The whole last week I was processing the samples for the new project - pieces of moss and soil from all around the world. Got a guest, a colleague from Minsk, Belarus (now emigrated to avoid political prosecution). I proposed him an experiment - me speaking Ukrainian that he doesn't know, and him speaking Belorussian, and (not surprisingly) we had no problem understanding each other.

There are many almost identical words in Ukrainian and Belorussian (no wonder, our countries were one big country way before Moscow was built), also we've got beautiful names for the months derived from nature and human agricultural activities - same as in most Slavic languages, but unlike in Russian where they are just Latin words that mean nothing for a Slavic person. For example, "жнивень" in Belorussian and "серпень" in Ukrainian both mean the time of harvesting wheat and rye, while Russian "сентябрь-september" does not sound any way familiar. Same way as in Ukrainian, in Belorussian Participles I are not used (and in Russian they are, sometimes in a very stupid and confusing way).

Laughed a lot about reciprocal stereotypes - Belorussians see Ukrainians as furious and chaotic, while we see them as too quiet and soft, maybe way too rational, and rather tight-fisted.

We could be great friends as nations if not for the Russian neo-empire who de-facto turned their country into a complete satellite without its own will and culture, serving as a training ground for their army. And they did it using incredible cruelty - there are people who have been killed, gone missing, were tortured and raped by the police.

Friday evening horrible news arrived - Russia bombed my country again, killing 9 little children in Krivy Rih town. Ukrainian internet is full of mourning and pictures of the playgrounds with peluches - for the memory of the diseased kids.

Ahoj is an informal greeting used in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, both when welcoming and saying goodbye. Etymologists at the Czech Language Institute believe the word entered Czech from the English “hoy”: a word originally used by seafarers. The word was used as a naval exclamation, used to attract the attention of, or warn, fellow crew members, or as a general greeting.

Of course, the Czech Republic is landlocked, and no one is quite sure how the term got here, but there are competing theories. Some believe that Czech boatmen brought it up the river with them from Hamburg, whereas others believe that recreational paddlers helped to spread this naval salutation through the countryside.

Meanwhile, others have claimed that the word originates in some rather spurious acronyms, from the religious Latin “Ad honorem Jesu” (for the honour of Jesus) or to the political “Adolfa Hitlera oběsíme jistě'' (we will surely hang Adolf Hitler).


I don't think the last two versions are true, because in fact there are more sailor's and marine sayings in Czech language.

The one I was totally charmed with was the metaphor for 'he's crazy'.
In Ukrainian we say 'в нього дах поїхав' (= the roof of his house has moved away)
In French they say 'il a une aragnée au plafond' (= he has a spider on his ceiling)

But the Czechs often say "šplouchá mu na maják" (= his lighthouse has been splashed over by the waves)

The captain of one and only wooden Czech sailing vessel (a replica) La Grace once told me that in spite Czechia has always been a landlocked country, Czech sailors and craftsmen were very welcome in foreign navy for their craftsmen skills. Apparently after returning back home from the sea they brought to their sea-less country a lot of marine metaphors like those ones :)

And now there is also a famous opposition political Czech party called Pirati (the Pirates).
That's so cute :)