Ahoj, My name is Mike and i am university student from Greece. I will come to CR this winter semester to study on the university of Brno. I have a lot of question that vary so i though it would be better to send my post to the misc section. I would like to hear from people that live or lived a long period in the city of Brno. Here it goes: -How much the meals cost on the local restaurants(cheap and expensive)? -Czech kuchyne special foods? -Is there a cinema for holywood movies? -How many czech people are listening to rock/metal music(average percentage)? -Are there any metal or rock bars and concerts in Brno? -What time are the bars closing on Brno? -How much internet costs and are there wifi hotspots or internet cafes on Brno(also include cost please)? -I heard taxi are expensive, is it true or not? -How to rent a car on Brno(age,money)? After my general questions i would like verification on some data about friendship, and dating i learned so far. -Common way to say hello between friends is to shake hands but i heard that in moravia hugs and kisses are common also. So im little confused about that. Here on Greece kisses are common. -Meeting people its not that easy like USA with one exception the local bars that you can easily meet people. -Man always must enter first a public place when acompaning a lady. On Greece this is more like a Should than a Must. -Do czech people make and accept relationships with other foreign visitors? Cant figure that one out because some say yes and some not. Could someone give an answer like "50% do". Also if you have any other information about the university itself i would be thankfull to hear.
I just wanted to comment on a man entering a public place before a woman. I'm American and I married a Czech man. We live in America. He would enter every building before me and I thought he was the most rude man I'd ever dated. In the States, a man is suppose to open the door for the woman and allow her to go first while he holds the door open. He would also walk in front of me while in a public place. In America, the man is suppose to walk behind the woman watching out for her. I hated it that he would walk in front of me because for one, it looked very rude. For another, men were able to check me out and look me up and down making eye contact with me because he couldn't see them do it since he was in front of me. That makes me feel like a piece of meat. If he were behind me, they wouldn't do it because they know he is behind me. So my husband and I had to discuss these cultural differences. Since we live in America and the men here are pigs (the men making me feel like meat), my husband has tried to adjust to the American way. Sometimes he forgets though because the European way is so engraved in him since childhood.
It is a strange practice beyond all understanding. I cannot imagine some "gentleman" allowing his lady to go first into a Wild-West saloon (possibly with flying chairs and glasses). The logical order: the men (fighters) go first followed by their women and children. In Japan, the established order in public places is the following: 1. the man with his son(s) 2. for a long time nobody (2-5 meter gap, according to circumstances) 3. his wife with daughter(s) (It is not a joke. :wink: )
Well, we don't have many "wild west saloons" - I've never seen a chair flying in a bar ( a few patrons, perhaps, but they were only flying high in their heads :wink: ). I guess we open doors for women to spare them the effort of struggling with the door, so they can make a graceful and unencumbered entrance. You will commonly hear the phrase "Ladies first" here and it applies to almost any situation. As far as walking in front or behind, I have always been taught to walk side-by-side equally and customarily the man is on the curb side (to protect from road splashes). All cultures are different and I will not say any one is right or wrong - there are good reasons why all of them developed the way they have - they are just different and that is why I love travel - variety is the spice of life.
It is technically impossible if the doors are narrow and opening inward. In such case you must go first to facilitate "a graceful and unencumbered entrance". Maybe in the USA, the anteports are opening outward and it is the nigger in the woodpile.
So it is true. Im wondering though what will happen if i open a door of a restaurant in cr and say "ladies first".
Doors in public facilities in the US open outward by law - to facilitate emergency evacuation (like, in case of a fire - people rushing to leave can not get trapped up against an outward opening door like they can if the door opens inward).
It is customary to walk side by side where there is room; usually holding hands. But I was talking about situations such as in a restaurant while being escorted to your seat, or any narrow walkway.
Do you mean a friendly relationship or a romantic relationship? Or either? There is a thread on interracial dating, but it's quite long. Besides, a Greek-Czech couple probably wouldn't count as interracial for most people, although you never know... The Czechs I have met have been quite friendly, although most of them are family so they have to be. :wink: They do have a reputation for being reserved though. They warm up to you if you give them a little time, at least that's been my experience. WTF! That's a horrible phrase! I don't think I even want to know where you got it from...and I don't even know what it means. Once again, my liberal PC upbringing puts me at a loss when it comes to racial slurs.
A nigger in the woodpile (or fence) - "Some fact of considerable importance that is not disclosed; something suspicious or wrong; something rotten in Denmark. The sayings with 'fence' and 'woodpile' developed about the same time and about at the period 1840-50, when the 'Underground Railroad' was flourishing successfully. Evidence is slight, but because early uses of the expressions occurred in Northern states, it is presumable that they derived from actual instances of the surreptitious concealment of fugitive Negroes in their flight north through Ohio or Pennsylvania to Canada under piles of firewood or within hiding places in stone fences." From "Heavens to Betsy" (1955, Harper & Row) by Charles Earle Funk. The closest Czech equivalent: Tady je zakopaný pes. = Here the dog is buried.
Ah, a book from the mid-50's. Now I see where you're coming from. But I, personally, still think it's a terrible thing to say, being an excruciatingly politically correct American. :wink:
Zeisig, I agree with Ceit - although the meaning of the phrase seems innocuous enough, it is, in today's usage, particularly offensive. Even growing up in the South during segregation, I was never allowed to use the "n-word" in my home and still cringe when I hear it today. There are much better ways to express a "mitigating circumstance" - but that is what this forum is about - we share and we learn. I know you meant no offense by the phrase.
O.K. The mechanical design of the doors is not "a nigger in the woodpile", but a concealed unknown factor affecting the situation in an adverse way or -- as we Czechs concisely say -- "a buried dog". Right? One more quote: "Media Watch is a program about the media and journalism that promotes a number of principles, including free speech. The phrase ‘nigger in the woodpile’ is a colloquialism, which means a hidden or unacknowledged problem. Some people may feel it's in bad taste, but we wouldn't pick up someone for using the term in context." Media Watch executive producer Peter McEvoy.
Oh, but Media Watch is Australian. Mayhap the N-word is not as offensive Downunder, but here in...upover, it's almost like using the F-word, the S-word, one of the C-words, or basically any word having to do with taboo bodily functions. It's just not acceptable in polite society. The fact that Americans are more euphamistic when it comes to anybody who's different - minorities, the physically or mentally handicapped, etc. - has probably come up at different times on different threads here, although I haven't seen a thread about political correctness specifically, but I know it's something others have a hard time coming to terms with. Most Europeans I know think it's just a big waste of time to always be measuring your words, and I admit sometimes we go too far ("differently abled", what's that BS? :roll: ), but on the other hand, when we have the negative background of a set phrase pointed out to us, we can see how deeply rooted hate towards the affected group is in our culture. And when we know, we can work to correct it.
