Adil Najam
On your left is the picture of the flag of the Czech Republic. On your right is a ‘Check’ (or, rather, checkered flag; often used in car racing. The two should never be confused. Except for the fact that ‘Czech’ is pronounced as ‘check.’
Ordinarily, this should not be a problem. But right now the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic is visiting Islamabad, and the Capital’s PR people have adorned a number of (very) large banners to welcome him in the spirit of good hospitality. The only problem is that instead of putting the ‘Czech’ flags on the banners, they have ‘Check’ flags!
I saw these while driving back into Islamabad on the from the Airport. I rushed back to see if I would figure out who was responsible for this little gaffe and maybe alert them to the mistake before the Czech PM arrived. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Czech PM was already here.
I wonder what he and his team thought of this. Did they even mention it to their hosts or did they just keep politely quiet? I also wonder what they thought about the banner that read: “We Pray for the Czech Progress and Prosperity”?I am sure they liked the sentiment, but maybe they also wondered why Pakistanis are praying for Czech progress and prosperity instead of working harder for Pakistani progress or prosperity. On the other hand, maybe they do not think as hard about what is written on banners as I do!
I have no way of knowing this, but my theory of how this might have happened is this - Someone tells someone to find out what a Czech (read ‘check’) flag looks like; they look up ‘check flag’ on Google, and that is the one which makes it way on the banner.
Nice story for a chuckle? But how would you feel if the Pakistan Prime Minister goes to another country and they mess up the flags this way?
in that respect we are a notch higher.
the optimistic take: atleast they know how to pronounce it right!
A friend told me to “czech” this out :) No big deal though, “czech” these out http://halbot.haluze.sk/?id=3110
Czech Republic is BEST!!
Ste matláci
my optician
Dr. Hasan Manto
famous Eye Specialist of Pakistan did his PhD from prague check(sorrry czech,my spelling going tipsy hha ha)
Mr Abdullah Malik wrote a Famous travelogue in URDU (Prague say chand khatoot) letters from Prague in 1970s, Zulfikar ali bhutto our assasinated prime minister was quite keen on importing technology & skodas from communist czeckosavakia(an other spelling error( ha ha)
Hi, yet another greeting form the Czech Republic. I found the story really funny, just one observation: reading the comments made me realize that people from Pakistan actully have a great sense of humor.
[quote comment="47802"]Do Czechs still build Skodas. We used to have those in Pakistan in late 60s. I see a lot of jokes on web about these cars.[/quote]
Of course, and in even large numbers by now … I hope you were satisfied with the quality of them in 60’s :)
visit http://www.skoda-auto.com/global
I think that by now is new skoda auto factory going to be opened in china for asia market, so you can have one easily soon :)
btw for flag mistake… dont worry about, it can happen anywhere :)