Final Word from Wednesday, October 29, 2008



When Václav Klaus squints and puckers, he looks remarkably like Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the founder of Czechoslovakia. Klaus is a big admirer of TGM, so perhaps it's no coincidence that his Masarykian presidential mien was cast in gold (click here). But for Klaus to go down in history as the second coming of TGM, he'll need a better set of initials. Hardly anyone is known by only two initials, other than maybe Jesus Christ and that Ewing fellow from Dallas. Who in the world would put V.H. to the face of Václav Havel? It could just as easily be Vladimir Horowitz. And V.K. has the added disadvantage of sharing his initials with a certain Pirate of Prague. Three initials, though, now that's where it's at. There's JFK, FDR, LBJ, MLK and, of course, TGM. Problem is that Czechs rarely have a middle name. Masaryk resolved the issue by taking his wife's maiden name, but Václav Mištin Klaus doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Klaus might have to borrow from the other woman in his life. Call him Václav Thatcher Klaus.[Czech Republic John F. Kennedy Franklin D. Roosevelt Lyndon B. Johnson Martin Luther King Livia Mištinová Klausová coin]

Glossary of difficult words

to squint - to partly close one's eyes in order to see better;

to pucker - to contract one's face into a wrinkle;

mien - a person's look or manner, esp. one that indicates the person's character or mood;

second coming - the prophesied return of Christ to earth for the Last Judgment;

Pirate of Prague - Viktor Kožený, a financier;

Vladimir Horowitz - a pianist;

JFK, FDR, LBJ, MLK - John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King;

Mištin - Mištinová is the maiden name of Livia Klausová;

to roll off the tongue - to be easy to pronounce;

Margaret Thatcher - okay, so her maiden name is Roberts, but you get the message.

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