What does “kotrmelec” mean in Czech?

This travelling cook turns a playground word into a life philosophy: «bez kotrmelce není žádný úspěch» (“without a tumble there’s no success”). A kotrmelec is literally a forward roll or somersault, the thing kids do on the grass, but Czechs use it figuratively for life’s tumbles and pratfalls.

“Udělat kotrmelec” can mean to physically roll over or to take a dramatic turn: a career flip, a fall, a comeback. Her TEDx theme leans on the double meaning, that the messy rolls are what make the success. It’s a cheerier, more cartwheeling cousin of the English “ups and downs.”