Break a leg with Czech!
Welcome to the last episode of our Czech language series - Czech From Head to Toe. Today's body part is the legs - and also feet, as popular Czech uses just one word for both: noha - and in the plural - nohy. The number of idioms using these words is overwhelming, so we'll go through just a few of them.
Welcome to the last episode of our Czech language series - Czech From Head to Toe. Today's body part is the legs - and also feet, as popular Czech uses just one word for both: noha - and in the plural - nohy. The number of idioms using these words is overwhelming, so we'll go through just a few of them. My favourite is le¾ má krátké nohy, literally "a lie has short legs", meaning it won't run far before it is caught. Our forefathers were such optimists to think every liar would eventually be caught even if he decided to vzít nohy na ramena, literally "to take his legs on his shoulders", or take to his heels in proper English.
About young people who are tall, thin and gawky Czechs say they are samá ruka, samá noha - all arms and legs. When they overcome that embarrassing stage, it is important for them to postavit se na vlastní nohy, to stand on their own two feet, to become financially independent. Sometimes the easiest way is to skoèit do toho rovnýma nohama - "jump in with straight legs", jump in at the deep end, plunge into it. But it is dangerous to overestimate one's financial status and ¾ít na vysoké noze - "to live on a high leg", or to live like a lord, spend more than you can afford. Sooner or later it's possible to say about such people: hoøí mu pùda pod nohama - "the ground is burning under his feet", or things are getting too hot for him. Or they can lose the ground beneath their feet altogether - ztratit pùdu pod nohama.
And that's the end of today's programme and also of our "Czech from Head to Toe" series. Thanks for listening and please join us again for our new Czech language series starting next week. Let's hope we'll get off on the right foot - vykroèíme správnou nohou. Good- bye. Na shledanou.
See also Living Czech.
