Final Word from Thursday, April 15, 2010
When two people fight, say the Czechs, it's the third person who laughs. Often, though, when two Czechs fight, others learn things that make them want to cry. In politics, Mirek Topolánek and Pavel Bém went public with their money-grubbing, and Praguers heard from the horses' mouth how their city is being run by racketeers. In business, when Prazdroj launched its campaign for pure Czech beer, beerheads choked when they found out what nasty stuff is contained in their favorite brewskis. When lawyer Miroslav Jansta denied someone his percentage from the Poštovní spořitelna deal, LN was given the inside scoop on how ČSOB and CA IB pulled it off. When Czech Coal and ČEZ clashed over dividing up Northern Bohemia, residents of the Czech electrostate learned how much fun can be had in Tuscany in the summer. And then there's the very enlightening fight this week over gambling territory.... Czechs are wrong to insist that their leaders quit bickering: It's the only time they learn what's really going on.[Czech Republic CAIB Česká pošta Lidové noviny Plzeňský]
Glossary of difficult words
COL - cry out loud; opposite of LOL (laugh out loud);
when two people fight... - the English equivalent is "while two dogs are fighting for a bone, a third runs away with it";
money-grubbing - being overeager to make money;
from the horse's mouth - (of information) from the person directly concerned or another authoritative source;
racketeer - a person who engages in dishonest and fraudulent business dealings;
beerhead - (slang) a lover of beer;
brewski - (slang) a beer;
inside scoop - information that only an insider would have;
to pull something off - to succeed in achieving or winning something difficult;
to bicker - to argue about petty and trivial matters.