Not a Village

So last month several people around here lost their minds over a news story.  Amazon wanted to open a distribution center in Brno but the city council rejected the offer. 

The problem came when the press printed that Brno is a village and is located near Prague. 

First of all, Brno is the country's second largest city and is over 200 km (125 miles) from Prague.


So many comments were posted online that a correction was posted indicating that Brno is not a village.

It took me by surprise when I moved here and heard the term "village" because only some U.S. states actually use village to designate an unincorporated area.  Every time I hear 'village', I always picture the Middle Ages, knights in armor, and ye olde town blacksmith or something.

Every country has its own rules on what differentiates a village, a town, and a city.  Some are based on population while some are based on legal definitions of autonomy.  In the UK, a town becomes a city when it contains a cathedral while a charter from the Crown makes it a city.

The bottom line is that a sure fire way to piss off Czechs is to call their 2nd largest city a "village".