Tricky Words in this week's OVI

This time the words are not tricky because they look like Slovak words but have different meanings, or because generations of Slovak English learners have built up meanings that are different from the ones I usually recognize. These expressions are tricky because they are connected with a touchy subject, that of someone's death. English speakers are no different from others in using euphemisms (from Greek eu- beautiful and phemi- speech) to avoid using harsh words like die and dead. They say that someone has "passed away" (meaning preč), or "passed on" (meaning ďalej). They say that someone is "deceased" (from cease meaning prestať) or "late" (zdržuje sa) or "lost" (nezvestný), and that they are "lamented" (oplakaný). There are various other expressions which avoid mentioning the subject directly, but they are either not serious or not polite, so not appropriate in the present circumstances.

Andy's Wordshop

This week's (but starting to be this year's) question is whether I am used to all this rain because I come from England. The simple answer is NO, I'm fed up with it (mám toho plné zuby - and we have hardly suffered - sotva utrpeli - at all compared with many people in villages in this area or in south-west Slovakia). The rest of the answer is that it DOESN'T rain all the time in England. That's what it does in Scotland and Ireland. Most of England is relatively dry (except for Manchester), especially on the east side and down in the south, because the rain comes from the west, from the Atlantic Ocean. English weather is typically CHANGEABLE, hour by hour - so two months of repeated torrential downpours and cloudbursts is not something I'm used to.