Questions about Dutch sentences

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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Sat Jan 28, 2017 10:22 am

Doitsujin wrote:
tommus wrote:"Pas deze week liep de Duitser tegen de lamp bij een controle."

My Dutch has become extremely rusty, but I believe that "tegen de lamp lopen" is an idiom and simply means getting caught.

Thanks. That is what I understood. A direct translation could have been that he got caught in an audit. But a more idiomatic way of saying that in English would be something like "he ran up against an audit". So I was wondering if, idiomatically, the Dutch see it as also running up against something, and is that something a "lamp pole" (i.e., maybe while walking or driving a car), as opposed to simply a "lamp". By more fully understanding such idioms, an L2 learner can more easily remember the expression.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Sat Jan 28, 2017 10:22 am

Doitsujin wrote:
tommus wrote:"Pas deze week liep de Duitser tegen de lamp bij een controle."

My Dutch has become extremely rusty, but I believe that "tegen de lamp lopen" is an idiom and simply means getting caught.

Thanks. That is what I understood. A direct translation could have been that he got caught in an audit. But a more idiomatic way of saying that in English would be something like "he ran up against an audit". So I was wondering if, idiomatically, the Dutch see it as also running up against something, and is that something a "lamp pole" (i.e., maybe while walking or driving a car), as opposed to simply a "lamp". By more fully understanding such idioms, an L2 learner can more easily remember the expression.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:16 pm

"Hoe heurt het eigenlijk?"

That is the title of a Dutch TV series. But I cannot translate it as is, because of "heurt".

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoe_heurt_het_eigenlijk%3F

However, the program relates to an etiquette book of a very similar name, written in 1938.

"Hoe hoort het eigenlijk?" which translates to "How does it actually belong".

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoe_hoort_het_eigenlijk%3F

So what about "heurt"? It doesn't seem to be a conjugation of the verb "horen". Is it a pun or something?
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby LadyGrey1986 » Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:29 pm

Heurt actually does come from the verb "horen".

They pronounce and it like "heurt" to mock the way posh people speak Dutch.

I hope this helps :D
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:39 pm

bekakt
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Sun Jan 29, 2017 6:02 pm

LadyGrey1986 wrote:They pronounce and it like "heurt" to mock the way posh people speak Dutch.

Thanks. No wonder "I" couldn't understand it. :lol:
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sun Jan 29, 2017 6:04 pm

They call it bekakt when people speak like that
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Sun Jan 29, 2017 6:36 pm

In overly posh or affected speech (literally our variant of the Queen's English), all instances of the vowel sound "oo" are transformed into "eu". Thus "heurt", "deur", "veur", "heufd" for "hoort", "door", "voor" and "hoofd".

Bekakt is a bit of a slang term to indicate posh people in Dutch. Literally it means "shat on", and people who use this type of accent are often called "kakkers". Leiden is notable for having many people with this accent, as is the suburb of Wassenaar (close to the Hague), and the Hague's richer, more elitist neighbourhoods often feature such accents as well (a huge contrast when compared to the typical folksy the Hague accent, which is way more gruff, also often parodized and stigmatized).

Needless to say, for those of us not in those circles, they're usually an easy target for mockery, as they're considered arrogant and haughty.

Keep in mind that Dutch accents are all over the place and many of them feature vowel changes.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:22 pm

tarvos wrote:
Bekakt is a bit of a slang term to indicate posh people in Dutch. Literally it means "shat on", and people who use this type of accent are often called "kakkers".


hahaha I didn't know that it was so rude :lol: I only knew that it's the Dutch word for 'posh' in English.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:46 pm

tarvos wrote:In overly posh or affected speech ... Thus "heurt", "deur", "veur", "heufd" for "hoort", "door", "voor" and "hoofd".

Very interesting. This is new to me. Thanks.
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