Dunglish

The Dutch already have a word for orange juice (’sinaasappelsap’), but insist on using the chic French ‘jus d’orange’, even though the Flemish, often criticised for using French sounding words, stick with the Dutch version. Is a ‘normal glass’ of ‘vers (’fresh’) juice’ better than ’sap’ or ‘jus’? Does someone out there think juices is, like, exotic? I know, it’s a space-saving thing again! Dutch takes up too much space and the country is full.

It was funfair time again on Dam square in Amsterdam right in front of the Royal Palace that’s being renovated although it’s only used twice a year (squeeze local politics in here).

Free choice is a splendid thing and should never be implied lightly or without exclamation marks. The idea is you win and you can choose the prize you want. ‘Winning is free choice’ means nothing at all, besides sounding American or pro-abortion. The claim of being the world’s biggest mobile shooting range is also questionable simply due to the Dunglish, but that’s less important. Using Dunglish to save space on a big banner is probably more important.

I was slow to jump on the bandwagon with this one as I’ve been busy, but I couldn’t let this one go. This promising deodorant was slammed by Taalpuristen for their incorrect use of Dutch and I felt the need to point out that the English is incorrect as well. OK, it’s not Dunglish per se, but talk about a mess: you’ve got the brand names ‘biorythm’ and ‘biorhythm’ both being used and even countries like Denmark can actually spell it right, although the product bears the wrong spelling. Pretty sloppy for a multinational.

Here’s a flashback to folks who couldn’t spell rhythm either:

(Photo: Taalpuristen)

UPDATE: The television jingle goes “Congratulations, met je occasion, want een betere (something) vind je niet” (or something like that).

“Congratulations, with your used car, ’cause you won’t find a better one anywhere else.”

The big deal is besides the nasty Dunglish jingle and the happy smiling sales people the Dutch just don’t have local advertising on national television the way you would see in the US or Canada. Advertising is usually done by multinationals and this guy’s been going strong on prime time television for at least two weeks! He gets points for that from me.

I need your help!

I saw and heard this advert on Dutch televison (RTL4?) for Tonny Keijzers auto’s (Tonny Keijzers autos) with some blonde guy (the owner?) singing something like “Congratulations met uwe occasion” (Congratulations on your used car). The Dutch word ‘occasion’ (yes, from the French adjective ‘occasion’ rather than the noun), rhymed with the English ‘congratulations’ when it shouldn’t, while the whole thing sounded like a hissing serpent trying to sing. The hissing refers to Dutch speakers who overpronounce the ’s’ at the end of English words, instead of making it sounds like a ‘z’. I have this nagging feeling that since the AutoRAI (Car show) is over in Amsterdam that I won’t see it again (snif).

If anyone has any more tips/clips of what I know I saw at least once on Dutch TV, tell me about it!

The story goes that Yoastie was driving through the wee town of Harfsen, Gelderland and felt that this petrol station had an odd name. Firezone is a brand name of Texaco, but then from what I can Google, only in the Netherlands. Their tagline is “quick, easy, safe and cheap”. They are mostly found in the North, with some odds and ends in other parts of the country, scattered like an explosion, really. The irony is of course that the last place to light up anything is at a petrol station.

(Photo: Yoastie)

The quartet over at Taalpuristen posted this a while back and since I missed it, maybe some of you did as well. Oh, and I know people who work for this company and read my blog. This bit’s for you and don’t forget to look over your shoulder in case the boss shows up.

A new Dunglish word: ‘Hardwaar’ – The non-plant items of a gardening centre, like gnomes and stuff. Sprucing up one’s job is what that is.

There’s a Dutch website called ‘Weg met de kids’, which suggests places to go with your kids, although in Dutch it could also mean ‘get rid of your kids’. Wait a minute, maybe there’s something to it after all! Point is, ‘kids’ has almost replaced the Dutch word ‘kinderen’ for reasons no one can explain.