What's in a Prague street name

Slepá I was built in 1935.

‘Slepá’ most commonly translates as ‘blind’ (for those wondering, ‘slepá bába’ is ‘blind man’s buff’.

Things that are not part of the animal kingdom that can be blind include, of course, alleys.

Therefore, a ‘slepá ulice’, such as this one, is a ‘blind alley’, a ‘dead end’ or a ‘cul-de-sac’ (which translates as ‘bottom of the bag’).

Interestingly, the French don’t really use cul-de-sac to mean this these days; they prefer ‘impasse’ or ‘rue sans issue’.

As for the ‘I’ in the street name: let’s just say that I’m going to have to save some blindness-related vocabulary for tomorrow. And no, it’s not pronounced ‘eye’, perfect as that would be.