Tag Archives: Curious Words
Curious Words in Dutch 9: Grapjas Posted by Sten on May 3, 2021
We all remember that person in our high school that had to make a joke out of everything. Entertaining, annoying, whatever. One thing was clear: they were the class clown! The Dutch somehow liken such funny people with jackets, because their word is: grapjas (“joke jacket”). Wait, what? Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In Dutch…
Curious Words in Dutch 8: Akkefietje Posted by Sten on Apr 2, 2021
Akkefietje – wat is dat nou weer? (what on earth is that?) I can hear my grandma say this word just reading it. But I never really understood it! What does this curious word mean, and what does it come from? Welcome to Curious Words in Dutch! Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In Dutch…
Curious Words in Dutch 7: Uitprinten Posted by Sten on Feb 11, 2021
Have you heard people say “to print out” and thought to yourself, that doesn’t sound right? Imagine the strangeness when “print” isn’t even a word native to your language. Welcome to the curiosity of the Dutch word “uitprinten”. Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In Dutch Uitprinten! Or… Printen? A word that is made up of…
Curious Words in Dutch 6: Telefoonbotje Posted by Sten on Jun 1, 2020
Have you ever called your arm? The Dutch word telephone bone suggests that you can. Or is that not what it means? Let’s take a look at this curious word. Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In Dutch The Telephone Bone You may have heard of the “phone bone” before. It refers to bone growth…
Untranslatable Dutch: Ver-van-mijn-bedshow Posted by Sten on May 4, 2020
Let’s try to translate something untranslatable again today, shall we? This one is actually quite a curious one, with all its hyphens. Let’s look at word that’s very far from your bed: een ver-van-mijn-bedshow. Click here for more untranslatable words A show far from my bed! So what is this? A far-from-your-bed show? What is that…
Curious Words in Dutch 5: Eekhoorntjesbrood Posted by Sten on Nov 7, 2019
Yesterday, Karoly wrote about paddestoelenseizoen (mushroom season) in the Netherlands. A wonderful time of the year, with some delicious recepten (recipes) and maaltijden (dishes). And while mushrooms have some weird names like hanekam (literally “cockscomb”, chanterelle mushrooms), oesterzwam (oyster mushroom) or hoorn van overvloed (horn of abundance), there is one that is really quite curious: Eekhoorntjesbrood! Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In…
Curious Words in Dutch 3: Bellen Posted by Sten on Jul 1, 2019
There are many strange words in a language. Words that are just not used much, words that are pronounced in a weird way… Just words that have something curious about them! And those are the ones we look at in this series. Today, we look at bellen. Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In…