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Summary for: Czech Metro Slang on Prague Public TransportYou might have heard the term černý pasažér (black passenger) or even the not-so-PC černoch (black man) being used to describe a public transport passenger travelling without a valid ticket.
What about the nickname Želva (turtle), used for the metro station Želivského?
Notice those protruding bumps on the walls lining the metro while waiting for your train? They’re sometimes called prsa (breasts). The inverted ones, logically, are antiprsa (anti breasts).
If your Czech is up to par, you might learn some new transport slang this summer aboard Prague’s busses, trams, and metro carriages.
These terms and others can be found on posters promoting the third edition of the Slang pražských dopraváků (Slang of the Prague Transit Workers).
The first edition of the book was published in 1982, followed by an update in 2001. The third edition, set to be released at the end of the year, coincides with the 140th anniversary of the Prague public transportation system.
Catch some more metro slang at website of MHD 140.
And until mid-September, keep an eye out for posters like the ones below. 26 terms selected from the book – one for each letter of the alphabet – will adorn the walls of Prague’s public transport vehicles.
Spot all 26 of them, and you can even win a chance to take part in the Prague tram parade, which will take place on September 20th.
Photos courtesy DPP / artwork by Kateřina Perglová
Black Mouth: Metro carriage type 81-7171 (named after the black front).
General: Managing director of the DPP. Used primarily by technical/finance employees since the position was created in 1971.
Sausage dog: The scheme of the metro or trams arranged in a thin long stripe.
Chestnuts: Passengers. To dump the chestnuts, let the passengers out of the carriages.
Breasts: extruded relief decorations at stations on line A.
Saloon: an area for passengers in the metro, and more recently, in the trams.
Eyes: front lights of the metro train.
Turtle: the Želivského metro stop.
