dych n. masc. breath
So I was sitting next to my wife on the train the other day and she offered me a mint. Wondering whether there was a subtext, I asked her quite simply či smrdí duch. She fell about laughing.
I had thought I was doing quite well to remember the word for breath, but I had confused dych (breath) with duch (spirit). What I had asked was either a deeply metaphysical question, or a hilarious error.
I should have known better. From duch comes duchovný (spiritual; also used as a noun to mean "priest). Hence the fact that for a Slovak speaker, David Duchovny, from The X-Files, has such an appropriate name. It should have been unforgettable; it will be now!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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very impressed... especially with the Duchovny stuff...
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