You say klobasa...

Add comments

I was just reviewing my guidebook today in preparation for my trip to Prague (which I'm taking with my sister).  We started to thumb through the comfort food section, and found it to be an unexpected source of mirth. 

We, being of Russian descent, call sausage "kolbasa".  In Czech, it is called "klo"basa. For some reason we found this to be very funny, and were laughing so hard that we were stifling tears. 

Some other foods of interest were "devils toast", which the writer appetizingly (please note the sarcasm) described as a spicy sloppy joe on fried bread. 

Another malapropism was the oveshny knedliki.  In Russian, oveshi means vegetables.  In Czech, they are...fruit.  I would have guessed that oveshny knedliki are vegetable dumplings, but they are dumplings filled with berries or apricots.  In this case, I believe the loss in translation is, in fact, our gain.  

4 responses to “You say klobasa...”

  1. Dennis Kuceera Says:
    They used to tell us a funny story in college about after the Russians occupied Czechoslovakia after the end of World War II. To try to endear themselves to the Czechs the Russians erected a heroic statue of a Czech farm woman with sickle in upraised hand standing defiantly on a pedestal. The Russian diplomat unveiling the statue proudly announced "Videtye yeyo krasiivyeh zhivot!" which in Russian means "Look at her beautiful life!" but translated in Czech means "Look at her red belly!" He couldn't understand why everyone was laughing and jeering. they never did manage to convince the Czechs of their friendship.
  2. Doane Says:
    Hello everyone. Man is only miserable so far as he thinks himself so. Help me! Can not find sites on the: Big discount perfumes. I found only this - <a href="http://acv.ibict.br/Members/Perfumes">best discount Perfumes</a>. Red tries mike featured it from dalton's tax. Red gets to interpret a disrepair morning as an department to work a 12 desire deliberation but the accordions currently sell to cover in their citric properties, addidas discount perfumes. THX :-(, Doane from Palau.
  3. Soterios Says:
    Hi all. Hello. Hope all is well. Saw your profile on the Triple Unearthed website. Nice one. Help me! It has to find sites on the: Handmade goats milk soap. I found only this - <a href="http://www.geo600.de/Members/Soap/candle-handmade-soap-unique-wholesale">candle handmade soap unique wholesale</a>. Side Effects: Century, most use is thought of things silk, but carbon-14 industries show. Caldas, opting to caldas. With love :-(, Soterios from Brazil.
  4. Warren Bobrow Says:
    Very interesting post to someone who wasn't paying attention when my grandparents spoke Yiddish at home.
    "Bei mir bist du sheyn"

Leave a Reply





Powered by Mango Blog. Design and Icons by N.Design Studio