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Doppler na ACA dopředné roky TI 0,78
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Glossary entry

Czech term or phrase:

prozvonění

English translation:

giving s.b. a missed call

Added to glossary by Scott Evan Andrews
Mar 1, 2012 12:33
12 yrs ago
4 viewers *
Czech term

prozvonění

Czech to English Tech/Engineering Telecom(munications)
we all know what it is, we all do it...you ring just to let the other party know you rang...but I need the word(s)...how on earth do we say this - I'm looking for a 2-3 word phrase that covers this once and for all...

apparently I'm not the only one going gray over this
http://betterthanenglish.com/prozvonit-czech/
http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2008/10/12/ten-most-dif...
thanks!
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 give me a missed call / one-bell me
4 to ring through
4 "dropped call "
3 to clip somebody
3 paging

Discussion

Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
You are quite right - I meant the term is a great one, not necessarily the practice :) However I do use it (both the term and the practice) when I am in the Czech Republic but only if the recipient of such a call is consenting ... But I don't think I have ever done it when in the UK, both because I don't know what the practice is called (although I have learned a lot today) and also because the people that I am likely to call are unaware of the option. I am sure that another reason why it is not widespread in the UK is that there is a vast amount of advertising/spam calls nowadays and anything to add to that would just be considered rude ...
Vladimír Hoffman Mar 1, 2012:
Gerry It is not a great idea at all, but very annoying and bothering practice, when you are the one who is given missed calls on regular basis. I known it from my own experience.
Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081217051255AA...
Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
Ivan: Kundera wrote a whole chapter about it ('litost', not 'prozvonit') in 'Unbearable Lightness of Being'. Otherwise as Jenny says, if I hadn't known about the concept from my time living in the Czech Republic, I wouldn't even have thought of doing it. I just did a bit of 'market research' with a friend, but all the terms mentioned were unknown - he thought it was a great idea, though, whatever it was called ... I think in those environments where lots of people use mobile phones or who use mobile phones extensively, words for this procedure have evolved separately, but there is no universally-recognised term as far as I can see. I think prozvonit is great - I use it all the time in Czech, but never in English. There are single words in English such as 'misfuel' (fill the tank with unleaded by accident when you should have filled with diesel, or vice versa) which cannot be expressed in one word in Czech, and many other examples.
Jana Bedanova Mar 1, 2012:
Give me a missed call! Never heard or used anything else but this phrase. At least in Ireland it is very common.
Ivan Šimerka Mar 1, 2012:
I would say that "give me a missed call" sounds to me best. But! I am not an English spaeker.
Vladimír Hoffman Mar 1, 2012:
Correct answer is to prank, to beep OR to make a missed phone (as Jennifer Gordon wrote). Drop call, dropped call or call drop has also meraning "call disconnection due to technical reasons", so it is too broad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missed_call
Ivan Šimerka Mar 1, 2012:
I wonder, why should be "lítost" such an untranslatable word. I admit it has a broad meaning of mind status of "being sorry" due to anything from very minor causes to very deep and personal feelings.
Jennifer Taylor Mar 1, 2012:
In discussion with Gerry, I realised that I use 'give me a missed call' having got to know the concept while living in Prague. My friend, however, who uses 'one-bell me', has learnt that in Manchester. He uses a prepaid phone and is very much used to the concept.
Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
Here's a task for everybody - translate 's litosti jsem ho prozvonil' in as few words as possible, whilst retaining the full meaning ... :)
Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
If you look through the reader comments at the bottom of the link that you posted it suggests a few terms that are used locally around the English-speaking world, such as 'prank' (Australia', 'Scotch' (South Africa), 'drop-call' (Northern Ireland and other places), but I have never heard of any of them http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=drop call - first I've heard of it.
Ivan Šimerka Mar 1, 2012:
The same verb is used also in technology after laying a multiple conductor cable, you have to check the individual conductors starting-finishing points connection (even if numbered). You have to "prozvońit" the line. It's sort of slang.
Scott Evan Andrews (asker) Mar 1, 2012:
I fully agree Gerry, now, can we not blaze a trail? Like when I was translating some wildflower indigenous to the Sumava, I was told that I could, based on the Latin and the Czech, make up names for them based on logical translation of either into English, and present them the the AV CR for approval to become official...can we not come up with a word/words to cover such a common thing (everywhere else but in our countries ;) ...if the whole world has it but us, we're lagging behind badly
Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/20-awesomely-untranslatable... - 'litost' is also in the list - a uniquely Czech term :)
Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
Well if neither you nor I as native English speakers have heard of such a term, it doesn't exist. Try saying 'ring me through' or 'clip me' to another native and see what response you get :)
Scott Evan Andrews (asker) Mar 1, 2012:
don't beat around the bush Ger give it to me straight :)
Gerry Vickers Mar 1, 2012:
It is an old chestnut - it would be great if we had one or two words to say 'call somebody's mobile with the intention of leaving your number on the other person's phone or to inform them that you are downstairs/wherever' but I have been pondering over it for years as well and have yet to come up with a satisfactory answer. I have asked many English friends as well and they seem to have no concept of such a procedure when I suggest it - just get blank looks. It just isn't really done.

Proposed translations

+4
1 hr
Selected

give me a missed call / one-bell me

The first is how I deal with it and the latter how my English friend says he deals with it. The problem is that they're not widely understood, although I think my version is more self-explanatory.
Reference:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=One-bell

Peer comment(s):
agree Vladimír Hoffman : Agree. See discussion.
34 mins
Thanks!
agree Jana Bedanova : definitely widely used in Ireland and it's not a new thing either, I've learned this phrase first thing I moved here
1 hr
Thanks!
agree Ales Horak
2 hrs
Thanks!
agree Gerry Vickers : I like 'one-bell' - it sounds quite Mancunian, though :)
2 hrs
I heard it in a nice Mancunian accent too!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks to all...awesome discussion with little if no backbiting, I like that... I think we have a hands down winner...Jenn you rock, that is fine for me, "giving give me a missed call" should be pretty easy to understand for most anybody. I even threw this up on Facebook to address a wider audience, but Jenn's suggestion is by far the best."
7 mins

to clip somebody

my friend uses when speaking english it but she is turkish (although she said she knows it from native english speakers)
Something went wrong...
7 mins

to ring through

.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2012-03-01 12:44:39 GMT)
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Napríklad: A unique Private TIME button, that when activated, allows only callers with code to ring through.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2012-03-01 12:45:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Alebo:
Smart Silencer allows you to select contacts that are able to ring through while all other contacts or non-contact numbers go to silent.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2012-03-01 12:46:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Alebo:
Smart Silencer allows you to select contacts that are able to ring through while all other contacts or non-contact numbers go to silent.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 mins (2012-03-01 12:50:27 GMT)
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It is possible to find in the dictionary: http://webslovnik.zoznam.sk/en-sk/to_ring_through/50
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36 mins

paging

Not sure if the gerund is okay but you'll know better.
Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pager

Something went wrong...
1 hr

"dropped call "

from http://hotword.dictionary.com/translate

Prozvonit is Czech word for "dropped call " but it refers to a mobile phone users who calls, lets the phone ring one then hangs up. The person who was called then dials the caller, saving the caller the cost of call.

more "dropped call" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropped_call
Peer comment(s):
neutral Vladimír Hoffman : Dropped call is something different. Quotation from the linked wiki page: Dropped call is the common term for a wireless mobile phone call that is terminated unexpectedly as a result of technical reasons
3 hrs
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