The official opening of the Steel Arena - Ladislav Troják Winter Stadium last Friday produced an extraordinary gathering of Presidents and Vice-presidents of various kinds. Ironically, the only Presidents missing the celebrations were the ones the title has traditionally been applied to - heads of state Ivan Gašparovič and George W. Bush. In fact, however, the meaning of President as head of state in a republic was a later etymological development.

The title President comes from the Latin word 'praesidens', meaning "sitting at the head of the table", and that originally meant the meeting table of any authority, assembly, committee, council or board in all kinds of institutions or organizations - commercial company, educational establishment, religious congregation, academic society or judicial court. Other advantages of the title President are that it sounds more executive and less bureaucratic than Chairman, and there's no need to change the ending (-man) if the President is a woman. It should happen…