Blood and milk meets thunderbasher

Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is a traditional Czech folk song sung by Standa Hložek – and it’s called “When I used to come to your house.” The phrase to listen out for is “krev a mlíko”.

Photo: CTK

The expression “krev a mlíko” means blood and milk and refers to a healthy milk-and-roses complexion. It was often used to describe blooming, rosy-cheeked country girls bursting with health. Hložek sings that when he used to come to his sweethearts house, she was a girl all blood and milk but now that he no longer goes to her she is a “holka bledá” a pale-faced girl, whose heartache keeps her awake at nights.

In another part of the song the singer says his sweetheart was “jako ruže” meaning like a rose. Another way of saying a girl is pretty and bursting with health is to say “holka jako lusk” a girl like a peapod. You may also hear the phrase “holka jako obrázek” a girl as pretty as a picture or “holka radost pohledět” a girl that makes you happy to look at her.

There are of course colourful expressions to describe young men as well. If you want to say hunk in Czech you use the expression “vazba” or else “hromotluk” which translates as thunderbasher. A more modern expression is “řízek” meaning schnitzel, but basically refers to a hunk of meat or steak. If you are the opposite of a schnitzel you are a salad “salát” which is the polite word for a wimp. The less polite ones I would prefer not to translate. But you can pick them up at any Czech pub. This is Daniela Lazarová saying thanks for learning Czech with me and na shledanou!