What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 25 November 2022.

Na Švihance was built in 1908.

I’m not managing to work out what švihanka translates as, though.

Švihat is to whip or flick (which leads to průšvih – trouble), and for the sake of people, horses and cream, I hope this isn’t the origin.

(OK, I may feel less strongly about the suffering of the cream)

But švih, while translating as ‘swish’ or ‘lash’ (as in ‘with a whip’, not as in ‘eye’ or ‘out on the’) also means flair or elegance.

Which is nicer.

And a švihák is a fancy dresser or a fop. While a švihadlo is a skipping rope / jump rope.

‘Národní švihadlo’ brings up a crushingly disappointing zero hits on Google, and makes me realise that not everybody does puns in the same way English speakers do.

A vineyard already stood here in the mid-15th century. We don’t know when the homestead came into existence, but it was no later than 1785.

The homestead passed through several owners before being purchased by the municipality of Vinohrady, which converted it into the park we all know and love and sometimes drink a bit too much in.

An inn located here was converted into a restaurant in the 1930s – named Šretrova after its owner. Its outdoor dining area had 1,200 seats and it also hosted concerts.

After 1945, it became a gym, but reverted to being a restaurant in 1965.

There are some pretty cool photos of a visit that took place to the building in 2018, at which time it was used by an advertising agency, here: https://archiv.denarchitektury.cz/program/praha-sretrova-restaurace-v-riegrovych-sadech/

According to this article from 2019, the lease expired and Praha 2 was looking to reconvert the building and gardens into a restaurant: https://www.prazskypatriot.cz/pozemky-a-budovu-byvale-restaurace-v-riegrovych-sadech-chce-ziskat-praha-2/

But the advertising agency (McCann) still lists Riegrovy sady as its address on its website, and the most recent Google News hit for Šretrova restaurace is from May 2020. Hmm.

Here’s McCann’s most famous work (obviously not their Czech office):

I think it’s time for a Mad Men rewatch.