Last month I wrote about the Van Dale “Word of the Year” contest. The winners have been announced and we can proceed to start using these nifty new words.
Word of 2014: dagobertducktaks
This was my number 1 choice and I am glad it won. Dagobertducktaks makes reference to Scrooge McDuck and it means a special tax placed on the super rich. There are 4 tax brackets the Dutch government uses for inkomstenbelasting. Bracket 1 for annual income of up to €19,645 is 36.25%. Bracket 2 to for income between €19,9645 and €33,363 is 42%. Bracket 3 for income between €33,363 and 56,531 is also 42%. Last but not least Bracket 4 for income over €56,531 is 52%. Sorry Scrooge McDuck! I think you will be swimming in 52% less coins!
Other winners are:
“Young” category: aanmodderfakker
This is a creative combination between aanmodderen and motherfucker and it basically means someone without ambitions.
“Lifestyle” category: vergeetverzoek
Vergeetverzoek means to request a search engine to remove you from the search. This year the European Union agreed that people could request to have information removed from searches. I have been doing some research for my masters, and I saw a banner from Google saying some information might be unavailable due to EU regulations. Would you have information about yourself removed?
“Sport and Amusement” category: selfiestick
This one is pretty self-explanatory: a stick to make selfies. My sister told me about an iPhone case she liked that was shaped like a handheld mirror (those old fashion ones with a stick to hold onto). We talked about how it makes selfies a lot easier…Could a new word be selfiestickmobile?
“Economy” category: saldosjoemelaar
I think this one is related to dagobertducktaks. Saldosjoemelaar is someone who makes a deposit on his savings just before January 1st to avoid taxes.
“Politics” category: kamikazecoalitie
I find this word very funny because I think there should be a Spanish equivalent in Mexico. Kamikazecoalitie is a political coalition that is bound to fail.
Since I was a little girl, I was fascinated with languages and writing. I speak English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and a little bit of French. I am a writer, reader, language teacher, traveler, and a food lover!
I now live in The Netherlands with my husband Riccardo, our cat Mona, and our dog Lisa, and the experience has been phenomenal. The Dutch culture is an exciting sometimes topsy-turvy world that I am happily exploring!
