědět na pár otázek. Téma diplomové práce je Generační rozdíly ve vnímání identity, takže mě hlavně zajímá, do jaké míry si stále udržujete českou identitu. Tímto Vás prosím, jestli se Vám chce pomoct nebo znáte někoho, kdo by si rád popovídal o životě v USA, dejte mi vědět na mail ivana.stojankova@gmail.com. Mockrát děkuji’

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Tagged as: history, polls, statistics

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Slovak brides are a hot stuff / Slovenske nevesty jsou v mode

Slovak ladies are a hot item for Czech men. In the last 10 years there have been 6,729 marriages and those numbers are still on the rise. Czech wife material also largely consists of Ukrainian women who within the last 10 years married 5,524 Czech men. In the third place are Russian women, then Vietnamese, Polish and the list goes on (full list can be found at the end of this article).

How about Czech women? Whom do they like to pick for their life-long mate? It looks like the Slovaks are winning again, followed by Germans and men from Great Britain (the American men took 5th place by the way).

The choice of mates depends on various aspects. The Slovak language is the most similar to the Czech language so it is naturally easier to communicate with someone from that country.  The most immigrants who come to the Czech Republic on a working visa are from Ukraine and get to meet the locals via their prolonged stay. Germany, Austria and Poland, on the other hand, are  neighboring countries, hence the ‘prey’ is in a close vicinity.

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Tagged as: Czech-American marriage, Slovak-American marriage, statistics

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Are Czechs smarter than Americans? /Jsou Cesi chytrejsi nez Americane?

idiot_v_genius google imageRemember we had that heated discussion in one of my posts about  Americans and their poor knowledge of geography? You guys ended up leaving 102 (!!) comments! Jamie was one of those involved commentators who kept pursuing the idea that there is NO difference between us and the Americans as far as general knowledge goes. He also promised to send me a research paper on exactly this issue and he kept his word! Here is most of the article, although I could not fit in all of the questions. But you get the idea..

CZ: Pamatujete si , jak jsem jednou psala clanek o Americanech a o jejich spatnych znalostech zemepisu? Vyvolal takovou diskuzi, ze jsme skoncili se 102 komenty!!! Jednim z komentatoru byl Jamie, ktery tvrdil, ze vseobecne znalosti Cechu a Americanu jsou na stejne urovni. Take nam slibil odborny clanek, ktery jeho hypotezu pry potvrzuje. Jamie dodrzel slovo a clanek poslal. Zde je ho vetsina, ale vsechny otazky se mi tam bohuzel vmestnat nepovedlo.

OK, WHO IS SMARTER, WE OR THEY?

Author: Vladimír Kajlík

Periodically, readers are showered with newspapers articles decrying progressive decline if not outright abysmal state of American public education. The conclusion, usually supported by various sorts of statistical “knowledge surveys”, provides presumably ample evidence for such a decline. There would be not much to report if we just assembled such articles from Europe and America to state the facts and to confirm assumed trends. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: school, science, statistics

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What is, according to Czechs, the most important thing in life? / Co je podle Cechu v zivote nejdulezitesi?

family google image

When were were back in the Czech Republic the last time my cousin asked my husband: “Why did you guys get married if you weren’t pregnant?” We gave him kind of a blank stare back, not knowing how to respond. For love? Isn’t that usually the reason why do people get married? But according to  the Ceske Noviny newspaper 59% of Czechs  did get married because of their offspring. What is interesting is that 70% of those who participated in the poll think of an ideal family as having 2 children – no more, no less. This has been a wide spread thought for quite some time, say  the statistical analysts. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: children, marriage, statistics, traditions

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