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.