Dat zit er dik in!

I wouldn’t be surprised, that
is more than likely,
there’s every chance of
that
 Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]

Datzaterdikin
"Dik" usually means "thick" or "fat", but it can also mean "ample"
or "good", as in "we zitten hier al een dik uur te wachten" ("we have
been waiting here for a good hour"). One uses "dat/het zit er dik in"
when something is an obvious consequence, or was expected to happen.

There are many expressions with "dik", see below for another two.

Examples:
– "De trein had vertraging en nu heeft Frank
dus ook het vliegtuig gemist!" – "Ja, dat zat er dik in; hij had beter
een trein eerder kunnen nemen!" 

("The train was delayed and
hence Frank also missed his flight!" – "Yup, I expected that to happen,
he should have taken an earlier train!")

– "Het is uit tussen Michiel en Patricia…" – "Dat zat er dik in, ze hadden al maanden ruzie." 
("It is over between Michiel and Patricia…" – "That does not surprise me at all, they have been fighting for months.")

– "Het zit er dik in dat het straks gaat regenen; er is regen voorspeld en ik zie alleen maar donkere wolken." 
("It is very likely to start raining soon; they predicted rain and I only see dark clouds.")

– "Het zit er dik in dat de prijzen weer gaan stijgen nu dat het aantal klanten afneemt." 
("Most probably the prices will rise again now that the number of customers is decreasing.")

– "Ze zijn laat met de DWOTD vandaag!" – "Dat zat er dik in, vorige week hebben ze ook al niets gedaan!" 
("They are late with the DWOTD today!"- "I’m not surprised as they didn’t do anything at all last week!")

Expressions:
– "Het ligt er dik bovenop": it is quite obvious.
– "Dat komt dik voor elkaar": that will work out fine.

Met de noorderzon vertrekken

leave without notice to an unknown destination Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]

seaside-1031450_1280“Met de noorderzon vertrekken” can be literally translated as “to leave with the northern sun”. It stems from 17th century Dutch. Then, the “noorderzon” was synonymous to “during the night” – the sun shines in the northern/Scandinavian countries at night. The “zuiderzon” (“southernsun”) was synonymous to “during mid-day”. “Met de noorderzon vertrekken” originally meant to leave without notice leaving many debts. Nowadays, it is used when someone leaves without telling anyone that he intends to leave nor where he’s going.

Examples:
– “Hij is met de noorderzon vertrokken en hij heeft nooit meer iets van zich laten horen.” 
(“He left without notice to an unknown destination and has never been in touch since.”)

– “Na dat schandaal is zij met de noorderzon vertrokken, later bleek dat ze naar Canada was geëmigreerd.”
(“After the scandal she left to an unknown destination, later it turned out she had emigrated to Canada.”)

– “Als je zomaar met de noorderzon vertrekt, loop je weg voor je verantwoordelijkheden.”
(“If you just leave like that, you walk away from your responsibilities.”)

Expressions:
– “De benen nemen”: to run away (both in literal and figurative sense) [lit.: “to take the legs”].
– “De plaat poetsen”: to desert (original meaning), to run away, to leave [lit.: “to clean the butt plate(part of a gun)”].

Example:
– “Toen hij de politiesirene hoorde, poetste de dief de plaat.”
(“When he heard the police siren, the thief ran away.”)

Related words:
– Zon: sun [noun] [de zon, de zonnen].
– Noord: north [adjective].

Een heet hangijzer

a hot potato, a loaded subject, a controversial theme Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]Hangijzer

"Hangijzer" literally translates to a pot-hanger: a metal hook for hanging pots over a fire. You can easily burn your fingers on it…

As an expression, "een heet hangijzer" is used for a difficult (current) subject, on which a lot of discussion takes place: a delicate matter. It is often used in politics.

Examples:
– "De Joint Strike Fighter is nog steeds een heet hangijzer in de Nederlandse politiek." 
("The Joint Strike Fighter is still a loaded subject in Dutch politics.")

– "De hypotheekrenteaftrek: nog zo’n heet hangijzer…" 
("Home mortgage interest deduction: yet another hot potato…")

– "De kerst doorbrengen bij de eigen ouders of bij de schoonouders: een heet hangijzer in menige relatie." 
("To spend Christmas at your own parents or at your in-laws: a hot potato in many a relationship.")

Related words:
– Heet: hot [adjective].
– Hangen: to hang [verb] [hangen, hing, gehangen].
– IJzer: iron [noun] [het ijzer, de ijzers].
– IJzeren: iron [adjective].
– Beladed: loaded, burdened [adjective].
– Omstreden: disputed, controversial [adjective]

Example:
– "Het gebruik van gentechnologie in de landbouw is omstreden."
("The use of gen-technology in agriculture is controversial.")

– Gevoelig: touchy, sensitive [adjective].
– Taboe: taboo [noun] [het taboe, de taboes].

Een domper op de feestvreugde

A damper on the party… / a shadow over the party…
Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]

Verwijderen_versiering
Every year on Queen’s day the Dutch Royal family visits a town or village somewhere in the country. Locals put on a show and the Royal family waves, smiles, participates in games and shakes hands. This year the festivities in the town of Apeldoorn were heavily disrupted by a man trying to drive his car into the bus transporting the royals. He missed the bus but killed 6 spectators and did not survive himself in the end.

Throughout the country festivities were canceled or sobered down. At first one spoke of "een domper op de feestvreugde": a typical Dutch phrase often used when something ruins the party (or otherwise good atmosphere) one way or the other. When the severity of the accident became clear though, one spoke of "tragedie", "drama" and "Koninginnedag zal nooit meer hetzelfde zijn".

Examples:
– "De aanslaag op de Koninklijke familie in Apeldoorn was een domper op de feestvreugde.
"

("The assault on the Royal family in Apeldoorn cast a shadow over the party.
")

– " ‘Een domper op de feestvreugde’ vind ik een eufemisme; Koninginnedag zal nooit meer hetzelfde zijn!"
("I believe that ‘a damper on the party’ is a euphemism; Queen’s day will never be the same!")

– " ‘Mijn ouders kunnen niet bij de première aanwezig zijn en dat is voor mij een domper op de feestvreugde’, zei de veelbelovende toneelspeler."
(" ‘My parents are unable to attend the opening performance and that kind of ruins it for me’, the promising actor said." Note that a "toneelspeler" is an actor in a play, whereas an "acteur" is an actor in general.)

Related words:
– Feestvreugde: fun, festivity [noun] [de feestvreugde, <no plural>]
– Vreugde: joy, happiness [noun] [de vreugde, de vreugden]
– Verdriet: grief, sorrow [noun] [het verdriet, <no plural>]

Joost mag het weten

Heaven only knows, I’m blowed if I know Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]

Joost_mag_het_wetenjpg
This expression translates to something like "Joost may/could/might know it" but is used to say that nobody really has a clue (apart from maybe Joost – a common first name in the Netherlands). Note that the construction "mag het weten" is only used in this phrase. Normally you would say "Frank zou het kunnen weten" ("Frank might know it").

Many people wonder who Joost is. Read the Extra for an explanation.

Examples:
– "Waarom is Frank niet op het werk?" – "Joost mag het weten, hij is al de hele week te laat."
("Why is Frank not at work?" – "I’m blowed if I know, he has shown up late all week.")
   

– "Joost mag weten waar ik de auto geparkeerd heb."
("Heaven only knows where I parked the car.")
   

– "Waar is dat rapport over de kredietcrisis?" – "Joost mag het weten, ik heb het al een week geleden ingeleverd."
("Where is that report on the financial crisis?" – "I have no clue, I already handed it in a week ago!")
   

Extra:
Apparently Joost is derived from ‘joos’, a word picked up by the Dutch in colonial times on the Indonesian island of Java. ‘Joos’ was a name for a Chinese god (or its depiction), and was in its turn derived from ‘dejos’ (from Portuguese ‘deus’; god). Later ‘joos’ was connected to the existing given name of ‘Joost’ and was in fact associated with the devil. An explanation for the latter could be that the god of one religion is often the devil of another religion (source: "Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal" (WNT, part VIII, 1926)).