Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Book 'em, Danno.

Some more crimes against the Dutch language:
- an article that mentions the word 'gesteggel', which comes from the verb 'steggelen', which is mostly a dialect-spoken-word (meaning to have a debate about something) and isn't actually in the dictionary. There are also plenty of alternatives for it, and I was taught in school that newspapers really oughtn't to be using words that aren't in the dictionary (just as that they should follow the correct current spelling of words, etc. - because, after all, for a lot of folks they're the main source of current Dutch language that they read). So technically the word exists and a large amount of people know it, but it really shouldn't be in the newspaper.
- an article that notes getting plastic surgery done on your genitals is becoming more and more common, that mentions the word 'lippen-lift' (I don't think I need to translate this one). Obviously it refers to 'face-lift', but in a face-lift, the face actually gets lifted, and from what I gathered from this article, the 'lips' don't...
- There's an article about 'multivitaminen' (this one should be obvious too), which, let's face facts, folks, is a BRAND NAME here. It's quickly becoming a common word, following the long tradition of 'refridgerator', 'super soaker', etc. but I'm fairly certain we could talk about these things without having to use the brand name of one particular type.
- but.. the word of the day is.. 'biermoeheid' !
Translated it means 'beer fatigue', and it's from an article where breweries are noticing that the A-brands of beer are being consumed less. This one nearly made me choke on my morning tea with laughter when I read it. It's indesputably the Word of the Day !

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