Welcome to The Netherlands! And very happy that you didn't call it Holland :)
Wait till you learn the word 'hoor'. It sounds exactly like 'whore' and Dutch people love to use it at the end of their sentences. This is such a strong habit that some even use it when they speak English, resulting in sentences that sound like "This seat is free, whore".
I think this is partly because there is not really a good English equivalent. What English word could you put at the end of almost any given sentence to emphasize it?
Fortunately, if you utter a sentence like "Het is drie hoer.", most Dutch people will recognize that it's a language/pronunciation mistake and you're not actually calling them a whore, especially if you're speaking to a man.
Conversely, seeing the sign "TE HUREN" on the side of a van in the Netherlands made me (from Germany) laugh.
ReplyDeleteAnd seeing the sign "TO LET" in Britain I wondered whether an "I" had fallen off in the middle.
DeleteA German friend of mine still wonders what happens in a Dutch Kinderopvang ;)
DeleteIn Swedish, it's important when cheering to say hoo-RAH instead of HOO-rah, for very similar reasons.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to The Netherlands! And very happy that you didn't call it Holland :)
ReplyDeleteWait till you learn the word 'hoor'. It sounds exactly like 'whore' and Dutch people love to use it at the end of their sentences. This is such a strong habit that some even use it when they speak English, resulting in sentences that sound like "This seat is free, whore".
Hah! I did not know that, whore.
DeleteI think this is partly because there is not really a good English equivalent. What English word could you put at the end of almost any given sentence to emphasize it?
DeleteFortunately, if you utter a sentence like "Het is drie hoer.", most Dutch people will recognize that it's a language/pronunciation mistake and you're not actually calling them a whore, especially if you're speaking to a man.
ReplyDelete