Sugar and salt

Hello and welcome to today's SoundCzech, which has a slight culinary flavour to it. This week, we'll be listening to a song by Karel Kryl, one of the most respected Czech folk singers ever to have lived. The song comes from Kryl's first album, 'Bratříčku, zavírej vrátka', released in 1969 – it's called 'Salome', and all about King Herod's famed seductress. The phrase to listen out for is 'cukr i sůl':

Tender and treacherous, a devil and a lamb, Kryl sings that Salome is both 'cukr i sůl'. 'Cukr i sůl' means literally 'sugar and salt', but here, referring to Salome's character, it means that she can be both sweet, and an utter monster. If you say to someone in Czech 'jsi cukr i sůl' ('you're sugar and salt'), you are telling them I suppose, in English translation, that they have a 'Jekyll and Hyde character'. But, someone who is 'sugar and salt' in Czech is not just someone with a split personality, it is someone who is capable at times of being extraordinarily sweet. Have another listen to Kryl's ode to Salome:

The word for salty in Czech is 'slaný' and the word for sweet is 'sladký'. In this country, the adjectives 'slaný' and 'sladký' don't just apply to popcorn (which is 'popcorn' in Czech, if you were wondering), they also apply to water. Those who are fond of fishing in particular are likely to hear the phrases 'slaná voda' and 'sladká voda' on a trip to this country. While sea water or salt water in Czech is referred to pretty much the same as it is in English – as 'slaná voda' - it is not 'fresh' water you have in Czech rivers, but 'sweet', or 'sladká', water. And as well as having 'sweet water', Czechs can also have 'sweet blood'. If you find yourself, as I do, proving a particular hit with this country's midges, then you will probably be told this is because you have 'sladká krev' ,or sweet blood. I always find this complimentary-sounding turn of phrase something of a consolation for all of those angry red marks. Have another listen to Kryl's song about the sweet, blood-thirsty, Salome:

And finally, some of you may remember the phrase the Czechs used to publicise their presidency of the European Union, which sparked quite a furore. Ahead of their time at the top in Brussels, the Czechs promised to 'osladit Evropě'. This literally translates as 'to make Europe sweeter', but 'osladit někomu' or 'něčemu' ('to make someone or something sweeter') also has a second, idiomatic meaning in Czech. If you 'osladíš někomu', you make life difficult for that person. Another suggested translation at the time was that 'you give them a taste of their own medicine'. Not as sweet as it first sounds. But then I suppose the Czechs were trying to be 'cukr i sůl' at the helm of the EU.

And on that both slightly sweet and sour note, I bid you na shledanou, good bye!