words we need

[Frieda]

ausstrahlung - uitstraling

être bien dans sa peau - goed in je vel zitten

vorgestern - eergisteren

ubermorgen - overmorgen

geisterfahrer - spookrijder

gemutlich - gezellig

sehenswürdigkeit - bezienswaardigheid

augenblick - ogenblik

kleinod - kleinood

Originally Posted by CJ

of course, it works the other way too. german doesn't seem to have a good translation of naughty, quite possibly my favourite word ever (i can't quite decide between naughty and cheeky).

how do they survive?

in dutch: stout.



i find it hard to translate the dutch word "lekker" into english. you use it when something tastes good (food, drink), feels good (weather, soft pillows, sex, anything really), smells good, etc!

[brightpearl]

^Hm. Pleasurable? That's not quite right, tho'. In English, "pleasureable" has a "naughty" vibe.

More Pelorian (regular/symmetrical when some degree of irregularity would be normal) as per my post on last page:
Stepford wives


The one guy in the middle is a real weirdo.


My fave:
Talking points. You'd expect some variation, but apparently the press has been genetically altered.

[Stephi_B]

^^ Dutch is something like a cute-sounding German Lekker you're back Frieda!

Originally Posted by Frieda

i find it hard to translate the dutch word "lekker" into english. you use it when something tastes good (food, drink), feels good (weather, soft pillows, sex, anything really), smells good, etc!

Interesting, we got the same word lecker but apply it to a smaller range of things: to 'what tastes/smells good' just the same, but in the category 'what feels good' strangely only to men('s bodies, asses in particular ) as far I heard/used it. Must do some investigations on why Germans don't think women, weather, soft pillows, sex etc. simply lecker! Should start in a male toilet... (my otherwise very open guys at work did never use the word out in the open terrain, so maybe one has to dig deeper...) Or, do you know something, CJ? About calling chicas lecker?

[Frieda]

we call everything lekker i guess.. also in sarcastic ways.. like when you're having a bad day and just miss the bus.. you can say "oh lekker.." and go pff


but we call everything's lekker

mmmMMMmmm, lekker!

[Stephi_B]

Originally Posted by craig johnston

how do they survive?

That's a good question! Not only we have no naughtyness - cheeky=frech I'd say - at least not in form of an own word, but most of our time awake we spend with Nabelschau (extremely excessive selfreflection, literally 'navel-watch') which due to our national character all too often ends in Selbstzerfleischung (tearing oneself metaphorically to shreds), Endzeitstimmung (apocalyptic feeling), Weltschmerz...
Ach, already feel this wonderful melancholy creeping inside me again!

But at least in my native tongue, we got a noun: When a female behaves naughty, she 's called a Matz in Bavarian (that's what my grandpa calls me when he's just not calling me Wackerl ), but it's not purely naughtyness, it also contain's 'being a trickster'/'getting away with everything'. This quality is even more present in the male equivalent Hundling. Actually both of these words can be used in the whole palette reaching from bad cursing at someone to attributing one's total respect to somebody. Originally both words also contained 'morally loose' in a negative connotation, but nowerdays it's overwhelmingly used in a positive sense - so there's hope for the rednecks in Stoiberland!

Et maintenant, mesdames et mesieurs, excusez-moi:
Have to watch my navel... not that I become un-German here!

Actually a beautiful navel. Well for that belly above it I should start doing these sit-up thingies again. Should I pierce my navel? That's so out now, it should soon become in again, or? ... Oh, ****, am not good at Nabelschau, do I have to give back my passport now??

[Frieda]

^ navelstaren!

[Stephi_B]

Originally Posted by Frieda

we call everything lekker i guess.. also in sarcastic ways.. like when you're having a bad day and just miss the bus.. you can say "oh lekker.." and go pff


but we call everything's lekker

mmmMMMmmm, lekker!

THE secret of the Dutch way of life! (unearthed here and now live @ Zefrank) Lecker-schmecker Oranjes!

[Stephi_B]

Originally Posted by Frieda

^ navelstaren!

Like I said, Dutch = the cuter German

[Jack Flanders]

Does Dutch have the gender article rules? Masculine, feminine, neuter. I took German in high school and at university level and found it very difficult. I know a little Norwegian because of my grandparents and dad speaking it and have been there a few times visiting cousins.

[Frieda]

not sure we have the gender thing.. it's pretty difficult to look at my own language this way!


we use either "de" or "het":

het boek - the book
de auto - the car

but it's
de boeken - the books
de auto's - the cars

but that's all we do with it, no weird grammatical rules i think.



edited to add: if you know norwegian, you should be able to understand dutch if you read it out loud (and vice versa). for some weird reason lots of words sound the same!

[trisherina]

I would like a word for "amused chagrin." Fairly amused but not quite chagrin.

[Frieda]

is there a word or expression in english that represents "de slappe lach hebben"?

it's a name for the state you're in when you're laughing so hard that every other system in your body fails-- you (almost) pee your pants, your eyes are full of tears and your knees go weak and sometimes you actually fall to the ground.. this state may last 30 minutes and might repeat itself if a fellow partner in crime looks you in the eye again..

[craig johnston]

yeah, it's called being stoned.

[Frieda]

i'm not talking about WEED!


isn't there a word for this phenomenon?? i'm sure it's not just a dutch thing to laugh like an idiot, right?

[brightpearl]

^"Punchy" maybe?