Posted: Nov 06, 2011 5:22 pm
Zwaarddijk wrote:Scot Dutchy wrote:Blackadder wrote:One of my Dutch colleagues once described someone as a "mierenneuker". It means literally "antfucker" and describes someone who frets and fusses over completely insignificant and minor details. I guess "nitpicker" is the nearest English equivalent but it doesn't convey the contempt and uselessness of the Dutch description.
There is a Hindi word which is "lifungga". It cannot be translated directly into English but it is a combination of rascal, rogue, chav, ill-mannered wastrel and general undesirable.
Yes mierenneuker is a lovely turn of phrase. Very very insulting.
Plenty of English is entering into the Dutch language. There are plenty of Dutch words they can use but no English is more cool.
Except strangely not in the computer world. All terms are still in Dutch and to use English terms is a
How did this work out in Dutch, say, 200 years ago? I've read some Swedish letters from that time, and the amount of French in them is staggering, and at times well-nigh impenetrable to someone that doesn't know French (I don't). Yet nearly all of that has fallen out of use. Language always has its fashions, and there's no real reason why one route or the other is preferable.
About 200 years ago this country was occupied by the French and all administration was in French. You had to speak French to be a civil servant. Dutch middle class society spoke a lot of French up to the first world war. We still have plenty of French words especially when it comes offices and office work.