Yes, I know, I know.. I promised.. and yet... there was no Word of the Day for Monday, because it was Easter. And since this is a predominantly catholic country, no newspaper that day.
So here goes - Tuesday ! Another look at the brilliant new words made up by our media and how they enrich our language.
- 'homomonument' (gay monument): a few hundred people had a protest rally against racism and intolerance yesterday which started at the 'homomonument' in Amsterdam. No capital 'H', so the assumption seems to be here that this object, as a word, is commonly known, and not a specific name or anything. Not sure we need it - I'm sure there's a reason for the monument itself, but the word ??
- 'zomerhoofdstad' (summer capital): er... ok... Kashmir apparently has a seperate capital city for the summer period. I didn't know this. I'm also not sure how many other summer capitals there are. But I'm fairly certain there aren't enough to justify the existence of this word.
- 'fietsbom' (bicycle bomb): come on, folks, this has to be a joke. The kind that you get in Spy Hard and Loaded Weapon I. I mean.. a bicycle bomb ? Someone apparently parked a bike, loaded with explosives, next to a police vehicle and then ran off, after which it exploded. I'm trying to picture this. How can you load a bike with explosives without anyone noticing ? Even *if* it's in the frame, isn't that very strong, and thus able to stop a lot of the explosion ? And how do you trigger it ? Or were the explosives hanging all over the bike and just nobody happened to see this ? The puzzle that this poses just to imagine is enough to nominate this word.
- 'retro-gamen' (retro gaming): due to the popularity of nostalgic game systems such as the Commodore 64 (which, technically, is a PC and not a game console) and the Atari 7800, are basically being re-released in new forms. So now we can look forward to an evening of wonderful 'retro gaming'. I get shivers just reading this verb. It's.. it's... it's horrible. Unnecessary, put together from hip terms, basically English and not Dutch, and.. I just don't like it. The word. I'm actually kind of fond of nostalgic games myself, but.. retro gaming ???
- from same article: 'meestverkochte' (most sold). This does not exist as one word, folks.
- more from the gaming section of the newspaper: 'veldvoetbalspellengeweld' (field soccer games violence) and 'voetbalspellenliefhebber' (soccer games fan). Especially the first one of these two will be fun to learn for foreigners. I mean, look at it ! Imagine it being the secret password in a resistance movement.
- 'karakterfietsen' (character bicycles) - first off, this isn't from an article about bicycles, but about motorcycles. And... 'character' ? I'm sure bikes can have character, in fact, I don't doubt it, but 'characterbike', which this basically means ? I don't think so.
- in bigger news: 'paasakkoord' (Easter agreement). The short version is one of our ministers up and quit, leaving the government in peril of breaking up (which would lead to re-elections). To prevent this, the governing parties have set up an agreement, and all this went down during Easter. So now we have a word for agreements set during Easter. Very useful, fellas.
- 'solidariteitsbelasting' (solidarity tax). Look at the word first, especially if you don't speak Dutch. Then let the translation sink in. Seriously. This should already have you chuckling at the least. I don't even care about the context anymore (tax proposition from French president Chirac of which the proceeds should go to Africa), this is too good. The word looks like anyone being loyal to anyone else is being taxed. Admit it !
- 'pinpasfraude' (PIN pass fraud): the ATM's in this country can be tampered with to read the electronic information from your PIN card and to record with a small camera what number you are typing in. What bothers me is the evolution: first there was the invention of PIN, the Personal Identification Number (how many people know what it means anymore ?). Then the 'PIN-pas', which quickly became 'pinpas'. And now, in an article about the steps taken to prevent it, the word 'pinpasfraude' is introduced. If it's practically ruled out by these new measurements, then why bring it into use ?
- same article: 'spookopnames' (phantom withdrawals): this is basically the above mentioned fraud, basically taking out someone else's money while pretending to be them. I've never seen a phantom pretending to be someone else - not that I've ever seen a phantom, but that's besides the point. The word looks odd and isn't instantly clear. I oppose its usage. Down the drain with it !
And that's that for today's candidates. Now the moment that you've all been waiting for for over two weeks (I'm sure you were sitting around by your computer screens, breathless with excitement).. the winner, or The Word Of The Day for today, Tuesday March 29, is... *drum roll to raise the tension even further*... 'veldvoetbalspellengeweld' !!!
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