{"id":6233,"date":"2019-09-02T13:33:57","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T13:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=6233"},"modified":"2019-10-16T19:52:22","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T19:52:22","slug":"spreekwoorden-en-uitdrukkingen-sayings-and-expressions-10-monkeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/spreekwoorden-en-uitdrukkingen-sayings-and-expressions-10-monkeys\/","title":{"rendered":"Spreekwoorden en Uitdrukkingen (Sayings and Expressions) 10 – Monkeys!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, really.\u00a0Apen\u00a0<\/em>(monkeys). The Netherlands may one of the least tropical\u00a0landen\u00a0<\/em>(countries) you can think of. Yes, we have the infamous\u00a0broodjeaapverhalen<\/em><\/a>, but we also have plenty of spreekwoorden\u00a0<\/em>(sayings) and\u00a0uitdrukkingen\u00a0<\/em>(expressions) that contain the mensachtige\u00a0<\/em>(human-like) primates. Let’s have a look at two today, starting, as always, with the\u00a0spreekwoord<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For other sayings and expressions in this series, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Aap wat heb je mooie jongen<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Image by Tycho Atsma at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

You’re quite the goody two-shoes<\/strong><\/p>\n

literally: Monkey how beautiful are your infants<\/em><\/p>\n

Monkey! Your infants are so mooi <\/em>(beautiful)! Of course, this is a sarcastic one. This weird\u00a0spreekwoord<\/em> \u00a0is something you’d say to somebody who is perhaps a bit overly\u00a0trots\u00a0<\/em>(proud) of something. It can also mean that somebody is excessively\u00a0lief en aardig\u00a0<\/em>(nice and sweet) to get something done. In that case, you can also say (if you want to talk about it, instead of telling somebody in their face):\u00a0ze spelen aap wat heb je mooie jongen <\/em>(they play monkey how beautiful are your infants). The closest English equivalent I could find is goody two-shoes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To be fair, I have neither heard the Dutch nor the English one in the wild. Looking up the Dutch version, I mostly find references in dictionaries and similar websites, no actual use cases. It is therefore also difficult to figure out where this spreekwoord <\/em>comes from! I have my own theory, but take it with a metric ton of salt, please.<\/p>\n

Voor aap staan<\/em> (“to stand as monkey”) is an\u00a0uitdrukking\u00a0<\/em>that means that you are\u00a0belachelijk\u00a0<\/em>(ridiculous) in\u00a0het openbaar\u00a0<\/em>(in public). If you stroll along the street, minding your own business, when suddenly you slip on a non-existing banana peel, for example (let’s be honest here, this happened to all of us). When you tell somebody\u00a0aap wat heb je mooie ogen<\/em>, you expose them, you show that you know what they are up to. Yes, you are making them a little belachelijk<\/em>. The second part, about the monkey’s infants, may be about what they are proud of. People are often proud of their\u00a0nageslacht\u00a0<\/em>(offspring), and it might just be something they do not shy away from showing off. By making a sarcastic statement about how beautiful their\u00a0jongen\u00a0<\/em>are, you specify what you are making\u00a0ridiculous: it is that pride, that excessive showing-off. Again, huge bucket of salt.<\/p>\n

Similarly, I am going to have to guess on the usage of this\u00a0spreekwoord<\/em>. I can imagine that it would be used in the following way:<\/p>\n

– Waarom bood Jan je nou aan met hem op het IJsselmeer te gaan zeilen?<\/em><\/p>\n

Hij wil graag een rit maken in mijn oude Ferrari, en hij hoopt dat ik hem dat als dank aanbiedt. Hij speelt aap wat heb je mooie ogen.<\/em><\/p>\n

(- So, why did Jan offer you to go sailing with him on the IJsselmeer?<\/p>\n

He wants to take a ride in my old Ferrari, and he hopes that I offer him that as a thank you. He plays monkey how beautiful are your eyes.)<\/p>\n

As you can see, it is not the nicest thing to say. Perhaps that is why it’s been abandoned by all but a few Dutch uncles<\/a>. As you may imagine, this is really a rather informal\u00a0spreekwoord<\/em>.<\/p>\n

You may have very good eyes and noticed something odd. A\u00a0komma\u00a0<\/em>(comma) is missing after the\u00a0aap<\/em>! Normally, before and after an aanspreking <\/em>(address), you have to use a komma<\/em>. And so, grammatically correct would be aap, wat heb je mooie ogen<\/em>. I don’t know why it was omitted here. The only explanation I could imagine is that this\u00a0spreekwoord\u00a0<\/em>is a product of everyday language where the separation between\u00a0aap\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0wat heb je mooie ogen\u00a0<\/em>is not made. In the case of\u00a0hij speelt aap wat heb je mooie ogen<\/em>, things look even crazier. But it does show that\u00a0aap\u00a0<\/em>really is not addressing anybody here, even if it should.<\/p>\n

Let’s move on from all this weirdness to a well-established and often used\u00a0uitdrukking<\/em>!<\/p>\n

De aap komt uit de mouw<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Image by author<\/p><\/div>\n

The cat is out of the bag<\/strong><\/p>\n

Literally<\/em>: the monkey comes out of the sleeve<\/em><\/p>\n

You have definitely heard the English version before, and learning Dutch, you will inevitably come across\u00a0de aap komt uit de mouw<\/em>. Used when it suddenly becomes clear what’s going on, it is a much used\u00a0uitdrukking\u00a0<\/em>in the Dutch language. But where does it come from?<\/p>\n

I have some answers for you now. Back in the day, artists would have an\u00a0aap\u00a0<\/em>hidden in their\u00a0mouw\u00a0<\/em>(sleeve). At some moment, it was to suddenly appear. Though there is another explanation, offered by F.A. Stoett<\/a>. He wrote that\u00a0aap\u00a0<\/em>does not refer to our furry friends, but to an\u00a0apenaard<\/em>, an old Dutch word I have never heard of that means “kwajongensachtig karakter”\u00a0<\/em>(rascal-like character).\u00a0Keeping something\u00a0in de mouw\u00a0<\/em>(in the sleeve) would simply be a metaphor for hiding that character. When it would come out, you would suddenly see their real character. This could make sense too, since such a sudden aap uit de mouw\u00a0<\/em>is often unintended and may not be positive for all involved.<\/p>\n

As further evidence of how much this\u00a0uitdrukking\u00a0<\/em>is used, there is a variation on\u00a0nu komt de aap uit de mouw<\/em>: ze hebben de aap in de mouw\u00a0<\/em>(they have the monkey in the sleeve). This means that you have a hunch that they are up to something, and you expect the monkey to come out at some point.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at a real-case example. The European Union records many documents and proceedings in many, if not all, 23 official languages of the Union.\u00a0De aap komt uit de mouw\u00a0<\/em>is used a lot here, actually. Nirj Deva<\/a>, former member of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom, said in 2008 in English:<\/p>\n

The\u00a0cat\u00a0is out of the bag, and we have thrown the baby out with the bath-water.<\/p>\n

This was then translated into:<\/p>\n

De aap is uit de mouw, en we hebben het kind met het badwater weggegooid.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fun, right?!<\/p>\n

So as you can see,\u00a0de aap is uit de mouw<\/em> can be used in formal to informal settings.<\/p>\n

Have you heard of these two before? Or have you used them before? How do you say this in your language?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Yes, really.\u00a0Apen\u00a0(monkeys). The Netherlands may one of the least tropical\u00a0landen\u00a0(countries) you can think of. Yes, we have the infamous\u00a0broodjeaapverhalen, but we also have plenty of spreekwoorden\u00a0(sayings) and\u00a0uitdrukkingen\u00a0(expressions) that contain the mensachtige\u00a0(human-like) primates. Let’s have a look at two today, starting, as always, with the\u00a0spreekwoord. For other sayings and expressions in this series, click here. Aap…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":6237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[60713,3590,27711],"tags":[358422,445086],"class_list":["post-6233","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-2","category-dutch-language","category-dutch-vocabulary-2","tag-sayings-expressions","tag-spreekwoorden-en-uitdrukkingen"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t