Sunday 15 January 2012

The Coasts of Bohemia


A few days ago as I was looking at the Google Analytics account to see what search terms people on the internet were putting into Google which led them to my site. It is a source of endless amusement and bemusement to me.

The first source of bemusement is just how many people still search for Czechoslovakia - even though the Czech Republic and Slovakia split happened in 1993 nearly twenty years ago.

The second is the number of ways people come up with of spelling Czech (bear in mind that this is an English language search), here are some from last month: Czek, Czexh, Tchech, Chez, Cheze, Chczh, Chek, Chec, Checkz, Cezk, Chec, Cezh, Check, Chech and of course Chekeslovakia and Checkislavkia.

The third are some searches which say something about perceptions and misunderstandings:
  • sex tour Czech Republic - I'm not going to comment on that one
  • is Czech Republic safe to visit? - answer: yes very
  • Hogwarts Castle in Czechoslovakia - I love this query, the country is full of wonderful magical medieval castles (NOTE to Author: possible line for a book)
  • beach holidays in the Czech Republic - despite Shakespeare talking about the coast of Bohemia* in the Winter's Tale the Czech Republic is right at the middle of the European landmass, the only beaches the Czechs have on lake and river banks and probably not what the searcher had in mind.

Alas, all these search terms show what a task I and other Czechophiles have to increase knowledge of this lovely country.

*watch out for a full blog on the coast of Bohemia/Winter's Tale which I planning to write soon.

2 comments:

Jana said...

I had a good one on my Google Analytics Account today: "get naked translated into Czech". No comment...

Brianc2012 said...

Those searches are funny. I admit I was one of those people that at first searched for Czechoslovakia. I never spelled it that wrong though. I never knew about the Bohemian coasts either, I didn't really think about the coasts of the Czech Republic.

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