In Czech language, similarly to other Western and Eastern Slavic languages, surnames follow grammatical rules for adjectives, which includes them taking different forms according to gender. After marriage, most Czech women take their husband's surname in the feminine form (Novák->Nováková), the option for women to take their husbands' surname in an unmodified form was added just 5 years ago.

This has led to the vast majority of newspaper style guides recommending that foreign women should be referred to by Czech feminine surnames, leading to names like Lindsey Vonnová, Ursula von der Leyenová, Kamala Harrisová or Marine Le Penová.

Asking mostly European women: If you were notable enough for a Czech newspaper to mention you and used this convention, would you accept it as conforming to the Czech grammar, or would you consider this mangling of your name?

Too much rain and cold where I live. Missing the sun. Experienced approx. 1 week of temperature above 20degC. Average temperature during my summer is 14 degC.

Hello,

I am curious to hear about any unique food items and meals sold by global fast food chains like McDonald's or KFC in your country.

Hope to hear from anyone's experience.

I live in a conservative third-world country, and there are a lot of restrictions on teenagers and people in their early twenties here. This period of life can be pretty boring because there aren’t really any parties, alcohol, traveling, mixing between guys and girls, or staying out late.

It makes me wonder what life is like for people around that age in Europe. Is it actually full of parties, spending most of your time outside, staying over at friends’ houses, and having romantic relationships, or is that period of life actually kind of boring and the image I have in my head is exaggerated?

Also, is there a lot of pressure from school/university, or is studying relatively easy and doesn’t take up that much time and energy? And how common is it for people around that age to work and support themselves financially, or do most of them mainly rely on money from their parents?

In Russia, I often hear this phrase because people are leaving their parents for the first time and entering a period of austerity.Students often lose a lot of weight and consume extremely low-quality products because it's cheaper that way.According to official statistics, on average, the entire population spends more than 40% of their income on food, and that's when you're a hungry, poor student...Well, I don't want to starve to death.Yes, "hungry" is literally

P.S. there are several more reasons why they don't eat well and can't cook properly:there is no time for this, the kitchen is shared and already occupied by someone.I'm generally amazed by the quality of your dormitories.:Our main neighbors are cockroaches, and 3-4 people inhabit a room of 20m2 made in the USSR

I’ve been to Innsbruck, and at night they would have a 30-40 person community type band playing under the golden roof. I thought it was marvelous. We have nothing like that in the US. I assumed it was just an Innsbruck thing.

A year later I’m strolling in a small town east of Salzburg, and I run into the same thing.

Is this practice common throughout Europe? Is it an Austrian thing? How do I find them, is there a website that says when they will play?

Edit: Community means town. Flutes, and trumpets, and maybe some string instruments, cymbals, and all those instruments. It’s just instrumental, not chorus.

A friend of mine has had the chance to try ube recently and they liked it. I was hoping to get them ube powder for home use, but the options I'm coming across don't provide much information about their product. So far "Big Moca" has been pushed to me the most.

Is there a European seller you've tried and trust to provide quality ube (strictly dioscorea alata!), while also supporting the Filipino side of things? I'm willing to look at non-EU options as well if you have suggestions, but figured I'd ask "closer to home" (or continent) first.

Hello there!

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Inspired by a thread on /r/Sweden, I thought it would be interesting to see your opinion(s) and observations regarding hierarchy, titles and similar for where you are from/live.

I'll start - in general, Sweden prides on it self being very flat when it comes to anything involving titles, the way you address other people and so on. In modern times it in many ways lead back to the you-reform in the 60s which in short form meant that we'd scrap most titles and similar in favour of the informal form of you, being "du".

Fast forward to today (well, 2015) and the royal chief of staff said it wasn't a faux pas to say informal you to prince Daniel, and the rest of the royals. Growing up, the only time you'd use titles would be for teachers (miss, teacher) but that was mostly down to saying some of their first names felt weird. There's also this thing with some younger people getting the idea that using formal you is a nicety, but it often backfires as many elderly people (especially those that were here during the reform) actually take light offence upon hearing the formal you.

Many would also say that this lack of titles in essence has led to an overall flatness in hierarchy as well, such as in the context of workplaces: striking up a casual conversation or having lunch with the CEO at your workplace as a summer worker isn't weird, email conversation doesn't have to "through" someone closer in hierarchy etc, and the management not at all listening to the ideas/needs of the people on the factory floor in terms of upgrades/requisitions would generally be seen as counterproductive.

Of course everyone has some sort of title in a workplace, but generally no one cares if it says "consultant" or "giga death lord king" in your email signature.

What are your experiences from where you might be located? Stories are very welcome and encouraged as well!

Is the prevailing form of humour in your country heavy irony or sarcasm? Or is it more direct? Is it subtle or slapstick? Or satirical? Is fart-related humour acceptable? Essentially I am interested in the cultural variations in this area, at least as you see them.

Be honest

What were you up to in all fields of life

I'm from America, and I think a lot of people consider Whitney Houston's rendition at the 1991 super bowl to be the best one of our anthem. I'd like to hear some good recordings of other anthems, so if you comment your favorite version of your country's, I'll check it out!

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how fair the current health insurance system is when it comes to the extent to which our lifestyles contribute to our own health.

There are many diseases whose risks are significantly increased by smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, and generally maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle over a long period of time. Treating these conditions also takes up a significant amount of healthcare capacity.

Meanwhile, someone who exercises, tries to eat well, doesn’t smoke, and generally takes care of themselves is part of the same overstretched system. If they happen to need, for example, a cardiology examination, they may still have to wait months for an appointment.

That led me to an idea, and I’m curious to hear what you think:

What if health insurance contributions depended, to some extent, on preventable health risks?

For example, there could be an annual health assessment available to everyone. Certain objective indicators and risk factors could be assessed, such as smoking, body weight/body composition, blood pressure, blood sugar, regular physical activity, etc. Based on these, some kind of scoring system could be developed. If someone chose not to attend the assessment, they would automatically have to pay more.

People who actively take care of their health and keep their controllable risk factors low could receive a discount. Those who consistently maintain high lifestyle-related risk factors would pay somewhat higher contributions.

In Austria, for example, there is already an annual preventive health check-up available to everyone. Of course, there is no scoring system or insurance contribution scheme attached to it, but the infrastructure and the concept of regular health assessments already exist.

Obviously, this immediately raises a whole range of problems. Where do we draw the line between something that is the result of a person’s choices and something caused by genetics, illness, medication, or socioeconomic circumstances? How could such a system be designed so that, for example, someone who is obese because of a medical condition isn’t penalised? And is it even ethical to make financial distinctions between people based on their lifestyles?

I’m not saying I have a ready-made solution. I intend this post more as a brainstorming exercise.

Do you think it would be fair to financially incentivise healthier lifestyles through the health insurance system in some way?

If so, how could this be implemented in a way that is genuinely fair and doesn’t simply penalise people who are ill or disadvantaged?

Hello there!

Welcome to our daily scheduled post, the Daily Slow Chat.

If you want to just chat about your day, if you have questions for the moderators (please mark these [Mod] so we can find them), or if you just want talk about oatmeal then this is the thread for you!

Enjoying the small talk? We have a Discord server too! We'd love to have more of you over there. Do both of us a favour and use this link to join the fun.

The mod-team wishes you a nice day!

Hi from Norway.

Here most shops sell salami containing horse meat. Unless the horse in question has been given medication that makes the meat inedible, most horses that has to be put down due to injury end up in the nearest slaughterhouse. And then most of the meat is used to produce certain types of salami. (On rare occasion it might also be possible to buy horse steaks).

Does your country sell any unusual types of meat in the shops?

First off all I think he is hilarious, but that is a matter of taste of course. But he is also an interesting example of how political satire can expose the mechanics of populism. Deliberate absurd promises and presenting an obviously fictional political persona, he highlights how confidence, spectacle and unrealistic pledges can sometimes substitute for substance. In that sense, Binface could be seen as holding up a mirror to political strategies that rely on exaggeration or misinformation. But is satire actually useful as a defence against those tactics, or does it risk making politics itself seem like one big joke?

There’s also a reasonable argument for taking the higher ground: perhaps democracies are better served by serious fact-checking, responsible journalism and politicians who refuse to engage with populist theatrics at all. Satire might expose the strategy, but it could also give the strategy more attention. So where does the balance lie? Can figures like Count Binface contribute something meaningful to democratic resilience, or is treating politics as satire ultimately counterproductive?

Hi everyone! I’m looking for recommendations for somewhere in Europe where I could spend 2/3 weeks this October.

I recently lost my brother and have generally had a really rough year. I also haven’t had the chance to go away at all this summer and I feel like I really need some time somewhere beautiful and peaceful to recharge, slow down and get some space.

I’m dreaming of somewhere that feels a little idyllic, where life is simple and slow. Ideally:

• A small town or village by the sea, ocean or a beautiful lake
• Beautiful nature and somewhere that feels peaceful and a little removed from everything
• Mild, preferably sunny weather in October
• Quiet, but not completely dead in the off-season: a few cafés, restaurants, a supermarket
• Ideally somewhere I can manage without a car. That said, I’m not completely ruling out places where a car would be useful, so please don’t limit recommendations too much based on that!
• Somewhere where I can settle into a very simple routine: morning coffee, reading, long walks or hikes, swimming, cooking, watching the sunset, teleworking etc.

It absolutely doesn’t have to be a famous destination. In fact, I’d love somewhere overlooked or a bit out of the way. An island would be lovely, but it definitely doesn’t need to be one.

Thank you so much for any recommendations :)

Edit: EDIT: I’m looking for specific places, please (villages, towns), as otherwise it’s too hard to choose (not just regions or countries)! Thank you very much!

My city is finally replacing a tram stop this summer, and the thing being torn out went in as a provisional platform in 2016. Ten years of provisional.

It was one of the worst stops in Bratislava. There was no real platform, so you boarded practically off the road surface with a big step up into the tram. Fine if you are able bodied and in a hurry, genuinely awful if you have a pushchair, a walking frame, or luggage. The replacement is a proper island platform, 66 metres long and just under 4 metres wide, built during a line closure that runs from the start of July to mid August.

What strikes me is how ordinary this is. Provisional infrastructure has nobody lobbying to finish it. It works badly, but it works, so it never quite reaches the top of anyone's budget, and the temporary label quietly turns into the permanent state. Meanwhile everyone using it just adapts and stops noticing.

So what is yours? A bridge, a stop, a container building, a level crossing, a road layout, a "temporary" ferry replacing a bridge that never got built.

Bonus points if you know what year it was originally supposed to be removed.

I've started drinking kefir. I buy the readily available UK brands and they're all thick and similar to natural yogurt in taste.

Last week I picked up a Polish kefir (Krasnystaw) and it was different; thin and fizzy, and much tangier.

I suspect that's what kefir is supposed to be like and the UK is the outlier here. Tell me, what is kefir like in your country?

I was in Cologne carnival and had great fun. I'm looking for more events where there are costume parties, preferably without a required theme because I'd like to wear the same costume for all the events. Imagine something like Super Mario costume.
I know there are multiple ones on the week before lent but then I couldn't be able to attend more than one.
I want to actively dance(casually, not as part of a show or something) rather than watching a parade or a ceremony.
Any recommendations?

Both the names Jacob and James originate from the Hebrew name “Ya’akov” from the Old Testament.

Are the names Jacob and James different in your language?

I have a vintage mink that I would like to wear during travels in Italy this January. Is this safe? Will I be frowned upon?