Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/498

and Bootchkey. The first one is, I think, obsolete by this time. Bohunks is still current. It is a portmanteau word that originated, very probably, from confusing Bohemians with Hungarians, the latter being known in some localities as Hunks or Hunkies. Cheskey is, of course, an attempted transliteration of the Bohemian adjective Český (Czech,) and I have found it in use in practically every Bohemian-American community within my experience. Naturally enough Bohemians would not designate themselves by an adjective, but as Mr. Čapek observes, “a non-Bohemian finding himself in a city quarter peopled by Bohemians cannot but notice the word Český leering at him from every store sign: Český pekař (Čech baker) . . . Český grocerista . . .” and “promptly he must see a connection between Český and Bohemian.” The latter serving in English the double purpose of a noun and adjective, the former is made so to serve also. So, a Bohemian is “a Cheskey,” the plural thereof is “Cheskeys,” and Bohemians “talk Cheskey.” (This spelling is used by Mr. Čapek, and I have seen it elsewhere, but, in view of the Czech value of ch it is rather inconsistent. If the word ever gets into the written American language, I would suggest Czesky.) Mr. Čapek gives a very interesting explanation of the origin of Bootchkey. “To get at its hidden meaning, one must know something of the moods of the New York street . . . In a street warfare the Čech boys of the Upper East Side signaled to each other with the call počkej, meaning, in Čech, wait, hold on. To the ears of the non-Čech playmates this sounded very much like bootchkey. Hence . . .” I have never heard Bootchkey myself as a synonym for Bohemian, and thereby perhaps betray my ignorance of the moods of New York Bohemia; but the imperative počkej is, I know, readily picked up by American children from Bohemian companions, and an American physician of my acquaintance, who had an extensive practice among the Czechs of his community, became so fond of the word that he invariably used it instead of “Hold on!” even if the person spoken to didn’t know Bohemian. Whether he has any adult imitators as far as počkej is concerned, I know not; but the Czech na zdar! (literally, for success success to you, good luck!) which is almost as flexible a greeting as the Hawaiian aloha, has been taken over to some extent by Americans living among Bohemians. The non—Czech mayor of a small Bohemian-American town would hardly think of making a speech at the dedication of the new Sokol hall without rubbing in na zdar somewhere.

The word Sokol, by the way,