Eyes on stems

Welcome to this week’s edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by teenage pop singer Ewa Farna. The song is called Passion and the phrase to listen out for is “oči na stopkách”.

“Oči na stopkách” means eyes on stems and suggests that one’s eyes are popping out of one’s head on stems or springs as you sometimes see in cartoons and comic books. The phrase does not however suggest surprise so much as expectation – when one is alert for something they anticipate or fear. If you want to express surprise you put the eyes even higher up –on top of someone’s head. “Měl z toho oči navrch hlavy” means the news put his eyes on top of his head.

A phrase you may frequently come across when speaking to the older generation is “zlatý oči” or golden eyes. It is used to express disbelief that whatever it is is likely to happen. And the whole phrase originally was “zlatý oči co to uvidí” loosely translated as precious are the eyes that see this happen – there’s precious little chance of anyone ever seeing this come about.

Big eyes on the other hand – “velký oči” indicate a hunger for something. If you put two pieces of cake on you plate and find you are unable to eat them – a Czech will say you had big eyes – “velký oči”– but your tummy didn’t measure up.

Eyes of course are also for crying – we say “mohla si oči vyplakat” or she could cry her eyes out. If someone is dumped or duped and there’s precious little they can do about it you may hear them say “zůstaly mi oči pro pláč” all I have left is eyes to cry with. On the other hand, if you are fairly happy about something, but it is no big deal you can say “lepší než dostat drátem do oka”– it is better than a poke in the eye.

The expression “házet po někom očkem” to throw an eye in someone’s direction means to take furtive glances at someone. To fall out of your mum’s eye “ta mámě z oka vypadla” does not mean you had a fall out with your mum – on the contrary it is used to describe a girl’s likeness to her mother – a chip off the old block. And finally, a bit of old wisdom “co oči nevidí, to srdce nebolí” what your eyes don’t see, will not hurt your heart – a phrase used when someone is cheating on you. On the other hand, you might prefer to keep your eyes on stems and look out for trouble. Because otherwise they could soon be on top of your head. This is Daniela Lazarová saying thanks for learning Czech with me and na shledanou!