# Slovak: Ihowak/Iohawk (?)



## Londyncan69

My three year old son, who is half-Slovak, has just come back from his summer holiday in Slovakia. So now instead of asking for a cake in a cafe, he asks for kolacik. 

But the most surprising thing is that he seems to have picked up the word "ihowak" which he has used when we are looking at picture books with transport and construction vehicles in them. I couldn't find the term in the dictionary but when I put it into Google images it shows me pictures of hoverboards.

So I am wondering whether Ihowak is the Slovak term for hoverboard. I have done some more online research and there does appear to be a brand of hoverboard called Iohawk.

I am wondering whether a brand name has become a generic term for hoverboard in Slovak. Or whether my son is mispronouncing a brand name (iohawk as ihowak), or I am mishearing it, or I have missed some nuance of Slovak pronunciation. To put this in context, his speech is usually very clear for his age and he doesn't usually mispronounce words.


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## jazyk

I can't think of a Slovak word similar to ihowak or iohawk. My sole contribution is that a hoverboard in Slovak is a dvojkolka or kolonožka.


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## Hachi25

I believe your son is mispronouncing a brand name because he merged two words into one. His word _ihowak _should actually be _IO Hawk_, which is a US company that manufactures and sells hoverboards under the same brand name.


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## morior_invictus

Londyncan69 said:


> I have done some more online research and there does appear to be a brand of hoverboard called *Iohawk*.
> 
> I am wondering whether a brand name has become a generic term for hoverboard in Slovak.





jazyk said:


> *[...]* a hoverboard in Slovak is a *dvojkolka* or *kolonožka*.


For what it's worth, I have never heard any of the three boldfaced words above before.


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## bibax

Neither I. It is something new to me (kolonožka, minisegway,  hands free segway, gyroskútr ).

I know only "segway", a general and legal term is *"osobní přepravník"* (personal transporter - PT) or  more precisely _*"osobní přepravník se samovyvažovacím zařízením"*_ (PT with a gyro device).

In Slovak (translated literally): *"osobný prepravník so samovyvažovacím zariadením"*


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## matiassko

Iohawk is not the word that belongs to a Slovak dictionary. I think that the explanation given by Hachi25 (above) is correct and your son know just  brand-name.


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## Londyncan69

Slightly embarrassed here and not sure whether to delete the thread but it has some useful discussion of what the word for hoverboard is.

It turned out that what my son was trying to say was “rychlovlak”. He still can’t say it properly. He’s missing out the Ls and an R which is odd because he pronounces other words clearly. I think he might just have been trying to say the long form “vysokorýchlostný vlak” and struggled with the number of syllables.

He is obsessed by trains which makes this all the more plausible.


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## ZDalexx

Hello, 
Yes, it seems to me correct. I was thinking about this word (but I was not sure). The sound "r" is one of the lasts to appropriate for children, especially if it's in beginning of words and the combination "vl" (like in "vlak" - train) is not very easy for young children. "Rýchlovlak" is a word  used in Slovak, but not easy to prononce for young children because there are the combinations not very easy of consonants. So I think that your explication is correct.


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