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' !
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
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.
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