Via Alex, I came across this story explaining one facet of England’s defeat at the hands of Croatia two days ago:

Tony Henry belted out a version of the Croat anthem before the 80,000 crowd, but made a blunder at the end.

He should have sung ‘Mila kuda si planina’ (which roughly means ‘You know my dear how we love your mountains’).

But he instead sang ‘Mila kura si planina’ which can be interpreted as ‘My dear, my penis is a mountain’.[^1]

That really made me laugh. Turns out, the Croatian team loved it too. It apparently helped to relax them before the match, which in turn supposedly lifted them to victory in the second half.

The article goes on to explain how the English opera singer was mortified and tried to apologize.

“It was the last thing that I would intentionally do, and all I can say is if I have offended any Croatians, then they have my deepest apologies.”

On the contrary, Henry is becoming a cult hero in Croatia… “The Croatians think it’s great, and they’ve invited him to come over and sing at Euro 2008…”

Such stories convince me of the validity of national stereotypes. There’s something in the soul of a Balkan slav that reliably lights up at unexpected ribaldry. It’s true of all the peoples of former Yugoslavia (with the possible exception of the Slovenes, who have a more Teutonic attitude towards humor). It certainly helps explain my own predilection for the filthy and lewd.