Strc prst skrz krk
Encyclopedia
Strč prst skrz krk is a Czech
and Slovak
tongue-twister
meaning "stick your finger through your throat".
The sentence is well known for having a total absence of vowels, the nucleus of each syllable being a syllabic r, a common feature amongst many Slavic languages. It is often used as an example of such a phrase when learning Czech or Slovak as a foreign language. Sometimes in the Czech Republic
and Slovakia
, the phrase is used to judge whether or not a particular person is drunk.
An even longer phrase in Czech with no vowels is Chrt pln skvrn vtrhl skrz trs chrp v čtvrť Krč. ("A greyhound full of stains burst through a cluster of cornflowers in the district of Krč
"), though it relies on irregular and dated forms, whereas Strč prst skrz krk does not. A variation is Plch pln skvrn prch skrz drn prv zhlt čtvrt hrst zrn ("A dormouse full of stains escaped through grass after first eating a quarterhandful of grain").
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
and Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
tongue-twister
Tongue-twister
A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken word game. Some tongue-twisters produce results which are humorous when they are mispronounced, while others simply rely on the confusion and mistakes of the speaker for their...
meaning "stick your finger through your throat".
The sentence is well known for having a total absence of vowels, the nucleus of each syllable being a syllabic r, a common feature amongst many Slavic languages. It is often used as an example of such a phrase when learning Czech or Slovak as a foreign language. Sometimes in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, the phrase is used to judge whether or not a particular person is drunk.
An even longer phrase in Czech with no vowels is Chrt pln skvrn vtrhl skrz trs chrp v čtvrť Krč. ("A greyhound full of stains burst through a cluster of cornflowers in the district of Krč
KRC
KRC or krc may stand for:* Kent Recursive Calculator, a functional programming language*Kenya Railways Corporation* Kingston Rowing Club, a rowing club based on the River Thames, England....
"), though it relies on irregular and dated forms, whereas Strč prst skrz krk does not. A variation is Plch pln skvrn prch skrz drn prv zhlt čtvrt hrst zrn ("A dormouse full of stains escaped through grass after first eating a quarterhandful of grain").
Trivia
- The phrase is also the subtitle of the Swiss newspaper La Distinction. http://www.distinction.ch/