What's in a Prague street name

Vlnitá was built in 1935.

A ‘vlna’ is a wave (it also translates as ‘wool’, but not here).

If you’re into the radio and living here, you may know, or want to know, the phrases ‘krátké vlny’ (short wave), ‘střední vlny’ (medium wave) and ‘dlouhé vlny’ (long wave).

And if you’re into physics, you might want to know ‘tlaková vlna’ (shock wave).

If you want to talk about Prague in 2002 or 2013, you may end up mentioning a ‘povodňová vlna’ (flood wave).

And if you’re one of those Praguers who wants to believe they are living in the dirtiest, worst, most dangerous city on earth, and get very upset if you point out that’s a load of bull (I know these people and so do you), you may rant about the smallest sign of a ‘vlna zločinnosti’ (crime wave).

And if you’ve ever gone to a sporting event, you may have ended up being part of a ‘mexická vlna’, which I’m not going to patronise you by translating.

Meanwhile, something that is wavy or undulated would be ‘vlnitý’, as in a ‘vlnitá čára’ (a wavy line) and as in this street.

One last bit of vocabulary for today: ‘vlnitý plech’ is corrugated iron.