Welcome to SoundCzech, our language series in which you can learn Czech phrases and idioms through song lyrics. In today’s edition the phrase to look out for is “letím jako blázen”, featured in a song by the Czech pop group Chinaski.
Letím jako blázen means to fly like a madman or someone who has lost their senses, fast, headlong and showing no signs of slowing down. In the song, Chinaski’s Michal Malátný sings about being an astronaut in flight around someone else’s orbit, a metaphor for having fallen in love. In the lyrics he describes the ecstasy of a new attraction - znovu jako poprvý, mozek se odkrví – just like the first time... the blood rushes from my head.
Photo: Barbora Kmentová
Letět means to fly but also can mean to run fast: children are always being reprimanded by the parents in the summer at the pool – Nelítej! they shout or Zpomal!, (for heaven’s sake, slow down!) lítáš jako blázen! You’re running like a mad person. You can also drive like a nutter, something which is sadly all too common on Czech roads. In Czech you say jet jako blázen– to drive like a madman. A variation is jet hlava nehlava, to drive headlong or jet jako vrah, literally to drive like a maniac. Chinaski’s song, of course, has no such connotations – Michal Malátný is not driving but gunning a rocket ship to the stars. Back on Earth, if you have a need for speed when you drive, say you’ve just eased onto Germany’s autobahn with your new Porsche and face many kilometres of even highway, you can jet jako namydlený blesk which translates literally as to go like grease lighting. Jet nadoraz means to go flat out – something you can see in races in Formula One or the Tour de France. Jet na plný plyn means pretty much the same, to drive full throttle or with the pedal to the metal. And, jet na plné pecky means to go at full blast. None of these expressions imply driving foolishly, just driving fast. So keep your cool, and if you have to run, drive or fly fast don’t do so like a madman, don’t act like a headless chicken.
