Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch

Komt het bevrijden dan niet daarna? De marketing stuurt de mensen naar literatuur die ze anders nooit zouden hebben gelezen, en daarna kijken ze met andere ogen naar de wereld? Zoiets?

Oprechte vraag: de boekenweek is toch bedoeld om het Nederlandstalige boek onder de aandacht van het algemene publiek te brengen? Zijn moderne marketingtechnieken dan niet juist gepast?

Oh no, Yoïn van Spijk is amazing, and just about always right! He really goes in depth for his work, and for me etymology is more of a hobby, so I will always defer to him when it turns out he has a different view! Thanks so much for alerting me to this!

Friday - Etymology, Origin & Meaning of the Name "Friday, Frigga's day," from Frige, genitive of *Frigu (see Frigg), Germanic goddess of… See origin and meaning of friday.

Noooo! Really? I'm so sad! I certainly based it on a source, not just on my own gut feeling... www.etymonline.com/word/Friday
I'll have to look into this, now!

Conclusion: Dutch women are goddesses.

Happy International Women's Day!

“Vrouw” has a counterpart in Old English: “frēa”, which didn’t make it to modern English. English speakers can, however, recognise this word for woman in the Germanic goddess Frigg, also known as Freya, who gave her name to the best day of the working week: Friday.

The Dutch word for a noblewoman was “vrouwe”. After a while, Dutch speakers, wanting to be respectful, started calling all women “vrouw”, and the word “wijf” became the word for a woman you had no respect for.

Centuries ago, the word “wife” was a general term for “woman” in both languages. You can still see the “woman” meaning of “wife” preserved in terms like “housewife”, “old wives’ tales”, “fishwife” and “midwife”.

A cut-out of the main part of Fabio Cipolla's painting The Proposal in which a young nobleman is proposing to a young lady; both are dressed opulently, and their white wigs and clothes suggest regency era to me or a bit earlier. They are in an opulent parlour with gilded details on and around the doors, paintings on the walls like you see in old mansions, and a fancy gold screen; it's all very Bridgerton. On top of the painting I put a comic speech bubble. The man is saying to the woman "will you do me the honour of becoming my wijf" where "wijf" is purposefully spelled in the Dutch way. This is funny for Dutch speakers, because "wijf" means something like "hag".

In English, the word “wife” means “woman you are married to”. In Dutch, the word “wijf” (more or less the same pronunciation, despite the weird spelling) means something like “hag”, “broad” or an even less pleasant word for a woman that I am not going to type here.

Let me tell you how come.

😆

I've read that research has shown that it doesn't actually make a difference. But I still always do it!

A photograph of an egg, balancing on a spoon, being held under a stream of water from a tap in a kitchen sink. This part is a normal sight in Dutch-speaking households. What is not normal is that the egg has a surprised face drawn onto it with a Sharpie.

After boiling an egg, Dutch speakers hold it under cold water for a few seconds. This is called "scaring the egg" (het ei laten schrikken) and is supposed to make it easier to peel.

Hij is ook nog eens erg aardig, kan ik melden (maar goed, hij is dan ook een taalkundige 😉)
Zijn boek vond ik goed en helder geschreven, al moet ik toegeven dat ik pas de eerste paar hoofdstukken gelezen heb.

Hoe zeg je "de hand in eigen boezem steken" in het Engels? - Hoe zeg je in het Engels Een mooie vraag weer in mijn inbox! Wat een geweldige site, ik was er bij toeval op gestuit en heb de rest van die middag geen werk meer gedaan, het is fascinerend en super behulpzaam! Een vraag die i...

In Dutch we say "I stick my hand in my own bosom" when you want to make clear that you are taking responsibility for something.

Interestingly, when I had a look at how the expression was actually used, I noticed it's almost always: "that person should stick their hand in their own bosom!"

Even at, like, organisational psychology? I just feel like all the professors at organisational psychology should have their own cooperation all figured out ;-D

Random question

I often hear from friends in academia that there is lots of departmental drama: people refusing to work together, splitting up into camps, pressures on junior staff etc.

Is that mostly a humanities thing?

Do the social sciences, who study this kind of stuff, manage to avoid this?

Hoe zeg je "een wassen neus" in het Engels? - Hoe zeg je in het Engels “Een wassen neus” is een uitdrukking die ik zelf nooit gebruik, en online bronnen geven verschillende definities, dus ik moest even goed bekijken wat het in het Nederlands precies betekent, voordat ik...

"A wax nose" is used in Dutch to refer to something, often a law or agreement, that is worthless, because it can so easily be shaped into something else.

Searching for a good illustration, I could only find plastic noses. But those can't be reshaped! So my 5-year-old and I got creative.

Oh, dit lied kende ik niet, wat mooi!
In mijn werk heb ik het normaalgesproken altijd consequent over "Nederlandstalig", omdat het Belgisch Nederlands voor mij absoluut meedoet. In dit geval heb ik mijn statistiek van het Meertens Instituut gehaald, en dat zijn dan dus echt Nederlandse dames.

Screenshot of email text: Hello Heddwen, Thankyouwell for your snell antword. Your webside is so veryshrikking good..😉😉😉 Dank, leuke website, ! Ontzettend leuk en goed initiatief. (no) Joke Translation: Hello Heddwen, thank you very much for your fast answer. Your website is so terribly good. Thanks, great website! Very fun and good initiative. (no) Joke.

Yesterday I got an email from a Joke. She was thanking me for writing an article on my website in which I answered her question (hence the slightly over-the-top compliments).

She had a different solution for her email sign-off. I love it!

(4/4)

Most just sign their name and assume that the reader is intelligent enough to understand that people in other countries might have names that look like an English word without being that English word.

(3/x)

Women called Joke (Jokes) have various ways of presenting themselves to English speakers. Some go back to Johanna, or call themselves Jo, some have an explanation of the pronunciation in their email sign-off.

(2/x)

One Dutch name that surprises English speakers is “Joke”.

It isn’t pronounced the way you think, but as “yoak-uh” (or [joːkə] if you can read IPA).

Short for Johanna, it was very popular in its day, and very many Dutch women have this name. Most of them are aged between 60 and 80.

(1/x)

Hoe zeg je "een kat in het nauw maakt rare sprongen" in het Engels? - Hoe zeg je in het Engels Op de Berlinale van 2026 werd Mees Peijnenburg, regisseur van de Nederlandstalige film “A Family”, na de vertoning van de film door het publiek bevraagd. Volgens Het Parool kwam hij toen even niet op ...

Interestingly, in Dutch, "a cornered cat will act crazy" (literally "will jump strangely"), whereas in English, cornered animals fight back, as in "to act like a cornered rat".

When you are under stress, do you act crazy or fight back? I think Dutch speakers might have a point with this one!

Haha! Toen ik nog docent op een middelbare school was deed ik altijd in de eerste les "de drie wetten van Newton": Alleen in het Engels praten, vinger opsteken als je me nodig hebt, en écht alleen in het Engels praten.

Screengrab from Reddit: All Olympic 500m speedskate medallists have the same name -- "from the woods" Picture of three athletes holding medals Short Track Speed Skating Men's 500m Victory Ceremony CAN - Steven Dubois NED - Melle van 't Wout NED - Jens van 't Wout

The two Dutchmen are brothers, so it's not very strange that they have the same name, but this is still a fun coincidence!

(From Reddit r/Etymology)

Speelzand is wel degelijk een ander soort zand dan bouwzand of strandzand, kan ik als moeder vertellen. Ronder van vorm, geen scherpe deeltjes, en "plakt" beter voor zandkastelen.

Interessant! Ik ben echt zo benieuwd naar de vakbekwaamheidstoets voor bv BA in de komende jaren - een scriptie heeft als toets echt weinig waarde meer.

If you are doing, or thinking of starting, a project about language that will (also) teach 'regular folks' about language, you should apply for this grant! Apart from some money, it will also give you publicity and a wider network.

A truth like a cow 🐮, It's a random edition! 🎲 English and the Dutch #37

I was a bit ill last weekend, so I made it easy on myself: the theme this month is ‘no theme’ 😉

It did give me the chance to dig up some of my favourite fun facts that don’t really fit into any easy category!

Leuk! Ik ben erbij!