To have Hawaii

Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, our weekly feature in which we look at Czech expressions through song lyrics. Today’s song is called Havaj (Hawaii) and is by the famous Czech band Laura a její tygři (Laura and her Tigers).

Photo: Jiří Němec

In the song, Laura a její tygři sing mám doma Havaj– I’ve got Hawaii at home. The reason? In Czech mít Havaj - to have Hawaii - means to have a break, a little R & R, time to kick back. The holidays – especially the summer holidays are great for that and mít Havaj is a great expression: it’s easy to imagine yourself on a forgotten island, with a cocktail in your hand and your own Ginger and Mary-Ann to keep you company. When you tell someone you had Hawaii on your holidays, it means you had probably had a pretty good time – even if you weren’t really in Hawaii but “only” at your cottage. Hey, you can mít Havaj even in the comfort of your own flat, drawing the blinds when nobody’s home and grabbing a quick well-deserved nap!

A similar expression to mít Havaj is mít lážo plážo– to have it really easy or to be able to take it easy. V těchto dnech to má lážo plážo v práci– these days he has got it easy at work (Maybe everyone else, including the boss, is away). Lážo plážo is a play on the expression ležet na pláži– to lie on the beach. Things are good – lážo plážo. What did you do during your time off? Not much. Bylo to lážo plážo: things were laid back, pretty easy.

During the holidays, especially the summer months, you may also be inclined to let things slide, to not do much. If you’re not doing anything other than just lazing around, playing your Xbox or watching The Lord of the Rings films back to back even though you’ve seen them ten times, just “because you feel like it” – you’re probably doing a bit of flákání. Flákat se means to be lazy. How is your son preparing for school next year? Not much yet: flaká se… he’s being lazy, he’s lazing around. It’s not quite the same as mít Havaj, though. Having Hawaii feels more deserved – flakání, in the long run, is a bit irresponsible.

In the summer, with the holidays in the Czech Republic beginning in July, mít Havaj and some flákání are to be expected. Everybody needs a bit of time to tune out, to relax, to recharge their batteries. Myself, I’ve got a couple things lined up to kick back: a paddle-boat trip on the Vltava; a game of petanque on Letná plain, maybe even some sports, no, I mean on Czech TV. The only problem: there don’t seem to be any big events this year to crash out to: no Euro competition, no World Cup. Yeah, there’s the Tour de France, but watching those guys on the bikes in the peleton in 30+ degrees, that’s nothing short of exhausting. The farthest thing from Hawaii, if you know what I mean.