Word of the Day

April 10 is the Dutch day of Deutsch. Dutch, as you know means Nederlands, Netherlandish. Deutsch means German. German used to be a very … Read more

What is a VRIEND? In Facebook anybody who likes you is called a VRIEND. In the English language not much distinction is made between … Read more

Old Father Time who is called ‘Vadertje Tijd’ in Dutch has three striking characteristics. He is a patient healer who’s able to cure all … Read more

This morning Avril and I went to Schiphol Airport to send our daughter Yolande off. It’s her first cross-Atlantic flight so she was a … Read more

Have you read the Dutch bestseller ‘Het diner’ (the dinner) by Herman Koch? Or have you seen the film? I finished the novel last … Read more

Boring word, vital concept. Where would we be without DE GRONDWET? In chaos. At war. Thanks to the rights embedded in this ‘fundamental law’ … Read more

Why such a mundane word as KEUKEN for today’s Word of the Day? I’ll tell you. ‘De Keukenhof’ has opened its gates. What used … Read more

Why is ‘De Nucleaire TOP 2014’ called the ‘Nuclear Security Summit’ (NSS) in English and not ‘Nuclear Security TOP. And why is it ‘Gipfel’ … Read more

Yesterday Jet pointed out that there is a nasty side to GEMEEN (common). When my computer bleeped to alert me to Jet’s comment, I … Read more

This morning I went to the nearest school in order to cast my vote. For today it’s municipal election day. In the many political … Read more

Happy St Patrick’s Day all you Irish people all over the world and all ‘gelukkige Sint Patricksdag’ everyone who feels Irish. I am a … Read more

With trepidation and a lot of AARZELINGEN (hesitations), I chose KONT (ass) as my word of the day. This word was inspired by Tommy … Read more

This week it’s BOEKENWEEK (book week)! Up to next Sunday 16 March you get a free novel, if you buy a book of euro … Read more