Might be true, might be just a rumour.
I'll have to Czech it out.
Czech Republic to rebrand
The Czech Republic will henceforth be known as "Czechia", if the rebrand agreed by government leaders yesterday wins parliamentary approval. The move will result in massive thread savings for sports goods manufacturers, according to the BBC, because they'll no longer be obliged to spell out "Czech Republic" on shirts and the …
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Friday 15th April 2016 22:16 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Will the Czechs change their name to Czechians?
> Holland is not a country, just an area of the Netherlands, bit like saying the country of Wales.
Both of those are countries by a number of definitions. What for the time being they are not is nation-states.
Neither is "Czechia" by the way, which is just an obscure translation of Čechy, based on the old Polish spelling, of what in English is known as Bohemia, that being the left half and a bit of the country (as you look at the map so that the letters are the right way up), the remainder consisting of Moravia and the tiny bit of Silesia that spilled over from Poland for some reason.
One reason it was called Czech Republic back in 1993 was precisely that it was thought it would be carrying Bohemian (esp. Prague) pretentiousness a bit too far if it were to be called Česko (i.e., Bohemia), and on the other hand Bohemian-Moravian-Silesian Republic was a bit of a mouthful.
The previous name, Czechoslovakia sort of worked better insofar as it named the extreme points so everything in between was sort of implied. After the split the Slovaks had it easier--if they wanted to be historically accurate they could have called themselves the Western Hungarian Farmlands but they were not too hot on that one.
As for the saving thread argument, everyone spells the name ČR (in Czech) or CZ (in English) in all but the most formal situations so that doesn't hold much water, I'm afraid.
My theory is that the name change is an attempt at getting free publicity, Michael O'Leary style.
For a proper introduction to Czech history and culture, those with a reasonable command of Western Slavic languages and the Latin alphabet may refer to this encyclopædia entry (no, not that one).
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Tuesday 19th April 2016 16:55 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Will the Czechs change their name to Czechians?
I used to live in Holland, Zuid-Holland to be precise. So when I said I "lived in Holland", I was being accurate.
Curiously, in Danish, the official word for The Netherlands is in fact Holland. So there you go.
The Netherlands -- Kloggies
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Friday 15th April 2016 13:18 GMT I ain't Spartacus
Re: Will the Czechs change their name to Czechians?
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - erm... Englishman?
Other than British person, the only mention of British in naming I can think of is "Britischer schwein! Achtung! Spitfire!" And I don't think that's ever appeared outside a speech bubble...
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Friday 15th April 2016 15:54 GMT PNGuinn
Re: Will the Czechs change their name to Czechians?
"The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - erm... Englishman?"
Brit?
Canadian - Canuk
Australia - Aussie
England - Barmy Army
Scotland - Northern Savage, Glaswegian ...
Irish - Paddy
Welsh - Taffy
USofAAA - Septic
Mexico - Ask D Trump Esq
....
DISCLAIMER -- Any offence caused by this post is deliberate and justified on the grounds of satire - or something.
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Friday 15th April 2016 12:23 GMT Voland's right hand
This is not rebranding
Чехия or when using latin alphabet Czechia is how all Slavic nations refer to it anyway and have referred to it even when it used to be Czechoslovakia (to the extreme displeasure of the Slovaks).
It is not rebranding. It is a restoration of a historic brand.
At least they are not restoring it to "Moravia" (as that would mean a war with the Slovaks and Southern Polish for the name).
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Friday 15th April 2016 14:12 GMT kventin
Re: This is not rebranding
oh boy.
a Slovak here. your post is tad bit, how to say it, economical with facts.
"""Чехия or when using latin alphabet Czechia is how all Slavic nations refer to it anyway and have referred to it even when it used to be Czechoslovakia (to the extreme displeasure of the Slovaks).""""
first, about the displeasure. Czechoslovakia was quite a mouthful, so it was inevitable some shortening would happen. only, having been shortened out of the country does lead to some "displeasure". the feeling was similar to Ukrainians objecting to being called "Russian" (because "they come from ussr, i.e. russia, right?") or Welshmen objecting to being called English, only more so.
now, to that cute russia-centric view of slavic nations of yours (you _are_ Russian, aren't you?)
a short look to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Czechia gives us:
east slavic >>>
russian Че́хия
ukrainian Че́хія
belarussian Čechija (or when using cyrillic Чэхія)
rusyn Че́сько
south slavic >>>
bulgarian Чехия
macedonian Чешка
serb Чешка (or when using latin alphabet Češka)
croatian Češka
slovenian Češka
west slavic >>>
lower sorbian Česka
upper sorbian Čěska
kaszubian Czeskô
polish Czechy
czech Čechy, Česko
slovak Česko (but sometimes also Čechy)
silesian Czesko
(i left some slavic languages where i was unable to find a translation)
so, you see, not "all". not even "most".
however, there is a grain of truth in what you wrote about "restoration of a historic brand".
vide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lands_of_the_Bohemian_Crown
even today some people distinguish in Czech between "Čechy" (the Bohemia, or "land of Czech people" proper -- i.e. without Moravia and Silesia) and "Česko" (the whole country), the latter being derived from the adjective in "Země Koruny české" (Lands of the Czech Crown). others use the two terms interchangeably.
hence: Czech is grammatically adjective (for historical reason), the whole storm in a tea cup is about what should its appropriate noun be.
lastly, re
"""At least they are not restoring it to "Moravia" (as that would mean a war with the Slovaks and Southern Polish for the name)."""
I have honestly no idea what could you mean about Southern Polish (or even which Southern Polish).
As far as Slovaks go, we consider Czech to be our brother-nation: we may bicker and tease one another, but in a friendly way (an occasional ice hockey match being a notable exception).
We simply don't wage wars with our brothers over perceived historical grievances.
For God's sake, we're more civilised than that!
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Saturday 16th April 2016 15:47 GMT To Mars in Man Bras!
Re: This is not rebranding
*"...having been shortened out of the country does lead to some "displeasure". the feeling was similar to Ukrainians objecting to being called "Russian"..."*
And how most Welsh, Irish and Scots [those of a Loyalist bent, anyway*] feel about the fact that most of the rest of Europe [including the eastern half] tends to refer to Britain as "England"
[*Those of a Republican bent get even madder; seeing themselves as neither British NOR English!]
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Monday 18th April 2016 15:18 GMT CrazyOldCatMan
Re: This is not rebranding
> We simply don't wage wars with our brothers over perceived historical grievances.
Where's the fun in that? After all, the English wars with the Scots, Welsh, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, French, Spanish, French, Scots (in fact - everyone in Europe other than the Portugese as far as I can see) did nicely the job of keeping the landed elites in power, distracted the proles from being too uppity and generally preserved the status-quo for those at the top.
What's not to like?
OK - so, there might have been a slight issue about huge amounts of suffering, misery, deprivation and death concerned but that didn't affect the generals or monarchs so that all OK.
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Tuesday 19th April 2016 17:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: This is not rebranding
I once asked a Czech colleague about the Czech-Slovak relationship.
His story, was thus ...
Remember during the cold war, when we had the fence with motion activated machine guns ready to repel the evil capitalist invaders from the West? Well, now we pulled it down and it and it defends us from the Slovaks. ;)
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Friday 15th April 2016 22:31 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: This is not rebranding
> Чехия or when using latin alphabet Czechia
What's the point of using Cyrillic here, when it was never used for Czech or for that matter any other Western Slavic language (or more appropriately, Western Christianity lands, as opposed to the Orthodox church)?
Historic brand my arse, that's like claiming that referring to the whole of Britain as England is "restoring an historic brand" because that's what the French and the Spaniards call it.
> At least they are not restoring it to "Moravia" (as that would mean a war with the Slovaks and Southern Polish for the name).
Pardon?
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Saturday 16th April 2016 09:26 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: This is not rebranding
There is no point of using Cyrillic except for, I don't know, Russian cultural imperialism claiming to speak for "all slavic nations" while actually being a bully? At least that's how it feels to those born outside of Russia and under its political influence. And having Cyrillic and Orthodox pushed onto ones culture, despite being quite comfortable with Latin culture. AC because I know this may be controversial, but that's how it feels. Also in Czech(ia).
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Saturday 16th April 2016 15:57 GMT To Mars in Man Bras!
Re: Where are the instructions?
*'...I do hope it doesn't affect the beer..."*
Pfft! –Very over-rated. Been there. Done that. Had the obligatory pint or three at the Staropramen brewery and tried a few other local beers. Not impressed. It was nice enough. But, at the end of the day, it's just boring lager.
Of course, much of the reputatiuon Czech beer has comes from folks making comparisons between 'real' Budvar Budweiser and the American fizzy piss of similar name. But that's not exactly setting the bar very high, is it? A glass of *actual* piss would be a better brew than most American beers.
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Monday 18th April 2016 07:28 GMT imanidiot
Re: Where are the instructions?
There is a very large variety of beer available in the region. Staropramen could very well be considered a "factory beer" and isn't all that special. The local beers kan be a bit hit and miss. Some are great some are boring and some are aweful. Personally I rather enjoyed both the Kozel and Kozel Černý. Best beer I had was freshly brewed at a local "castle" brewery somewhere in Bohemia.
Tip of the day: Never try to out drink a Czech. Even if they are bombing their beer with their own homebrew moonshine. They'll drink you under the table. And then some. Been there, done that, got the hangover that lasted 2 days to prove it. 'T was a good night though.
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Friday 15th April 2016 15:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: kidding aside
While not familiar with the Czech language in general, I did hear the name of the country pronounced by a native. I can't find a proper way to transliterate that into English because there's just no way to put an H as in Hello inside a word. That "ch" is just the best approximation for the "H" (Hello) sound they use because they have to live with the "K" sound in English. At least they might have a laugh, as Cz is "Ch" (Chicken) isn't a combination used anywhere in the English language either.
The spelling that would kinda work in English is "Checkya" (Check ya later aligator). Now I wonder how the Spanish-speaking people will read it :) I wonder how they're reading it already, actually, as the confusing part was already there.
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Friday 15th April 2016 16:21 GMT kventin
Re: kidding aside
"""I can't find a proper way to transliterate that into English because there's just no way to put an H as in Hello inside a word. That "ch" is just the best approximation for the "H" (Hello) sound they use because they have to live with the "K" sound in English."""
were you to visit northern parts of UK someday, locals could give you some pointers about transliterating of that sound. they might even insist on using 'c' and 'h' characters.
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Friday 15th April 2016 21:27 GMT Ian Mason
Re: kidding aside
<cite> At least they might have a laugh, as Cz is "Ch" (Chicken) isn't a combination used anywhere in the English language either. </cite>
It gets more confusing as it's one of those orthographies then seems to change as it moves around Central Europe. I used to have a colleague called Jan Czmok, pronounced Yan Schmock.
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Friday 15th April 2016 22:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
> I thought it was called Czechoslovakia anyway.
That's what Austrians¹ call it to this day.
¹ That's the poor version of Bavarians, not the penal colony. Even though both have kangaroos.
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Saturday 16th April 2016 15:13 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Ah.. Marketing buzzwords strike again...
> Once upon a time, it was 're-naming' or 're-defining" a country... now it's "rebranding"
Well, it *is* a marketing exercise. The actual, official name of the country is not changing, regardless of what you may or may not read on vaguely IT-related blogs. It is just the name that they plan to use for tourism brochures and the like.
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Saturday 16th April 2016 16:05 GMT To Mars in Man Bras!
Příští Stanice, IP Pavlova*.
*"...There's already a tendency to use "Czech" as an abbreviated form of the nation's full-fat title, but that's an adjective and therefore grammatically offside..."
Having tried vainly to master a few Czech phrases for a visit there once, I sincerely doubt that the language's grammar plays by the off-side rule.
...or many other rules, for that matter.
[*Post title being about the only one I can remember. Mainly because it was my signal to get off the tram]
Biting the hand that feeds IT
