Tuesday is a good day for a little quiz. It’s the second day of the working week. It’s almost Wednesday, so that means it’s almost Thursday. Basically, it’s almost weekend! O.k., let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here’s the question.
Question
Ken je deze Nederlandse uitdrukking? Do you know this Dutch expression?
Appeltje – eitje
Wat denk je dat het betekent? What do you think it means?
a. Very lazy
b. Very easy
Answer
The correct answer is: B. Easy (gemakkelijk). Dutch people say appeltje-eitje when something is very easy to be done. When you hire a Dutch plumber, and he says appeltje-eitje, you know you are lucky!
The expression appeltje-eitje comes from the older expression dat is een eitje, which means the same. Appeltje-eitje is a very young expression, it was included in the Dutch dictionary (Van Dale) as recent as 2005.
The adding of the word appel to the ei has probably got to do with the much older expression voor een appel en een ei, which was already used in the eighteenth century. It means for a little bit of money.
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For our Word of the Day, Droge Dialogen (Dry Dialogues) and Basic Dutch (tips & tricks) please visit Direct Dutch Daily!