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- Queen Máxima shares her confusion about sandwiches
- first Dutch-language act ever on Coachella (the lyrics are… interesting)
- old-timey sexism gets put right by a Flemish lady for a Flemish lady
It comes out tomorrow :-)
Perhaps someone with knowledge of Chinese can weigh in here: there's a proverb that goes (more or less):
If you want to be happy for a day, get drunk;
for a year, get married;
for the rest of your life, start a garden.
It's being attributed as Dutch, but I think it is Chinese. Am I right?
Gefeliciteerd Yoīn. Wat tof! Keigoed gedaan 😉
It's World Art Day!
The word "easel" comes from the Dutch word "ezel", which means "donkey". It was (and still is!) so called because it carries a burden. The English took it from the Dutch in the 17th century, when I guess Dutch art was a bit of a thing ;-)
Ik vond het ook een raar stuk. Alsof je kiezers één-op-één met consumenten kunt vergelijken
Daarbij komt nog dat correlaties geen oorzaken zijn. Er bestaat een duidelijke correlatie tussen bosbranden en het eten van ijsjes, maar dat betekent niet dat het eten van ijsjes bosbranden veroorzaakt of dat je bosbranden kunt voorkomen door ijsjes te verbieden.
@nrc.nl "Correlation does not equal causation" zou ik vertalen als "een correlatie betekent niet automatisch dat er ook een oorzakelijk verband is". De eerste zin hieronder vind ik maar raar. (Uit "de geneeskunde transformeert: hoe artsen ziektes steeds beter kunnen voorspellen"(10-04-26))
botanical drawing of five different types of daffodil, from 1649 - 1659, Gottorfer Codex
Though now known in Dutch as "narcis", this spring flower actually used to be known as an "affodil" in both English and Dutch; from the Latin "affodillus".
It is quite likely (though it cannot be proven) that the English "daffodil" gained its "d" from the Dutch:"de affodil".
I have not been able to find out how she ended up with the English-sounding last name "Lancewood". It's not her husband's name. Her parents were Dutch hippies in De Achterhoek, perhaps they had English heritage. Or perhaps it is an assumed name? If anyone read her books and knows, please tell me!
@dannybate.bsky.social Her real name is "Mirjam", a common Dutch spelling of the name, but she goes by "Miriam" to avoid confusion. Thought you'd like that!
Miriam Lancewood is an adventurer and author who grew up in the Netherlands, married a New Zealander and spent a lot of her life in New Zealand. She has a new book out, but honestly I'm more interested in her accent, which is still recognisably Dutch but with heavy New Zealand influence. Lovely!
Someone was teaching Dutch and giving examples of diminutives, one of them being "boompje".
"Hmmm," says the student, "I know that "boom" is tree, and "je" is diminutive, but where did the "p" come from?"
Teacher: "Probably a dog."
(From reddit/r/dutch)
Someone was teaching Dutch and giving examples of diminutives, one of them being "boompje".
"Hmmm," says the student, "I know that "boom" is tree, and "je" is diminutive, but where did the "p" come from?"
Teacher: "Probably a dog."
(From reddit/r/dutch)
... ironically because her mother brought her there at the beginning of WWII, thinking it would be safe. Hepburn suffered through the 'hongerwinter', helped the resistance, and got a piece of shrapnel in her neck.
You can hear her speak Dutch in the clip below.
Audrey Hepburn’s new biography comes out in a few days, written by her son, who manages her estate as his full-time job.
Not many people know that Hepburn spoke Dutch. She had a Dutch mother, was born in Brussels, and later lived in Arnhem. (1/2)
Ah, so you were talking about old-language textbooks, as in textbooks about old languages, rather than old language textbooks, as in language textbooks that are old? That makes more sense, then!
What language, and how old?
(From the amazing Nicoline van der Sijs. Het Klein Uitleenwoordenboek is available for free online! www.dbnl.org/titels/titel...)
Dutch changed it to "chocolade" in keeping with words like "limonade" and "marmelade".
German (Schokolade) then took the "d" from Dutch, and Norwegian (sjokolade), Hungarian (csokoládé), and Russian (šokolad) took it from German.
Happy Easter! May you eat lots of chocolade today!
In some languages, "chocolate" has a "d" at the end. It's because of Dutch!
After their arrival in Mexico, Spanish gained the word "chocolate" from the local language Nahuatl and spread it to other languages. (1/2)
There is a popular myth in the south of the Netherlands that the parting phrase "houdoe" comes from WWII paratroopers saying "How do you do?".
It’s a great story, but that's all it is... It actually comes from the older Dutch phrase "Houdt oe eigen goed", meaning "Keep yourself well"
Oh dear...
It would be easy to think that this was a mistake by a non-native speaker, but actually the shop owner was aware of the innuendo; it had been an inside joke when a friend decided to print them the window sticker.
It won "worst" slogan of 2023 and got the bike shop lots of attention. Good for them!
A smallish Dutch bike shop with a slogan in the window: "put the fun between your legs". Longer description: A photograph of the facade of a village bike rental shop in the Netherlands. It seems to be a Sunday; there are no people about and the bike racks in front of the shop which would normally have bikes for rent are empty. A big yellow banner-sign reads "Tuut-tuut Bike rental/ Shop" with in smaller letters underneath "vrijetijdsarrangementen, fietsen, e-bike, mount..." then the picture is cut off. The aforementioned slogan is in white on the biggest window of the shop, with a logo of a bike. Source: https://www.sloganverkiezing.nl/verkiezingenarchief/verkiezing-2023/
Oldie but goodie:
Here's bike rental shop Tuut-tuut in Castricum (NL) in 2023. Take a look at their slogan in the window. (1/2)
Als je 'kind noch kraai' hebt, is er niemand voor wie je moet zorgen, en is er ook niemand die voor jóú kan zorgen. Nieuwsgierig naar hoe de uitdrukking is ontstaan (en waarom hij eigenlijk niets met de zwarte vogel te maken heeft)? Lees het hier: onzetaal.nl/schatkamer/leze...
That's a great one, thanks!
Thanks! It's really a difficult word to get a good handle on!
Nobody knows exactly where this curious saying comes from. One theory is that it's from 15th-century France, where vendors found selling impure butter would be forced to stand with the butter on their heads until it melted away completely.
Does your language have this saying, too? (2/2)
A young woman in 18th century dress is standing by a window and churning butter. From "The Butter Churner" (c.1719-1790) by Henry Robert Morland
‘If you have butter on your head, you shouldn’t walk in the sun’ (wie boter op zijn hoofd heeft, moet niet in de zon gaan lopen).
If you have a guilty conscience, you shouldn't draw too much attention to yourself. (1/2)
De Vragenlijstenbank is niet meer vrij toegankelijk vanwege angst voor mogelijke consequenties m.b.t. privacy. Zo zonde, én onnodig!
