Czech vs. British Humour: Prague Mayor’s Spy Joke Stirs Up Twitter

An awkward moment between mayor Adrianna Krnáčová and a visiting British MP has been caught on photo

Expats.cz Staff Jason Pirodsky

Written by Expats.cz Staff,  Jason Pirodsky Published on 10.08.2017 10:33:50 (updated on 10.08.2017) Reading time: 1 minute

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We’ve often heard it said that the English sense of humour is somewhat similar to the Czech one: dark, sarcastic, and dry.

Apparently, that logic, when put into practice, doesn’t exactly stand up. Local news server Aktualne.cz is reporting that Prague Mayor Adrianna Krnáčová may have had a foot-in-mouth moment at a meeting with British Minister of State for International Trade Greg Hands yesterday.

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Hands is in the Czech capital to discuss London-Prague cooperation with Krnáčová’s Smart Cities initiative.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Conservative MP told the Prague mayor that he had studied Czech at Cambridge University in the 1980s.

Krnáčová then asked him if he had been a spy.

A photo taken immediately following the encounter captured what appeared to be a rather awkward moment and led to some Twitter speculation over what exactly caused the look of discomfort on Hand’s face:

Hands later took to Twitter to offer an explanation of the exchange with Prague’s mayor:

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When asked how he responded to the question, he replied with typical English wit:

”It is always better not to deny or affirm such things.”

Yesterday evening, Hands tweeted this response to the Aktualne piece:

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All jokes aside, Hands told Krnáčová later in the meeting, ”We see opportunities for British companies to provide advice and services to improve the lives of citizens in Prague. British technology brings cities like Prague more security and a healthier environment.”

To read more about future Prague-London relations, see here. 

To read more about the Czech sense of humour, see here.

Share your tales of cultural gaffes and joke fails here or on our Facebook page.

 

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