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' !!