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On the tramvaj in Zagreb

2/5/2019

2 Comments

 
A study in human behaviour.    Winners and losers.

I guess it is important that those of us learning Croatian should also learn about Croatians.

The people of Zagreb are highly cultured, and very civil. Except perhaps in one instance ….
 
Ja sam na Trgu bana Jelačića. Čekam tramvaj. Ah, evo ga! Dvanaestica (Number 12) 


Picture


I'm tired after a whole day walking around Zagreb, so I hope that I can get a seat.
 
Lucky me .... the trams stops so that I am right in front of one of the doors. Even luckier: the tram is quite empty.
 
Aha, vidim neka slobodna mjesta. I ja sam na čelu gužve. I am at the front of the crowd (waiting to get on).



Picture
Image by Djordje Nikolic from Pixabay
Gdje da sjednem?  Where will I sit? 

I am feeling a little guilty because other people were waiting before I arrived.

I shouldn't have (felt guilty), because when the tram stopped, I was shoved aside like a delicate leaf. A charge for the empty seats showed no mercy for those without a killer instinct.

Nema slobodnih mjesta! There are no empty seats left!

When I had regained my composure, I could clearly see two sets of passengers:
  • Those who managed to get a seat, all wearing a victorious smirk on their faces, and 
  • Those who did not, with the darkest faces that you could imagine. Such snarls!
​
Among those sitting are seven-year olds, feeding their faces on chocolate or ice cream, and blissfully ignorant of the old ladies (and me) who are standing as the tram wobbles along. Their mothers (some of whom are also standing) seem determined to protect their children’s right to occupy a seat. The little darlings. Oh dear, one of them has started to cry because he has finished his packet of bonbonova, and needs some more.

Also sitting are teenagers and twenty-somethings. Those in groups talk to each other, laughing nervously, all the while pretending to be oblivious to the 90-year-old lady standing alongside them.

And then there are the young(ish) people on their own, who look at the floor, or pretend to be using their phones. This is a tactic of not making eye contact with that gruff-looking old man who is hovering over them with a scornful look on his face. 


The dark-faced standers exude gamma-rays from their eyes at the less-deserving who are sitting down.
​
The young(er) people sitting down do not register that the gamma-rays are causing their skin to peel. The gamma rays are unsuccessful in making the sitters feel uncomfortable enough to offer their seats to the old folk standing alongside them.

 
The tram approaches a stop, and a few people start to gather up their belongings.

The thoughts of those standing focus in sync: Mislim da će ove osobe sići.  I think that these people be getting off.

They manoeuvre for position. It seems that two seats will be vacated, but at least five people have their eyes focussed on those two seats, thinking through their strategy to out-manoeuvre the others.

When the two people get up to leave, what happens next is not pretty!

How is it that the seemingly frail 85-year-old lady - who was not even one of the five bystanders - managed to grab a seat with the fierceness of a lioness caring for its cubs?

Not only did she command a seat for herself, but she put her Konzum shopping bags on the other seat, thus denying access to anybody else in the overfull tram! Eto na!

The five losers (ovih pet gubitnika) are astonished at their defeat. Ajme meni! They know that some force of nature has just expressed itself, but they do not understand it.


​
I think that when zagrepčani get up in the morning and set their goals for the day, for many, it is to be successful in getting a seat on the tram.
​
What is my evidence for this uncomplimentary thought? Well, it is confirmed each time that I get off the tram.

 
Picture

Believe it or not, I am still inside this tram, trying to make my way out against the stampede of the seat-seekers.

Each for their own! Wives leave their husbands behind, and vice versa. All conversation ceases. Those getting on develop sore necks as their heads turn quickly this way and that, searching, searching ....... In Australia, we call this "rubber necking".

I am jammed between the irresistible force of those trying to get on, and the immovable objects comprising those on board trying to get off. There is little graciousness here.
 
So far as I can tell, when people get off the tram, they immediately relax and become happy, civil, and cultured burgers again.
 

For purposes of the story, I admit that I have exaggerated. A little. 

​



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  • HOME
    • Navigation: A ROAD MAP
    • Contacts
  • LEARNING CROATIAN
    • CROATIAN: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Kosa, koza, koža
      • 002 Pronouncing 'au'
      • 003 Can language influence behaviour?
      • 004 First day of the week
      • 005 Do Croatians assign gender to objects?
      • 006 Za četiri dana, na dva dana
      • 007 My brain becomes full!
      • 008 Sretan rođendan ti
      • 009 Na kavu, po kavu, za kavu?
      • 010 Until you don't do it
    • CROATIAN: Posts 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
    • DAKLE ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako!
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Where are the pronouns?
      • 002 Padeži and noun endings
      • 003 Endings of pronouns and adjectives
      • 004 "u" ili "na" ?
      • 005 The declensions of Tko? and Što?
      • 006 Ja sam na Trgu bana Josipa Jelačića
      • 007 Going and coming: u-iz, but na-sa
      • 008 Sav - All, every
      • 009 Number of subjects and the verb 'biti'
      • 010 Koga nazoveš? Komu telefoniraš?
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Declension of place names
    • GRAMMAR TITBITS - HOME >
      • 001 Dati - dativ
    • GRAMMAR REFERENCE SECTION HOME >
      • 001 Questions that define the case of nouns
      • 002 All nouns have gender
      • 003 Nouns in the nominative case
      • 004 Nouns: Declension categories
      • 005 Declension of regular nouns
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    • SAYINGS: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Ne daj se!
      • 002 U tom grmu leži zec!
      • 003 Baš me briga!
      • 004 Mačji kašalj!
      • 005 Što je, tu je!
      • 006 Eto ti ga na!
      • 007 Na licu mjesta
      • 008 Sve si to ti kriv!
  • VOCAB
    • Vocabulary: POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Even dying is not easy!
      • 002 To laugh or to smile?
      • 003 Nahraniti, sahraniti .... schmahraniti
      • 004 Prefixes that modify verb meanings
      • 005 Prefixes on base verb stati
      • 006 Country names - noun or adjective?
      • 007 Names of towns: A grammatical nightmare
      • 008 Countries: What do we call their citizens?
      • 009 Baš
      • 010 What a joke! vic or šala?
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
  • STUFF
    • STUFF: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Bookara
      • 002 Crossies?
      • 003 Jučer ili sutra?
      • 004 Ućitelji
      • 005 Požuri polako
      • 006 Kakav stil!
      • 007 The people of Magorje
      • 008 Where did the "j" go?
      • 009 koliko je kiše 50 litara po kvadratom metru?
      • 010 The dark side of the moon
    • Vicevi (Jokes)
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    • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 10 HOME >
      • 001 Licitarska srca
      • 002 My Aussie accent
      • 003 The upside down SIM card
      • 004 Buying fritule in Split
  • ABOUT CROATIA
    • Republika Hrvatska: HOME >
      • 001 Anthem: LIJEPA NAŠA
      • 002 Map of Croatia
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    • Where/What/Who is that? HOME >
      • Where/What/Who? Pages 1 - 10 >
        • 001 A girl and a bird
        • 002 His left foot
        • 003 A rebel
        • 004 Čuvarica Omiša
        • 005 Giorgio or Juraj?
        • 006 Tovar and friend
        • 007 Up on high
        • 008 On an island
        • 009 Water wonderland
    • REGIONS, CITIES, TOWNS: HOME >
      • ZAGREB: HOME >
        • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • 002 Advent in Zagreb
        • 003 Interliber book fair
        • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
      • Dalmacija: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
          • 001 Molin?
          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • Dalmatinski rječnik HOME >
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        • 001 Autumn tones
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      • 001 A night at the ballet
  • TKO SAM JA?
    • Tko sam ja? Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 The way we spoke