"Servít je vůl" (''Servít is an asshole'', literally ''Servít is an
ox''; ) is a
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
*Czech, ...
phrase which became famous as a graffiti. It started to appear in the 1960s as a students' joke in restrooms of bars in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. Later, however, it became a part of popular culture and has spread around the world, often in modified wording.
Background
The original inspiration for this phrase is believed to be ex-professor
Radim Servít of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the
Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest university, universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Centra ...
. He taught
elasticity
Elasticity often refers to:
*Elasticity (physics), continuum mechanics of bodies that deform reversibly under stress
Elasticity may also refer to:
Information technology
* Elasticity (data store), the flexibility of the data model and the cl ...
and
strength of materials
The field of strength of materials, also called mechanics of materials, typically refers to various methods of calculating the stresses and strains in structural members, such as beams, columns, and shafts. The methods employed to predict the re ...
in the 1960s and was infamous for his extensive rigour in exams.
Later accounts claim the phrase refers to a different person of the same name.
Time progression and spread
Students started writing the words "Servít je vůl" on the walls of public restrooms in bars nearby the
CTU campus. Thanks to the political mood in the 1960s
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, ČSSR, formerly known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic or Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 to 29 March 1990, when it was renamed the Czechoslovak ...
, this graffiti has gradually spread out of Prague, the country and Europe through students and their voices. These graffiti have prevailed for generations all around the world.
Some of the confirmed locations where this graffiti was found:
*
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
[Spisy Jaroslava Putíka, Nakladatelství Hynek, Prague 1996, vol. 1, 261 pages. Lidové noviny 63/1997]
*
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
Locally nicknamed "'' ...
[Marek Kerles]
Jazykovědce trápí "volování"
Český a slovenský svět, 2005
* a
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
train station
* a
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
station
*
Gerlachovský štít
Gerlachovský štít (, translated into English as ''Gerlachov Peak'', German: ''Gerlsdorfer Spitze'', Hungarian: ''Gerlachfalvi-csúcs''), informally referred to as Gerlach, is the highest peak in the High Tatras, in Slovakia, and in the Carpat ...
* a train station in
Nesebar, Bulgaria
* restrooms in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
* a corridor of the canteen in the Soviet polar station
Mirny in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
[Disman, M. (2006): ''Jak se vyrábí sociologická znalost'', Praha, Univerzita Karlova v Praze a Nakladatelství Karolinum, 3rd edition, , p. 310]
As time progressed, various new versions of the phrase were created, for example: "Doopravdy nejsem vůl, Servít" (''I'm really not an asshole, Servít''), "Všichni jste volové! Servít" (''You are all assholes! Servít''), "Promiň Servíte jsou i větší volové" (''Sorry Servít, there are bigger assholes than you'') and so on.
See also
*
Kilroy was here
*
Latrinalia
Latrinalia is a type of deliberately inscribed or etched marking made on latrines; that is, bathrooms or lavatory walls. It can take the form of art, drawings, or words, including poetry and personal reflections. Other types of latrinalia include ...
*
Srbija do Tokija
References
External links
*
Jiří ReinsbergMoje archa úmluvy V. – bral jsem život zvesela(přepis záznamu vyprávění na webu christnet.cz)
wiki Servít(heslo na wiki
ČWUT)
Servít je vůl a Kyselák po skalách leze časopis Speleo, č. 32, 2000, author -wc-
* Ivan Kolařík
Úvaha o kantorech(Světácké střípky smyslného seniora, díl 16), web Pozitivní noviny, 28. 3. 2007 {{in lang, cs
Graffiti and unauthorised signage
Czech words and phrases