so my parents speak czech decently, but when they were learning it they were obsessed with the words hedgehog and baby jesus. both words sound similar to each other; “ježek” and “ježíšek” respectively. They used to get them mixed up in their heads all the time. but even after they eventually figured out the difference, as a joke they would still call the baby Jesus a hedgehog. and every time they saw a hedgehog, they would act like it’s the most venerable thing in the world and refer to it as the blessed baby Jesus.
my dad pointing to a hedgehog: “ježíšek!!!”
my mom, absolutely fucking going along with it: “little ježíšek !!! beautiful ježíšek!!! who else is worthy of our praise??”
I’m a native czech speaker and I assure you 90% of native czech kids also mix them up and many adults continue with the joke
Same in Poland
(via superb-fairywren)