Well, today's search for the Word of the Day is a late one, but that's because I had a fairly nice and reasonably productive day without feeling I had to hurry. Read that again, please, if you're someone who knows me a bit: I didn't feel I had to hurry. That's right.. RENE TOOK IT EASY TODAY ! And Hell froze over. And pigs flew. No, really, I did take it easy today.
So now I'm taking it easy and bring you a few candidates for the Word of the Day. They're not spectacular, but they're notable. So I'm noting them for you.
- 'pausverkiezingen' (pope elections). Media label ! Easily solvable with a combination of two or three words, but no, it just sounds better this way and goes down smoother. Meanwhile there's another fairly useless and way too contemporary word added to the Dutch language. Nominated.
- 'leerplichtambtenaren' (civil servants who oversee compulsory education). I'm not entirely sure about this one: it's not in the dictionary but I can just see the type of man in this job who'd actually call himself that. Weak candidate, admitted. But still. Nominated.
- 'cannabismedicijn' (cannabis medicine). This is a medicine based on cannabis but it might as well mean it's a medicine FOR the PLANT cannabis. Unclear word, plus Sativex, the medicine discussed, is so far the only cannais medicine, as far as I understood the article. So it's a media label, to top it all off. Nominated.
- 'atoomspion' (atom spy). No, this isn't an atom dressed in a big hat, with sunglasses and a long coat, and a wrist watch that can burn through steel with a laser beam. This is apparently just an Israeli traitor who leaked information to a British newspaper about Israel's nuclear programme. Confusing word, medialabel, all the usual things pretty much apply here. To top it off, the article mentions that this fella was rendered 'paspoortloos' (passportless) which really isn't a word, folks. Just say he's not allowed to leave Israel. Geez. Is it that tough ? He in fact DOES still have his passport, it just doesn't allow him to cross any borders. Two nominations !
- and finally: the Amsterdam edition of Metro pays off.. a candidate from that edition that wasn't in the 'the rest of the Netherlands' edition. 'Wapendiner' (weapons dinner). This isn't a dinner where you munch on bullets and handgranates. Nor are there rifles and missiles sitting at the table devouring a nice hot meal. No, this was a special dinner which some institute had planned for some weapons experts. Media label !
And the Word of the Day is: 'atoomspion' !
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
A Poor Catch...
Today's candidates were rare, despite the fact that since yesterday, Metro also has an Amsterdam edition (so even more odds in favour of finding the Word of the Day). However, I think they're very, very valid:
- 'rekenzwak' (calculation weak). This refers to kids who don't grasp their basic math skills too quickly by themselves (as the current educational system makes them figure out, I read in this article to my shock). Yeah... you force kids to solve calculation problems they've never seen before in their life by themselves, and some won't be able to - so let's call them 'weak'. And conclude that those 'weak' kids benefit most from the old-fashioned way of teaching math (hey now, that's the way I learnt it too, you assholes - and it worked fine for me and most people of my generation and before.. who do you think are working in IT and science right now ??) - nominated.
- 'anti-piraterijmusketiers' (anti piracy musketeers). This refers to BREIN, a foundation that attempts to hunt down and fine the people who up- and download illegal copywrited material such as games, music and movies. Two types of adventurous, heroic, outlawed ruffians thrown together in one word, with 'anti' in front of it.. a real beauty, this one is. If you wouldn't know the media context, this would be a very, very weird word indeed. Media label alert ! Nominated.
- 'grotestadsmarathons' (big city marathons). I'm not even going to explain why I nominated this. Just look at it.
And the Word of the Day is.... 'anti-piraterijmusketiers' !
- 'rekenzwak' (calculation weak). This refers to kids who don't grasp their basic math skills too quickly by themselves (as the current educational system makes them figure out, I read in this article to my shock). Yeah... you force kids to solve calculation problems they've never seen before in their life by themselves, and some won't be able to - so let's call them 'weak'. And conclude that those 'weak' kids benefit most from the old-fashioned way of teaching math (hey now, that's the way I learnt it too, you assholes - and it worked fine for me and most people of my generation and before.. who do you think are working in IT and science right now ??) - nominated.
- 'anti-piraterijmusketiers' (anti piracy musketeers). This refers to BREIN, a foundation that attempts to hunt down and fine the people who up- and download illegal copywrited material such as games, music and movies. Two types of adventurous, heroic, outlawed ruffians thrown together in one word, with 'anti' in front of it.. a real beauty, this one is. If you wouldn't know the media context, this would be a very, very weird word indeed. Media label alert ! Nominated.
- 'grotestadsmarathons' (big city marathons). I'm not even going to explain why I nominated this. Just look at it.
And the Word of the Day is.... 'anti-piraterijmusketiers' !
Monday, April 18, 2005
Just Because He's Smarter Than The Average Bear...
Back in the office, and AGAIN confronted by a manager about the outlaw on reading papers at your desk. Well, I kindly informed her that management has done their job, I've been informed that I'm not allowed to read newspapers at my desk, and I'm going to do it anyway. Their communication came across fine, and I'm taking my own responsibility as an adult and individual in completely ignoring that rule. If they have a problem with it, they can put it on my performance review, and if they do, I'm going to escalate this so god damn high up that this dumb, ignorant, and in fact fascist rule is quickly scrapped. Fuck you when you say I can't read a friggin' newspaper when you give me jack shit to do. I'll decide that for myself, thank you, and I certainly won't bow to some rule that seems to intend to keep 'us employees' dumb. You get my labour during work hours, and as far as I'm concerned, that's where your control over me stops. That's what I signed up for. Not this crap. YOU'LL NEVER GET ME ALIVE !
So. That whole rant was already more energy than I intended to put into acknowledging the rule at all. I'm now simply going to continue with the first candidates for Word of the Day for this week. Let's see what we've got, shall we ?
- 'kerosinetax' (no need for a translation methinks). I'm nominating this word because it's in fact the 'solidariteitstax'-plan the French came up with weeks ago (I don't feel like looking back in my blog archives for it, but it's in there.) The plan from the French to raise taxes on kerosine and use the proceeds to solve some of the huge debt the Third World countries are in. The way the article of today was written, it looks like Zalm came up with this plan all by himself yesterday. Rrrrrrrrright. Nominated.
- 'gatekeepers' (no need for a translation methinks). This is a term used for secretaries. Secretaries. Now, don't get me wrong, I've known a lot of hard-working secretaries and I respect what they do, but come on: they're called secretaries. Not gatekeepers. They're not bearded warriors with heavy weapons holding enemies out of the city walls. They're secretaries ! Nominated.
- 'koopjeswalhalla's' (sales walhallas). This refers to online auction sites, specifically the ones where there's a lot of interesting stuff offered. Has capitalism grown so sad that we have to use this word now ? Nominated.
- 'zondagopenstelling' (sunday opening). This refers to shopping sundays (the Netherlands are a catholic country where saturday afternoon is the last time each weekend you can go into the shops - after five, there's a day and a half where nothing is open except the pub - but some sundays the stores *are* open, and this is treated as a very special kind of treat... after the previous nomination, I'm sure you can guess where I stand on this) and the way churches could join the trend by opening the church all day as a refuge from hectic modern times. I really don't think we need this word, it's a media label and an unclear one at that. I mean, would you, out of context, guess that this relates to churches ?
- 'buscatastrofe' (no translation needed). Which clearly is a wholly different kind of catastrofe from any other ones which don't have their own word.
- but, my colleague found this one before I did: 'probleemberen' (trouble bears). That's right: there are bears hanging out near busy roads, in the streets, up to no good, hanging out in gangs, shoplifting, riding their motorcycles, stealing cars, blowing up things.. well, sorta. These are former circus and carnival bears who are in very bad shape and which eventually end up with animal organisation Alertis. This organisation is trying to get them a section of wood where they can recover in relative freedom. But.. trouble bears ? I get a TV cartoon association here...
So the Word of the Day is 'probleemberen'. And just like the troublesome bear this made me think of, I'm going straight against stupid authority today. Especially since some stupid train conductor woke me up during the ride to check my ticket. While normally that wouldn't bother me, he had the nerve to tell me I should wake up because I have to work soon. FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE - I'll bloody sleep when I want to. And I'll bloody read a newspaper when I want to. Good grief, what is WRONG with people ??
So. That whole rant was already more energy than I intended to put into acknowledging the rule at all. I'm now simply going to continue with the first candidates for Word of the Day for this week. Let's see what we've got, shall we ?
- 'kerosinetax' (no need for a translation methinks). I'm nominating this word because it's in fact the 'solidariteitstax'-plan the French came up with weeks ago (I don't feel like looking back in my blog archives for it, but it's in there.) The plan from the French to raise taxes on kerosine and use the proceeds to solve some of the huge debt the Third World countries are in. The way the article of today was written, it looks like Zalm came up with this plan all by himself yesterday. Rrrrrrrrright. Nominated.
- 'gatekeepers' (no need for a translation methinks). This is a term used for secretaries. Secretaries. Now, don't get me wrong, I've known a lot of hard-working secretaries and I respect what they do, but come on: they're called secretaries. Not gatekeepers. They're not bearded warriors with heavy weapons holding enemies out of the city walls. They're secretaries ! Nominated.
- 'koopjeswalhalla's' (sales walhallas). This refers to online auction sites, specifically the ones where there's a lot of interesting stuff offered. Has capitalism grown so sad that we have to use this word now ? Nominated.
- 'zondagopenstelling' (sunday opening). This refers to shopping sundays (the Netherlands are a catholic country where saturday afternoon is the last time each weekend you can go into the shops - after five, there's a day and a half where nothing is open except the pub - but some sundays the stores *are* open, and this is treated as a very special kind of treat... after the previous nomination, I'm sure you can guess where I stand on this) and the way churches could join the trend by opening the church all day as a refuge from hectic modern times. I really don't think we need this word, it's a media label and an unclear one at that. I mean, would you, out of context, guess that this relates to churches ?
- 'buscatastrofe' (no translation needed). Which clearly is a wholly different kind of catastrofe from any other ones which don't have their own word.
- but, my colleague found this one before I did: 'probleemberen' (trouble bears). That's right: there are bears hanging out near busy roads, in the streets, up to no good, hanging out in gangs, shoplifting, riding their motorcycles, stealing cars, blowing up things.. well, sorta. These are former circus and carnival bears who are in very bad shape and which eventually end up with animal organisation Alertis. This organisation is trying to get them a section of wood where they can recover in relative freedom. But.. trouble bears ? I get a TV cartoon association here...
So the Word of the Day is 'probleemberen'. And just like the troublesome bear this made me think of, I'm going straight against stupid authority today. Especially since some stupid train conductor woke me up during the ride to check my ticket. While normally that wouldn't bother me, he had the nerve to tell me I should wake up because I have to work soon. FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE - I'll bloody sleep when I want to. And I'll bloody read a newspaper when I want to. Good grief, what is WRONG with people ??
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Trying To Make Up.
Welp, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were again crazy, and I'm wiped. Seriously. I fell asleep during drawing The Grim DotCom - that's gotta be a bad sign.
And now I'm kind of guiltily trying to retrieve the news of these three days. Not an easy task - I can find Friday's, Sp!ts, I can retrieve the Metro of all three days, but the other newspapers limit their archives to one day, some with a searchable archive but not date-referenced, so I can't just search for all articles from these three days. At least not as far as I can tell.
Bear with me, I'm trying to find 'em. There won't be many and I won't be thorough. That much I can promise already...
Thursday:
- 'microfoongesprekken' (microphone conversations). This means 'conversations secretly recorded by hidden microphones'. How do they differ exactly from regular conversations ? In the fact that they were recorded ?? I don't think this justifies this word.
- 'verkeersveiligheidscampagne' (traffic safety campain). Do I even need to go into this one ?
- 'detailhandelsspecialist' (retail specialist). Is there really any non-Dutch speaking person who won't find this word long and confusing ? It can easily be solved in a much less confusing manner.
Ok, Word of the Day (since I'm done with Thursday) is 'microfoongesprekken'.
Friday:
- 'slaapkamerproducties' (bed room productions). This is from a producer/DJ who makes music on a G4 in his bedroom. But it's clear the word's supposed to mean 'music produced in a non-professional studio environment with non-professional studio equiptment'. Blegh.
- 'leer-werk-plicht' (study - work - duty). Our government is putting even more silly responsibility on the unemployed for their own situation: now a new law is proposed to make sure young people are officially forced to either study or work. Now.. it could just be me, but I can't think of a single young person (and I know a lot of young people) who isn't already forced to one of the two, if not friggin' both. In fact, way too many young people are already actively throwing their life away to make sure our government can pay off their debt, keep pensioners alive, and pay for Joint Strike Fighters for our American buddies. Isn't the whole point of being young that you have this time to be NON-grown up ? And don't you think the enourmous pressure the government keeps putting on the young people is what makes so many of them go to extremes in their opposition of society and government ?
Ok, worked up enough to know: the Word of the Day for Friday is: 'leer-werk-plicht'. No use looking any further.
Saturday:
'straatterroristen' (street terrorists). From what I gather from the article, this doesn't really differ from any other form of terrorism, so where the addition 'street' came from, I have no idea. Except that it involves 'foreign' youth. I'm fairly close to accusing the inventor of this word of racism. So I'm not looking further: this is today's winner.
And since it's techically Sunday: here's the Word of the Week ! (Good grief, what an efficient post, no ?)
- Monday: 'turbokapitalisme'
- Tuesday: 'exploronaut'
- Wednesday: 'sexwinkelcentra'
- Thursday: 'microfoongesprekken'
- Friday: 'leer-werk-plicht'
- Saturday: 'straatterroristen'
And the Word of the Week is: 'exploronaut'.
Goodnight !
And now I'm kind of guiltily trying to retrieve the news of these three days. Not an easy task - I can find Friday's, Sp!ts, I can retrieve the Metro of all three days, but the other newspapers limit their archives to one day, some with a searchable archive but not date-referenced, so I can't just search for all articles from these three days. At least not as far as I can tell.
Bear with me, I'm trying to find 'em. There won't be many and I won't be thorough. That much I can promise already...
Thursday:
- 'microfoongesprekken' (microphone conversations). This means 'conversations secretly recorded by hidden microphones'. How do they differ exactly from regular conversations ? In the fact that they were recorded ?? I don't think this justifies this word.
- 'verkeersveiligheidscampagne' (traffic safety campain). Do I even need to go into this one ?
- 'detailhandelsspecialist' (retail specialist). Is there really any non-Dutch speaking person who won't find this word long and confusing ? It can easily be solved in a much less confusing manner.
Ok, Word of the Day (since I'm done with Thursday) is 'microfoongesprekken'.
Friday:
- 'slaapkamerproducties' (bed room productions). This is from a producer/DJ who makes music on a G4 in his bedroom. But it's clear the word's supposed to mean 'music produced in a non-professional studio environment with non-professional studio equiptment'. Blegh.
- 'leer-werk-plicht' (study - work - duty). Our government is putting even more silly responsibility on the unemployed for their own situation: now a new law is proposed to make sure young people are officially forced to either study or work. Now.. it could just be me, but I can't think of a single young person (and I know a lot of young people) who isn't already forced to one of the two, if not friggin' both. In fact, way too many young people are already actively throwing their life away to make sure our government can pay off their debt, keep pensioners alive, and pay for Joint Strike Fighters for our American buddies. Isn't the whole point of being young that you have this time to be NON-grown up ? And don't you think the enourmous pressure the government keeps putting on the young people is what makes so many of them go to extremes in their opposition of society and government ?
Ok, worked up enough to know: the Word of the Day for Friday is: 'leer-werk-plicht'. No use looking any further.
Saturday:
'straatterroristen' (street terrorists). From what I gather from the article, this doesn't really differ from any other form of terrorism, so where the addition 'street' came from, I have no idea. Except that it involves 'foreign' youth. I'm fairly close to accusing the inventor of this word of racism. So I'm not looking further: this is today's winner.
And since it's techically Sunday: here's the Word of the Week ! (Good grief, what an efficient post, no ?)
- Monday: 'turbokapitalisme'
- Tuesday: 'exploronaut'
- Wednesday: 'sexwinkelcentra'
- Thursday: 'microfoongesprekken'
- Friday: 'leer-werk-plicht'
- Saturday: 'straatterroristen'
And the Word of the Week is: 'exploronaut'.
Goodnight !
Thursday, April 14, 2005
And Crazier And Crazier.
So yesterday, after work, I had an interview together with ClickBurg-jury president Jeroen Mirck. After that, we both went to get something to eat and then I went home. What wasn't surprising was that I fell deep asleep on the train and overslept, which means I missed my stop. What *was* surprising was that when I got off at Eindhoven, the entire train station was a chaotic mess with drunk soccer hooligans, military police, trains departing from different perrons, entire perrons being blocked.. a mess ! I should have brought my digital camera, because you wouldn't believe the things I saw - from very closeby !
That's just some of the crazy things that have happened yesterday and today - there's a load more but a lot is work-specific and I can't get into detail on them (confidence agreements and whatnot). But today the department got the message from our team leader that we're not allowed to have / read newspapers at our desks. With a very clear look in my direction.
Now, I'm the kind of guy that responds to that 'thanks for telling me but I won't change my behaviour and if that's a problem I guess I'll hear about it on my performance review - where I'll gladly go into debate with you about the merits of keeping up with current events AND put it into perspective to some of my added values to this team'. Or, in short 'yeah, whatever.'
However, as I was rebelliously reading the two free train newspapers at my desk today, I couldn't find a SINGLE CANDIDATE FOR THE WORD OF THE DAY.
None ! None, I tell you, not a single one !
So now I'm going to have to resort to the online newspapers. Will be back in a while to update this.
That's just some of the crazy things that have happened yesterday and today - there's a load more but a lot is work-specific and I can't get into detail on them (confidence agreements and whatnot). But today the department got the message from our team leader that we're not allowed to have / read newspapers at our desks. With a very clear look in my direction.
Now, I'm the kind of guy that responds to that 'thanks for telling me but I won't change my behaviour and if that's a problem I guess I'll hear about it on my performance review - where I'll gladly go into debate with you about the merits of keeping up with current events AND put it into perspective to some of my added values to this team'. Or, in short 'yeah, whatever.'
However, as I was rebelliously reading the two free train newspapers at my desk today, I couldn't find a SINGLE CANDIDATE FOR THE WORD OF THE DAY.
None ! None, I tell you, not a single one !
So now I'm going to have to resort to the online newspapers. Will be back in a while to update this.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Things Are Getting Crazier And Crazier.
Welp, I've finally done it: an all-nighter in service of ClickBurg. That's right: I didn't get to shut my eyes for a single minute last night, because I was piecing together the programme booklet. I'm running on 100% coffee today, I doubt there's much of anything else running through my veins.
And yet: I'm still bringing you the Word of the Day ! How's that for loyalty. Can I get some appreciation ?
No ?
Ok. You're still getting the nominees anyway.
- 'sexwinkelcentra' (sex shopping centres) - Hungarian prostitutes will be supplied with an er... sort of 'front desk', from what I gather from this article. A businessman has requested permission to start a multifunctional sex palace, where prostitutes will be allowed to find their clientele - they do however have to perform their job elsewhere, which sets it apart from the concept of a brothel. So basically it'll be a place where it's legal for prostitutes and clients to meet up, but they'll have to go to an own place or hotel to get down to business. The article labels this as a sex shopping centre, but to a Dutchman a sex shop isn't a place where you meet prostitutes, it's where you get, well, accessories. And lord knows what else (I have little experience in visiting such shops, despite living in a country where they're abundant and legal), but no actual woman to have sex with. A sex shopping centre would, to a Dutch person, be a shopping mall with nothing but such sex shops. This word is simply faulty and misleading. Down the drain with it !
- another set of trend words ! This time there's two pages on sunglasses trends, and the gems I lifted off them are 'oversized', 'zonnebrillenmaand' (sun glasses month), and 'brillentrendwatcher' (glasses trend watcher). It never ceases to amaze me how many pages can be filled with such inane subjects. I mean.. sunglasses, for chrissakes !
- 'muziekverspreiders' (music distributors). Is this really the label you'd want to patch on people who offer illegal MP3s online ? I mean.. music distributors could also just be band managers, or record companies, or even radio and tv stations. Not only does this label lack to add anything (I am dead certain the Dutch language is rich enough to tackle labelling these people with a combination of two or three existing words), but its meaning is very ambiguous. Besides that, it's a media hype word. And any regular reader of this blog knows I hate those enough to nominate them based solely on that.
- 'vergelijkingssite' (comparison web site) - er... no doubt I'm correct in interpreting this word as meaning 'web site that allows people to compare prices on certain things' but.. well.. it's just a bad word. I don't even want to explain it, it's bad. Bad, I tell you.
And the Word of the Day is.......
*falls deep asleep on the keyboard*
Just kidding. The Word of the Day is: 'sexwinkelcentra' !
And yet: I'm still bringing you the Word of the Day ! How's that for loyalty. Can I get some appreciation ?
No ?
Ok. You're still getting the nominees anyway.
- 'sexwinkelcentra' (sex shopping centres) - Hungarian prostitutes will be supplied with an er... sort of 'front desk', from what I gather from this article. A businessman has requested permission to start a multifunctional sex palace, where prostitutes will be allowed to find their clientele - they do however have to perform their job elsewhere, which sets it apart from the concept of a brothel. So basically it'll be a place where it's legal for prostitutes and clients to meet up, but they'll have to go to an own place or hotel to get down to business. The article labels this as a sex shopping centre, but to a Dutchman a sex shop isn't a place where you meet prostitutes, it's where you get, well, accessories. And lord knows what else (I have little experience in visiting such shops, despite living in a country where they're abundant and legal), but no actual woman to have sex with. A sex shopping centre would, to a Dutch person, be a shopping mall with nothing but such sex shops. This word is simply faulty and misleading. Down the drain with it !
- another set of trend words ! This time there's two pages on sunglasses trends, and the gems I lifted off them are 'oversized', 'zonnebrillenmaand' (sun glasses month), and 'brillentrendwatcher' (glasses trend watcher). It never ceases to amaze me how many pages can be filled with such inane subjects. I mean.. sunglasses, for chrissakes !
- 'muziekverspreiders' (music distributors). Is this really the label you'd want to patch on people who offer illegal MP3s online ? I mean.. music distributors could also just be band managers, or record companies, or even radio and tv stations. Not only does this label lack to add anything (I am dead certain the Dutch language is rich enough to tackle labelling these people with a combination of two or three existing words), but its meaning is very ambiguous. Besides that, it's a media hype word. And any regular reader of this blog knows I hate those enough to nominate them based solely on that.
- 'vergelijkingssite' (comparison web site) - er... no doubt I'm correct in interpreting this word as meaning 'web site that allows people to compare prices on certain things' but.. well.. it's just a bad word. I don't even want to explain it, it's bad. Bad, I tell you.
And the Word of the Day is.......
*falls deep asleep on the keyboard*
Just kidding. The Word of the Day is: 'sexwinkelcentra' !
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Toby Or Not To Be.
Today's post is specially dedicated to that sweet rabbit, Toby.
Or maybe I'm just plugging a site that made me laugh something awful. A lot better than today's nominees for the Word of the Day.
- 'witbalansinstellingen' (white balance settings). Apparently something you can change on a digital camera.
- 'bosnegerdorpen' (forest negro village).
- 'exploronaut' -- what you're supposed to imagine you are when you get in the Space Mountain 2 ride at Disneyland Paris.
- 'reistijdenadviseur' (travel schedule advisor) - word used to describe a programme that picks the shortest route, wether by car or public transport, for you, in the Netherlands.
- 'effectenleasedrama' (stock lease drama).
- 'nascholingseisen' (requirements for a refresher course).
- 'apothekerskoepel': literally it means 'pharmaceutical dome' which would imply a building or something. But it's the coordinating authority that oversees the pharmacies.
The Word of the Day is 'exploronaut', and now go save that poor Toby damnit !
Or maybe I'm just plugging a site that made me laugh something awful. A lot better than today's nominees for the Word of the Day.
- 'witbalansinstellingen' (white balance settings). Apparently something you can change on a digital camera.
- 'bosnegerdorpen' (forest negro village).
- 'exploronaut' -- what you're supposed to imagine you are when you get in the Space Mountain 2 ride at Disneyland Paris.
- 'reistijdenadviseur' (travel schedule advisor) - word used to describe a programme that picks the shortest route, wether by car or public transport, for you, in the Netherlands.
- 'effectenleasedrama' (stock lease drama).
- 'nascholingseisen' (requirements for a refresher course).
- 'apothekerskoepel': literally it means 'pharmaceutical dome' which would imply a building or something. But it's the coordinating authority that oversees the pharmacies.
The Word of the Day is 'exploronaut', and now go save that poor Toby damnit !
Monday, April 11, 2005
Takin' It Slow Just Became A Trend.
ClickBurg, the Word of the Day, even The Grim DotCom are starting to feel more and more like *work* these days, and I realise that it's due to two reasons. One, my actual job has lost practically everything I appreciated about it, in short, all the fun is gone, and that backlashes into my 'unpaid jobs' as well, of course. I mean, for 36 hours a week I'm now doing something I can't justify in my mind anymore, except that it pays the bills. That takes the excitement, enthousiasm and speed out of the entire week. The second reason is that, while this semi-burnout is happening, I'm increasingly raising the bar on all the other work, which just takes more and more time, ends up having more and more tedious bits of boring work involved in it, etc. -- I'm sure the fact that I haven't slept a proper night's sleep in weeks doesn't help matters much either.
So today I'm opening the newspapers with a sigh, having to go through all that awfully boring and uninspiring news again while trying to find that one gem word mutation miscreant that brightens up my blog for the day. And I can't find anything ! I went halfway through the first newspaper until I stumbled upon the first word.. and then the second, and third.. there were EIGHT on these two pages, all new, all about the same thing.
I'm referring to the middle pages of Sp!ts today, where there is a major trend in the career world being highlighted. And I hope you can appreciate the irony: it's all about taking things slower and having more fun with what you do, focussing on the things that matter most to you, etc. - and about the increasing numbers of burnouts among Dutch people that necessitate this trend more and more.
It's beautiful. I have tears in my eyes. It's so common sense, and yet, even I have been losing track of all this lately. And to top it all off, the articles are virtually laden with trend-hype-words !
Here they are: 'slowlife', 'slowlifetrend', 'punctualiteitsdrift' (urge for punctuality), 'dut-kamer' (nap room), 'dommelsessies' (doze sessions), 'slow-leven' (leven can be life or the verb to live), 'turbokapitalisme' (I doubt a translation is required) and 'slowtrend'.
Bliss. What a page. I feel like framing it and hanging it up somewhere.
But then the downside: I have to pick one of these. And although I have a few non-favourites amongst them, it's a rough choice !
The Word of the Day is 'turbokapitalisme'. Don't question it towards me because I'm very liable to change my mind on this. But it seems the most ridiculous one of the set. I think.
Damnit, I'm going to go outside in the sun, take a slow walk, get some nice warm kibbeling for lunch, have a smoke, and relax before I work on anything else anymore today.
So today I'm opening the newspapers with a sigh, having to go through all that awfully boring and uninspiring news again while trying to find that one gem word mutation miscreant that brightens up my blog for the day. And I can't find anything ! I went halfway through the first newspaper until I stumbled upon the first word.. and then the second, and third.. there were EIGHT on these two pages, all new, all about the same thing.
I'm referring to the middle pages of Sp!ts today, where there is a major trend in the career world being highlighted. And I hope you can appreciate the irony: it's all about taking things slower and having more fun with what you do, focussing on the things that matter most to you, etc. - and about the increasing numbers of burnouts among Dutch people that necessitate this trend more and more.
It's beautiful. I have tears in my eyes. It's so common sense, and yet, even I have been losing track of all this lately. And to top it all off, the articles are virtually laden with trend-hype-words !
Here they are: 'slowlife', 'slowlifetrend', 'punctualiteitsdrift' (urge for punctuality), 'dut-kamer' (nap room), 'dommelsessies' (doze sessions), 'slow-leven' (leven can be life or the verb to live), 'turbokapitalisme' (I doubt a translation is required) and 'slowtrend'.
Bliss. What a page. I feel like framing it and hanging it up somewhere.
But then the downside: I have to pick one of these. And although I have a few non-favourites amongst them, it's a rough choice !
The Word of the Day is 'turbokapitalisme'. Don't question it towards me because I'm very liable to change my mind on this. But it seems the most ridiculous one of the set. I think.
Damnit, I'm going to go outside in the sun, take a slow walk, get some nice warm kibbeling for lunch, have a smoke, and relax before I work on anything else anymore today.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Three Days Crammed Into One.
ClickBurg is taking up more and more of my time, so again I've been running around a lot and getting a lot of work NOT done. To top it off, I had two birthdays crammed into one evening yesterday (which obligated me to go bowling with my friends and then to go out) and tonight I have to go out again, meeting up with some other friends I haven't talked to in ages -- and hopefully getting them interested in volunteering at ClickBurg. Yes, even when I go out now I'm still working. It's insane.
So I'm sorry, but yesterday AND today's Word of the Day are late. I did get the newspapers during both days, but only now have some time to check them quickly. And I have a mere hour to do this, because after that I have to go on the beforementioned second evening out.
May 2nd is starting to sound better and better...
Ok, here goes. I'll cram Friday, Saturday AND the Word of the Week into one posting, if you don't mind. That leaves me time tomorrow to, well, work some more. (I'm telling you all this not just to apologize but also to prevent you all from envying me for ANYTHING. Mine is not a very enviable life, trust me.)
FRIDAY:
- 'openbaarvervoersmiddelen' (means for public transportation). Apparently there's an American who's so obsessed with these that he keeps stealing them. That's right: he's stolen subways, trains and buses, a total of twenty of them, for a personal ride. Still, even in Dutch it's fairly common to write 'openbaar vervoer' as two words. I realise this word actually serves a purpose but - as often before - it could easily have been replaced with a few words instead of having to make up this long one.
- 'houtherkomst' (origin of wood). No innuendo, this really means the origins of wood - it's from an article about illegal chopping and Europe taking action against it by boycotting the wood. Media hype word, only created for this one article. And it's one that was hidden on the fourth page, so I doubt we'll ever see this word again.
- 'kogelvanger' (bullet catcher). That's right: this is from a really short article about 50 Cent, the rapper, who is referred to as 'gangstarapper, bullet catcher and actor'. Almost sounds like a profession, doesn't it ? Getting shot at, that is. 'So what do you want to be when you grow up, Johnny ?' 'A bullet catcher !'.
- 'renteschok' (interest shock). This is about mortgage interest rates which are being raised. Apparently 80.000 people will be in financial trouble due to the expected increases, on top of the 180.000 Dutch people who are already in trouble. I get that. But 'interest shock' ? Or should I have translated it as 'interest quake', as in earth quake ? Either way, I have no idea why this word was invented.
And the Word of the Day for Friday was: 'kogelvanger' !
SATURDAY:
- 'bolletjescontrole' - before I translate this as something that might sound sick or perverted, the word 'bolletjes', thanks to the media here, most commonly refers to the balls of cocaine transported within a condom, in your intestines. Thanks to our Dutch colonies we have a major cocaine smuggle problem, and they're really cracking down on it. So now we have the word 'bolletjescontrole', which is a check for such 'bolletjes'. Apparently in this case it involved forcing a woman to completely undress, squat and bend over, so they could peek inside both her unmentionables. The Dutch court has ruled today that this woman, who had to go through that last year, was treated in an unnecessarily embarassing way.
- from the same article: 'uitpoepmethode' (excrement method). Yes, that's a kind of check where they wait for suspected smugglers to, well, poop. That's the excrement method. The court ruled that the above mentioned check was excessive because they can scan your body and they can also apply the excrement method. I'm sorry, but I'm nominating both these words.
- 'casinomodel' (no translation required). The legalisation of marijuana in the Netherlands should, according to the mayor of Heerlen, be regulated through a casinomodel. What is this ? It's a regulation where the government regulates and checks the growth and trade in weed. Why is this called a casinomodel ? Because Holland Casino is the only company in the Netherlands allowed to exploit casino's. Through the money made off allowing Holland Casino to be a monopoly, goes to the police, which uses it to crack down on illegal gambling establishments. (I could be mistaken, but I read 'monopoly allowed by the government in return for money that they spend on destroying any other competition' here - ohwell, I guess I don't have time to think further on this, but it seems kind of.. corrupt to me.) So a similar system needs to be set up for the marijuana trade. A casinomodel. A word that of course is instantly clear in its meaning. It's not like I just wasted quite a long description trying to explain what on earth this is...
Other than that, I'd like to note that in the course of just three or four days, I've seen the word 'lonsdalers' becoming firmly established in the media. At a very worrying speed, I might add.
The Word of the Day for Saturday is: 'casinomodel' !
And in the light of my little note about 'lonsdalers', let's look at the line-up for this week, shall we ?
Monday: 'Lonsdale-jongeren'
Tuesday: 'Romereizen'
Wednesday: 'wildwestwet'
Thursday: 'cowmunities'
Friday: 'kogelvanger'
Saturday: 'casinomodel'
And the Word of the Week is... 'cowmunities' !!
So I'm sorry, but yesterday AND today's Word of the Day are late. I did get the newspapers during both days, but only now have some time to check them quickly. And I have a mere hour to do this, because after that I have to go on the beforementioned second evening out.
May 2nd is starting to sound better and better...
Ok, here goes. I'll cram Friday, Saturday AND the Word of the Week into one posting, if you don't mind. That leaves me time tomorrow to, well, work some more. (I'm telling you all this not just to apologize but also to prevent you all from envying me for ANYTHING. Mine is not a very enviable life, trust me.)
FRIDAY:
- 'openbaarvervoersmiddelen' (means for public transportation). Apparently there's an American who's so obsessed with these that he keeps stealing them. That's right: he's stolen subways, trains and buses, a total of twenty of them, for a personal ride. Still, even in Dutch it's fairly common to write 'openbaar vervoer' as two words. I realise this word actually serves a purpose but - as often before - it could easily have been replaced with a few words instead of having to make up this long one.
- 'houtherkomst' (origin of wood). No innuendo, this really means the origins of wood - it's from an article about illegal chopping and Europe taking action against it by boycotting the wood. Media hype word, only created for this one article. And it's one that was hidden on the fourth page, so I doubt we'll ever see this word again.
- 'kogelvanger' (bullet catcher). That's right: this is from a really short article about 50 Cent, the rapper, who is referred to as 'gangstarapper, bullet catcher and actor'. Almost sounds like a profession, doesn't it ? Getting shot at, that is. 'So what do you want to be when you grow up, Johnny ?' 'A bullet catcher !'.
- 'renteschok' (interest shock). This is about mortgage interest rates which are being raised. Apparently 80.000 people will be in financial trouble due to the expected increases, on top of the 180.000 Dutch people who are already in trouble. I get that. But 'interest shock' ? Or should I have translated it as 'interest quake', as in earth quake ? Either way, I have no idea why this word was invented.
And the Word of the Day for Friday was: 'kogelvanger' !
SATURDAY:
- 'bolletjescontrole' - before I translate this as something that might sound sick or perverted, the word 'bolletjes', thanks to the media here, most commonly refers to the balls of cocaine transported within a condom, in your intestines. Thanks to our Dutch colonies we have a major cocaine smuggle problem, and they're really cracking down on it. So now we have the word 'bolletjescontrole', which is a check for such 'bolletjes'. Apparently in this case it involved forcing a woman to completely undress, squat and bend over, so they could peek inside both her unmentionables. The Dutch court has ruled today that this woman, who had to go through that last year, was treated in an unnecessarily embarassing way.
- from the same article: 'uitpoepmethode' (excrement method). Yes, that's a kind of check where they wait for suspected smugglers to, well, poop. That's the excrement method. The court ruled that the above mentioned check was excessive because they can scan your body and they can also apply the excrement method. I'm sorry, but I'm nominating both these words.
- 'casinomodel' (no translation required). The legalisation of marijuana in the Netherlands should, according to the mayor of Heerlen, be regulated through a casinomodel. What is this ? It's a regulation where the government regulates and checks the growth and trade in weed. Why is this called a casinomodel ? Because Holland Casino is the only company in the Netherlands allowed to exploit casino's. Through the money made off allowing Holland Casino to be a monopoly, goes to the police, which uses it to crack down on illegal gambling establishments. (I could be mistaken, but I read 'monopoly allowed by the government in return for money that they spend on destroying any other competition' here - ohwell, I guess I don't have time to think further on this, but it seems kind of.. corrupt to me.) So a similar system needs to be set up for the marijuana trade. A casinomodel. A word that of course is instantly clear in its meaning. It's not like I just wasted quite a long description trying to explain what on earth this is...
Other than that, I'd like to note that in the course of just three or four days, I've seen the word 'lonsdalers' becoming firmly established in the media. At a very worrying speed, I might add.
The Word of the Day for Saturday is: 'casinomodel' !
And in the light of my little note about 'lonsdalers', let's look at the line-up for this week, shall we ?
Monday: 'Lonsdale-jongeren'
Tuesday: 'Romereizen'
Wednesday: 'wildwestwet'
Thursday: 'cowmunities'
Friday: 'kogelvanger'
Saturday: 'casinomodel'
And the Word of the Week is... 'cowmunities' !!
Thursday, April 07, 2005
More Media Muck.
Well, since we all know I'm not stopping my searches for the Word of the Day anytime soon, let's dive right in again, shall we ? I know you've been waiting for it.
- 'taalverruwing' (language coarsening). This is a weak nomination: as an expression this does exist, as in 'haar taal verruwd' (her language is coarsening). But still. It doesn't exist yet, and I don't applaud turning expressions into actual words. Before you know it, we'll have catsanddogsrain. Or something.
I do applaud the Metro for this being the only questionable word I could find in there today. Thank god we still also have the free Sp!ts newspaper:
- 'terreurtraining' (terror excercise): There was a major excercise for emergency services and military yesterday, about twenty yards away from my office. It was all over the news, since they faked a terrorist attack during a pop concert, to see how quick and professional all necessary parties would respond to it. Of course, what makes it awkward that this headline, including huge picture, is all over the front page, with an *actual* bomb threat (including evacuation of the neighbourhood while the bomb squad carefully removed the explosives) and (ex-marine) terrorist on page 2. But that's besides the point: I'm not sure how many of these excercises there will be - granted, the war on terrorism (and fear thereof) is still popular worldwide, so I may be wrong, but I feel we don't need this word.
- 'superboerderij' (super farm). This refers to the province of Groningen who are investigating the feasability of founding a mega milk farm that can compete on an international scale. This company will be a major alliance between existing milk farms, will aim for treating their animals well, etc. - but get this, the article introduces yet *another* word: 'cowmunities' !
- 'toetredingsonderhandelingen' (negotiatons for acceding). This deals only with the European Union, folks - there's a few countries that want to join in on the fun, which some major players in the current Union don't favour. It's a media hype word - granted, the negotiations are reasonably old news by now, but still. This word will only live in the media and only while these specific negotiations are continuing. I recommend we disallow this word to join the Dutch language.
- 'koekendozenfamilie' (biscuit tin family). Apparently this word means 'family that looks happy on the outside but is sad and fake in reality' - it's used here to describe the Belgian royal family, by a playwright.
And the Word of the Day is... 'cowmunities' ! I mean, come on. No competition.
- 'taalverruwing' (language coarsening). This is a weak nomination: as an expression this does exist, as in 'haar taal verruwd' (her language is coarsening). But still. It doesn't exist yet, and I don't applaud turning expressions into actual words. Before you know it, we'll have catsanddogsrain. Or something.
I do applaud the Metro for this being the only questionable word I could find in there today. Thank god we still also have the free Sp!ts newspaper:
- 'terreurtraining' (terror excercise): There was a major excercise for emergency services and military yesterday, about twenty yards away from my office. It was all over the news, since they faked a terrorist attack during a pop concert, to see how quick and professional all necessary parties would respond to it. Of course, what makes it awkward that this headline, including huge picture, is all over the front page, with an *actual* bomb threat (including evacuation of the neighbourhood while the bomb squad carefully removed the explosives) and (ex-marine) terrorist on page 2. But that's besides the point: I'm not sure how many of these excercises there will be - granted, the war on terrorism (and fear thereof) is still popular worldwide, so I may be wrong, but I feel we don't need this word.
- 'superboerderij' (super farm). This refers to the province of Groningen who are investigating the feasability of founding a mega milk farm that can compete on an international scale. This company will be a major alliance between existing milk farms, will aim for treating their animals well, etc. - but get this, the article introduces yet *another* word: 'cowmunities' !
- 'toetredingsonderhandelingen' (negotiatons for acceding). This deals only with the European Union, folks - there's a few countries that want to join in on the fun, which some major players in the current Union don't favour. It's a media hype word - granted, the negotiations are reasonably old news by now, but still. This word will only live in the media and only while these specific negotiations are continuing. I recommend we disallow this word to join the Dutch language.
- 'koekendozenfamilie' (biscuit tin family). Apparently this word means 'family that looks happy on the outside but is sad and fake in reality' - it's used here to describe the Belgian royal family, by a playwright.
And the Word of the Day is... 'cowmunities' ! I mean, come on. No competition.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Another Day, Staring At The Papers
I don't feel like talking about today. The weather's depressing (not rainy per se but grey) and my day so far is boring. That's all I want to say about it. So let's get straight to today's candidates for Word of the Day:
- 'milieuplan' (environmental plan). This word is used ironically: the specific political plans it refers to were actually an attempt to bypass European norms on air pollution. That's right - the plans were there to *enable* more pollution. The word itself doesn't exist but its big brother 'milieuplanning' does. But the counterintuitive meaning as used here inspired me to nominate it.
- 'orkaanseizoen' (hurricane season). This word is not listed in the dictionary, and it refers to the upcoming Carribbean hurricane 'period', which is expected to contain thirteen storms of which seven could become hurricanes and three could become heavy hurricanes. (?) This period runs from July 15 to November 15. That's four months, folks, not three. It's not a season. In any right. Seasons are four different segments of the year, each spanning three months, selected for their typical temperature and weather conditions, and for the rotation of the Earth around the sun. Let's *please* stop abusing this term for everything that has a period spanning more than one month. Television seasons, hunting seasons, hurricane seasons, gala seasons.. you're all ruining the definition of the word, because each of you spans a different length of time, and each starts at different dates. What makes a season ? To be a season or not to be a season.. it shouldn't be a question.
- 'wildwestwet' (wild west law). This describes a law passed in Florida that allows anyone who gets threatened in the street, to shoot their assailant, even if unarmed. I suppose the 'wild west'-part is accurate considering the wild west basically didn't have laws (or none that were kept up too well) and there was lots of shooting, if we are to believe the many westerns we all must have seen. But... 'wild west' is English. In Dutch it has no meaning involving shooting, we don't have a gunslinging period in our past involving the west side of our nation. 'Wet' is Dutch and means law. But throw all three words together in one, and you end up with a word where 'wet' gets the English meaning. And I just have no clue what to make of it when I consider that. Bad word. Possibly it could be saved by putting a dash in there (wildwest-wet) but it still looks bad, and besides that, this is a media hype word. Media hype words suck !
- In addition to yesterday's nomination of 'Lonsdale-jongeren', today they're even called 'Lonsdalers'. Nominated ! Oh, and they're part of the 'hardcorescene' - translation unnecessary, but you'll no doubt admit the word looks retarded, and it doesn't exist. Also nominated !
- 'probleemouderen' (problem elders). This seems to stem directly from 'probleemjongeren' (problem youth), but these elders aren't beating up or robbing passers-by, dealing drugs, hanging out until late on the corners of streets etc. These are just elderly people with brain damage (I kid you not, it says so in the article) who will not be seperated from their drivers' licence (despite posing a serious threat to, well, anyone, when behind the wheel). The article claims they often correct their own driving style to 'work' with their handicap, and if not, then they can be trained to accomplish this. I wonder how many people need to get run over before one such elder is judged fit for this training. The article seriously worries me (I live in a mainly elderly neighbourhood and can just see myself gettin run over by some old dumbass who the police just won't disallow to drive) but worse, if the article states that their brain damage isn't a problem, why are they referred to as problem elders ?
- 'stadsrapper' (official city rapper). The city of Almere is searching for their own special rapper now to rap about what's worth seeing and knowing about this city. I'm not sure if there are any official city rappers anywhere else in the world, but this is the first one in the Netherlands (the article eagerly tells me). I have no doubt that this nomination runs the risk that the city rappers will become the next craze and suddenly we will have loads of them, but for now this word describes just one. Who isn't even found or hired yet. It's an empty position that they hope to fill in the next month. I smell 'media hype word' here. Fee Fi Fo Fum.
- 'koopkrachtreparatie' (spending power repairs). Again, a political plan that backfired in an ironic way: the measures taken to compensate the chronically ill partially for the ever increasing hospital and care bills, turns out to actually *cost* the ill money. So I'm nominating this for two reasons: one, reduced spending power isn't just limited to the realm of the chronically ill (there's also the unemployed, singles, you name it - everyone's having to tighten the belt a couple of notches at the least.. except for the insanely rich who seem to only have gotten richer under this government), and two, this is hardly a repair, the way it turns out.
And the Word of the Day is... 'wildwestwet'. I went with 'which word looks the stupidest'.
- 'milieuplan' (environmental plan). This word is used ironically: the specific political plans it refers to were actually an attempt to bypass European norms on air pollution. That's right - the plans were there to *enable* more pollution. The word itself doesn't exist but its big brother 'milieuplanning' does. But the counterintuitive meaning as used here inspired me to nominate it.
- 'orkaanseizoen' (hurricane season). This word is not listed in the dictionary, and it refers to the upcoming Carribbean hurricane 'period', which is expected to contain thirteen storms of which seven could become hurricanes and three could become heavy hurricanes. (?) This period runs from July 15 to November 15. That's four months, folks, not three. It's not a season. In any right. Seasons are four different segments of the year, each spanning three months, selected for their typical temperature and weather conditions, and for the rotation of the Earth around the sun. Let's *please* stop abusing this term for everything that has a period spanning more than one month. Television seasons, hunting seasons, hurricane seasons, gala seasons.. you're all ruining the definition of the word, because each of you spans a different length of time, and each starts at different dates. What makes a season ? To be a season or not to be a season.. it shouldn't be a question.
- 'wildwestwet' (wild west law). This describes a law passed in Florida that allows anyone who gets threatened in the street, to shoot their assailant, even if unarmed. I suppose the 'wild west'-part is accurate considering the wild west basically didn't have laws (or none that were kept up too well) and there was lots of shooting, if we are to believe the many westerns we all must have seen. But... 'wild west' is English. In Dutch it has no meaning involving shooting, we don't have a gunslinging period in our past involving the west side of our nation. 'Wet' is Dutch and means law. But throw all three words together in one, and you end up with a word where 'wet' gets the English meaning. And I just have no clue what to make of it when I consider that. Bad word. Possibly it could be saved by putting a dash in there (wildwest-wet) but it still looks bad, and besides that, this is a media hype word. Media hype words suck !
- In addition to yesterday's nomination of 'Lonsdale-jongeren', today they're even called 'Lonsdalers'. Nominated ! Oh, and they're part of the 'hardcorescene' - translation unnecessary, but you'll no doubt admit the word looks retarded, and it doesn't exist. Also nominated !
- 'probleemouderen' (problem elders). This seems to stem directly from 'probleemjongeren' (problem youth), but these elders aren't beating up or robbing passers-by, dealing drugs, hanging out until late on the corners of streets etc. These are just elderly people with brain damage (I kid you not, it says so in the article) who will not be seperated from their drivers' licence (despite posing a serious threat to, well, anyone, when behind the wheel). The article claims they often correct their own driving style to 'work' with their handicap, and if not, then they can be trained to accomplish this. I wonder how many people need to get run over before one such elder is judged fit for this training. The article seriously worries me (I live in a mainly elderly neighbourhood and can just see myself gettin run over by some old dumbass who the police just won't disallow to drive) but worse, if the article states that their brain damage isn't a problem, why are they referred to as problem elders ?
- 'stadsrapper' (official city rapper). The city of Almere is searching for their own special rapper now to rap about what's worth seeing and knowing about this city. I'm not sure if there are any official city rappers anywhere else in the world, but this is the first one in the Netherlands (the article eagerly tells me). I have no doubt that this nomination runs the risk that the city rappers will become the next craze and suddenly we will have loads of them, but for now this word describes just one. Who isn't even found or hired yet. It's an empty position that they hope to fill in the next month. I smell 'media hype word' here. Fee Fi Fo Fum.
- 'koopkrachtreparatie' (spending power repairs). Again, a political plan that backfired in an ironic way: the measures taken to compensate the chronically ill partially for the ever increasing hospital and care bills, turns out to actually *cost* the ill money. So I'm nominating this for two reasons: one, reduced spending power isn't just limited to the realm of the chronically ill (there's also the unemployed, singles, you name it - everyone's having to tighten the belt a couple of notches at the least.. except for the insanely rich who seem to only have gotten richer under this government), and two, this is hardly a repair, the way it turns out.
And the Word of the Day is... 'wildwestwet'. I went with 'which word looks the stupidest'.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Cause and Efficiency.
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you all, but ClickBurg kept me busy yesterday and today, because a couple of deadlines ended and another one is creeping by. Add to that mix that I got a public transportation delay, and you'll understand that I didn't sleep until late.
Anyway, as I said, I haven't forgotten about you all - I'm picturing you like a nest of hungry little birds snapping their beaks at me - so I have today's AND yesterday's newspapers here in front of me, and let's go:
Monday
- 'theaterlied' (theatre song). Can someone explain to me how this differs enough from other songs that we need a new word for it ?
- 'hervormingsagenda' (reform agenda). What the word is basically trying to say is 'the course that a certain political party wants to head in, that involves several reformations'. It's not today's most viable candidate, I'll admit. But it struck me as a bad word. Perhaps it just scared me. A bit.
- 'Lonsdale-jongeren' (Lonsdale youth). This new media hype term refers to the rise of racism and extreme right-wing ideas amongst youth in the Netherlands, especially in more rural areas. A lot of them wear Lonsdale shirts, which the article claims is often associated with the racist White Power movement. But it's also just a brand, folks. A brand of sports clothing (specifically, boxing, I read somewhere). Is it really their uniform ? I haven't read anywhere that it actually is. When I was a kid it was the 'bomber jacks'. But not everyone who wore one was a racist. It seems this word itself is discriminating ! Out the window with it. Call 'em racists or right-wing extremists, but don't create this label that will make the average Joe look around him scared all the time, attempting to spot any Lonsdale logos in the area.
- 'beschermwaardigheid' (worthy of protection). This is about the recent death of the Pope, and describes his attitude: 'unconditionally defending the fact that life is worthy of protection'. Yes. It's much more important that a few sperms get a fair shot at spawning life, than that countless people die of AIDS. Ok, besides my own political views on this, I think the word is retarded. Out the window with it, we don't require it.
- 'productieplafond' (production ceiling). First of all, the word almost seems to refer to a factory ceiling. It doesn't it means the boundries set on production levels that they aren't allowed to pass. Useless, get this word out of my face !
On a brighter note, Metro had a wide open shot to call a group of soccer 'supporters' who were throwing bananas (a whopping five of them) onto the field, 'banana-throwers' and they didn't. Good job !
And the Word of the Day for Monday was: 'Lonsdale-jongeren'
Tuesday
- 'metrostel' - I can't translate this because I have no clue what it means. My colleagues have no clue what it means. The dictionary has no clue what it means. It's mentioned in an article saying that Tokio took a 'metrostel' into use specifically for women, so that they can travel on that instead of the regular lines where they get harassed and sexually intimidated a lot. 'Stel' can mean 'pair', does this mean there's two metro's taken into use ? Why is this journalist assuming we know what the hell his made-up word means ?
- 'dienstrichtlijn' (service guideline). I had trouble understanding this word and its article as well. It seems to be a controversial law to allow service providers to deliver their services anywhere in Europe, and only have to obey the laws of their country of origin. It could just be me, but... service guideline means something completely different in my line of work (my paid job is at an IT service desk department). And doesn't this law have an own name to refer to otherwise ? It just looks so unclear - because of the intuïtive meaning being something else.
- 'Romereizen' (Rome travels). Yes, Rome can provide a unique travel experience, but not unique enough to justify 'Rome travel' as one word. Especially since the kind of travels the article refers to are just transportations to go mourn the Pope. It's a media hype word, and I'm against those, as you may already know.
- 'voetbalontmoeting' (soccer get-together). This is just a soccer match you're trying to describe, dear journalist. Don't try to get creative when there are already plenty of words in Dutch culture describing this.
And the Word of the Day is: 'Romereizen' - because I *hate* media hype words.
Alright, that's all. I'll try to be on time tomorrow. If I'm not too busy.
Anyway, as I said, I haven't forgotten about you all - I'm picturing you like a nest of hungry little birds snapping their beaks at me - so I have today's AND yesterday's newspapers here in front of me, and let's go:
Monday
- 'theaterlied' (theatre song). Can someone explain to me how this differs enough from other songs that we need a new word for it ?
- 'hervormingsagenda' (reform agenda). What the word is basically trying to say is 'the course that a certain political party wants to head in, that involves several reformations'. It's not today's most viable candidate, I'll admit. But it struck me as a bad word. Perhaps it just scared me. A bit.
- 'Lonsdale-jongeren' (Lonsdale youth). This new media hype term refers to the rise of racism and extreme right-wing ideas amongst youth in the Netherlands, especially in more rural areas. A lot of them wear Lonsdale shirts, which the article claims is often associated with the racist White Power movement. But it's also just a brand, folks. A brand of sports clothing (specifically, boxing, I read somewhere). Is it really their uniform ? I haven't read anywhere that it actually is. When I was a kid it was the 'bomber jacks'. But not everyone who wore one was a racist. It seems this word itself is discriminating ! Out the window with it. Call 'em racists or right-wing extremists, but don't create this label that will make the average Joe look around him scared all the time, attempting to spot any Lonsdale logos in the area.
- 'beschermwaardigheid' (worthy of protection). This is about the recent death of the Pope, and describes his attitude: 'unconditionally defending the fact that life is worthy of protection'. Yes. It's much more important that a few sperms get a fair shot at spawning life, than that countless people die of AIDS. Ok, besides my own political views on this, I think the word is retarded. Out the window with it, we don't require it.
- 'productieplafond' (production ceiling). First of all, the word almost seems to refer to a factory ceiling. It doesn't it means the boundries set on production levels that they aren't allowed to pass. Useless, get this word out of my face !
On a brighter note, Metro had a wide open shot to call a group of soccer 'supporters' who were throwing bananas (a whopping five of them) onto the field, 'banana-throwers' and they didn't. Good job !
And the Word of the Day for Monday was: 'Lonsdale-jongeren'
Tuesday
- 'metrostel' - I can't translate this because I have no clue what it means. My colleagues have no clue what it means. The dictionary has no clue what it means. It's mentioned in an article saying that Tokio took a 'metrostel' into use specifically for women, so that they can travel on that instead of the regular lines where they get harassed and sexually intimidated a lot. 'Stel' can mean 'pair', does this mean there's two metro's taken into use ? Why is this journalist assuming we know what the hell his made-up word means ?
- 'dienstrichtlijn' (service guideline). I had trouble understanding this word and its article as well. It seems to be a controversial law to allow service providers to deliver their services anywhere in Europe, and only have to obey the laws of their country of origin. It could just be me, but... service guideline means something completely different in my line of work (my paid job is at an IT service desk department). And doesn't this law have an own name to refer to otherwise ? It just looks so unclear - because of the intuïtive meaning being something else.
- 'Romereizen' (Rome travels). Yes, Rome can provide a unique travel experience, but not unique enough to justify 'Rome travel' as one word. Especially since the kind of travels the article refers to are just transportations to go mourn the Pope. It's a media hype word, and I'm against those, as you may already know.
- 'voetbalontmoeting' (soccer get-together). This is just a soccer match you're trying to describe, dear journalist. Don't try to get creative when there are already plenty of words in Dutch culture describing this.
And the Word of the Day is: 'Romereizen' - because I *hate* media hype words.
Alright, that's all. I'll try to be on time tomorrow. If I'm not too busy.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Late Like The Pope
Yeah, so I had to focus on The Grim DotCom yesterday, just when some old geezer with a silly hat and a white robe is dying. Which I can't allow myself to ignore if he *does* die, because I'm writing a cynical, critical of society comic about death. So all day I'm watching friggin' CNN and whatnot, the guy just *refuses* to die. So in a hurry, I start working (late) on a different episode that was already pre-written, and just when I finish drawing it, the news comes in... the pope is dead. God damnit !
So, I had to hurriedly churn out an episode featuring the pope, after all, and of course after that, I stubbornly went on and also coloured and lettered the episode I'd already drawn. At least I have a 1 week backstash again now, thanks to that, but yes, yes, it's true, I neglected the Word of the Day. But I'm here now, so quit yer yakking, I'm opening the store already. I'll also throw in the damn Word of the Week, with no extra charge whatsoever !
In the light of all this, let's try to stay away from news about the old man in Rome, shall we ? Let's see what other subjects have brought us in terms of new words added to the Dutch language.
- 'rolstoelvervoer' (wheelchair transport). I dunno, this word is supposed to mean 'transport of handicapped people'. It seems kind of crude, inconsiderate, and possibly confusing to me. I can just see the driver showing up at Sea World with nothing but a bunch of wheelchairs in his bus. "Alright, where do you want 'em ?"
- 'sektepaar' (cult pair). Ok.. so there's a cult right now doing some weird things that are being investigated by a few governments, that is lead by two people. Ok... what's next ? If a cult is lead by three people, we'll suddenly need the word 'cult trio' ? Etcetera, etcetera - I think it's completely redundant. Solve it with two words instead of one and I'll start taking you seriously again, journalist.
- 'Pentagonhacker' (surely I don't need to translate this one). This is about the 21-year old hacker from the Dutch city of Soest who stole secret blueprints of the Pentagon from an American company's computers. Now, the way I just described it was perfectly clear, right ? Then look at the word again. Doesn't it mostly suggest this person hacked the Pentagon itself ? He didn't ! He hacked some company that was dumbass enough to leave their security wide open, and have Pentagon blueprints on their hard drives. There was no actual hacking of the Pentagon. And we also don't need the word 'Pentagonhacker'. Because before long you'll have 'Microsofthacker', 'Defensehacker', etc. etc. - it's a media label, folks. Don't mistake it for an actual word, which creation was carefully considered and weighed.
You know what ? I've seen some more words nearly worth mentioning, but I've worked my butt off this weekend, especially considering I'm still a bit ill, so I'm leaving it at these few candidates. The Word of the Day for Saturday, April 2, 2005, is: 'Pentagonhacker' !
----
As for the Word of the Week, let's look at this week's winners again, shall we ? Alright, here goes.
Tuesday: 'veldvoetbalspellengeweld'
Wednesday: 'gentechlandbouw'
Thursday: 'cryomeren'
Friday: 'Vitumbiko'
Saturday: 'Pentagonhacker'
And the Word of the Week is: 'cryomeren' !!! Now leave me alone, come back tomorrow. Shoo.
So, I had to hurriedly churn out an episode featuring the pope, after all, and of course after that, I stubbornly went on and also coloured and lettered the episode I'd already drawn. At least I have a 1 week backstash again now, thanks to that, but yes, yes, it's true, I neglected the Word of the Day. But I'm here now, so quit yer yakking, I'm opening the store already. I'll also throw in the damn Word of the Week, with no extra charge whatsoever !
In the light of all this, let's try to stay away from news about the old man in Rome, shall we ? Let's see what other subjects have brought us in terms of new words added to the Dutch language.
- 'rolstoelvervoer' (wheelchair transport). I dunno, this word is supposed to mean 'transport of handicapped people'. It seems kind of crude, inconsiderate, and possibly confusing to me. I can just see the driver showing up at Sea World with nothing but a bunch of wheelchairs in his bus. "Alright, where do you want 'em ?"
- 'sektepaar' (cult pair). Ok.. so there's a cult right now doing some weird things that are being investigated by a few governments, that is lead by two people. Ok... what's next ? If a cult is lead by three people, we'll suddenly need the word 'cult trio' ? Etcetera, etcetera - I think it's completely redundant. Solve it with two words instead of one and I'll start taking you seriously again, journalist.
- 'Pentagonhacker' (surely I don't need to translate this one). This is about the 21-year old hacker from the Dutch city of Soest who stole secret blueprints of the Pentagon from an American company's computers. Now, the way I just described it was perfectly clear, right ? Then look at the word again. Doesn't it mostly suggest this person hacked the Pentagon itself ? He didn't ! He hacked some company that was dumbass enough to leave their security wide open, and have Pentagon blueprints on their hard drives. There was no actual hacking of the Pentagon. And we also don't need the word 'Pentagonhacker'. Because before long you'll have 'Microsofthacker', 'Defensehacker', etc. etc. - it's a media label, folks. Don't mistake it for an actual word, which creation was carefully considered and weighed.
You know what ? I've seen some more words nearly worth mentioning, but I've worked my butt off this weekend, especially considering I'm still a bit ill, so I'm leaving it at these few candidates. The Word of the Day for Saturday, April 2, 2005, is: 'Pentagonhacker' !
----
As for the Word of the Week, let's look at this week's winners again, shall we ? Alright, here goes.
Tuesday: 'veldvoetbalspellengeweld'
Wednesday: 'gentechlandbouw'
Thursday: 'cryomeren'
Friday: 'Vitumbiko'
Saturday: 'Pentagonhacker'
And the Word of the Week is: 'cryomeren' !!! Now leave me alone, come back tomorrow. Shoo.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Short Post.
I'm not even really checking the media today. I'm very busy with ClickBurg-related things, and besides, I'm not feeling too well. Coughing my longues up, sneezing large green blobs, that sort of fun stuff. Just when the weather is excellent, too - the irony could almost indicate that there *is* a god and this is his prank for today.
Because it's April Fool's day ! Yep - I've made myself guilty of joining in on the fun.. see ClickBurg, before midnight, to know what I mean.
The newspapers and newssites are full of jokes, but I thought this was the most charming one: the zoo in Emmen apparently featured a newborn zebra, who had blocks instead of stripes. Despite the obvious jokes, people did follow the directions to the otherwise empty cage that had a little photo sign which explained the name of this new specimen was 'Vitumbiko' and apparently it's African for 'April Fool's Day'. I couldn't *not* nominate it.
Because it's April Fool's day ! Yep - I've made myself guilty of joining in on the fun.. see ClickBurg, before midnight, to know what I mean.
The newspapers and newssites are full of jokes, but I thought this was the most charming one: the zoo in Emmen apparently featured a newborn zebra, who had blocks instead of stripes. Despite the obvious jokes, people did follow the directions to the otherwise empty cage that had a little photo sign which explained the name of this new specimen was 'Vitumbiko' and apparently it's African for 'April Fool's Day'. I couldn't *not* nominate it.
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