czeski błąd

Literally, “Czech error”. Of unclear origin, although often explained as either of the following:

• from the fact that several Czech words look like their Polish counterparts with two letters transposed; compare, for example, Polish karp and Czech kapr (“carp”);
• from the fact that Czech numerals can be written in two ways (i.e. twenty-three can be written as dvacet tři or as třiadvacet), making it plausible for someone less familiar with the language to misinterpret the order of the digits.

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʂɛs.ki ˈbwɔnt/

• Audio:

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• Syllabification: czes‧ki błąd

czeski błąd m inan

1. (idiomatic, printing) switching of letters in printed text

   popełnić/zrobić czeski błąd ― to make a letter switch

   • 2014, Krzysztof Koziołek, Bóg nie weźmie w tym udziału, Manufaktura Tekstów, →ISBN, page 145:

     I jeszcze 21 lipca, może to czeski błąd?

     And also, it's the 21st of July, maybe there was a letter flipflop?

• czeski błąd in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• czeski błąd in Polish dictionaries at PWN