Final Word from Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Time Magazine's definition for Person of the Year is "the person who has most profoundly influenced the world during the past year, for better or for worse." If we Czechify this to mean our own little world, the winner might very well be Chief State Prosecutor Renáta Vesecká. She's not exactly Putin (Time's choice), but she probably did more than anyone else last year to shatter confidence in the Czech justice system, by maneuvering to shelve the corruption charges against KDU Chair Jiří Čunek. Speaking on Czech TV's "Reportéři" last night, Chief Justice Pavel Rychetský of the Constitutional Court said her behavior was "unprecedented." On another level, she also did a disservice to women by sending the message that, like Lucie Talmanová before her, the best way for a woman to succeed in Czech public life is to jump into bed - figuratively in Vesecká's case - with the conniving men in power.[Czech Republic Vladimir judicial KDU-ČSL]
Glossary of difficult words
conniver - someone who connives, who secretly allows something considered immoral, illegal, wrong or harmful to occur;
profoundly - very greatly or intensely;
to Czechify - to make Czech (the Oxford English Dictionary prefers the word Czechize for this, but Czechify sounds better to our ears);
to shatter - to damage or destroy;
to shelve - to decide not to proceed with a project, plan or case;
disservice - a harmful action;
Lucie Talmanová - deputy speaker of the House, who won the position after becoming the partner of PM Mirek Topolánek;
to jump into bed with - (figuratively) to join forces with, usually in a pejorative sense.