From here to Timbuktu
[Dutch phrase of the week]

I have heard people say "from here to Timbuktu" but I am not sure whether it is used in exactly the same way… In any case: you can use the informal expression "van hier tot Tokio" ("from here
to Tokyo") when you want to say that something is very long, or covers
a long distance. Sometimes you might hear it used to refer to large
quantities.

Examples:
– "Wat ben je laat!"- "Ja, er stond een rij bij de Albert Heijn van hier tot Tokio!" 
("You are late!"- "Yeah, there was a really long queue/line at Albert Heijn!")

– "Het is bizar hoeveel fietsen er staan bij Amsterdam Centraal; rij aan rij van hier tot Tokio!" 
("It is bizar how many bicycles are stalled at Amsterdam Central; row after row from here to Timbuktu!")

– "Als ik jou was zou ik nog even wachten, er staat een file op de A13 van hier tot Tokio." 
("I would wait a bit if I were you, there is a huge traffic jam on the A13.")

Related words:
–
"Verweggistan": an unknown country very far away. Composed of "ver weg"
("far away") and the suffix -istan (to make it sound like other far way
countries ending in -istan 🙂 ).
– "Kilometers lang": kilometres long.

It’s nothing to do with me
[Dutch phrase of the week]

Literally, "mijn naam is haas" translates to "my name is hare"… It is a translation of the German expression "Mein Name ist Hase", see Extra. The expression is used  – often jestingly and apologetically – to say that you don’t know anything about something or that something has nothing to do with you.

Examples:
– "Welke prutser is verantwoordelijk voor deze flutpresentatie?" – "Mijn naam is haas." 
("Which screw-up is responsible for this rubbish presentation?" – "It’s nothing to do with me.")

– "Ik snap dat Frank bonje zoekt, maar mijn naam is haas." 
("I understand that Frank’s looking to pick a fight, but it’s nothing to do with me.")

– "Wie heeft de magnetron zo vies gemaakt?"  – "Mijn naam is haas."
("Who messed up the microwave like that?" – "It’s nothing to do with me.")

Expressions:
– "Als een haas er vandoor gaan": to be off like a shot.
– "Ik weet van niks": I don’t know anything about it. Lit.: I know of nothing.

Example:
– "Wie heeft er zo geroddeld over Lisa?" – "Ik weet van niks…"
("Who has spread such rumours about Lisa?" – "I don’t know anything about that…")

Related words:
– Naam: name [noun] [de naam, de namen].

Example:
– "Hoe is uw naam?" – "Sanders."
("What’s your name?" – "Sanders". Lit.: "How is your name?")

– Haas: hare [noun] [de haas, de hazen].
– Haasje-over: leap-frog (children’s game) [noun] [het haasje-over,<no plural>].

Extra:
"Mijn naam is haas" is translated from the German expression "Mein Name ist Hase" and dates back to a historical event. In 1855, a foreign student had shot his opponent at a duel. The student fled to France to escape prosecution. On his way, he met the German law student Victor Hase in Heidelberg. In order to pass the French-German border in Straßburg, the refugee needed identification papers. He asked Hase, who had a student ID, for help. Now, abusing a student ID was prohibited by the law, but Hase was willing to cooperate. He ‘lost’ is student ID, the refugee ‘found’ it, and was able to cross the border. Then things went wrong. After his arrival in France, the refugee lost the student ID, but unfortunately, it turned up again. Hase was called to account in the university’s court of law. To save himself, he used a juridical formula: Mein Name ist Hase, ich verneine die Generalfragen, ich weiss von nichts (My name is Hase, I deny the general questions, I know of nothing). The expression soon spread in the short version across the whole of Germany, and also reached the Netherlands.

<From: van Dale – Groot Uitdrukkingen woordenboek>

That is not of my concern, that is of no relevance to me
[Dutch phrase of the week]

"Boodschap" can be translated as "message" or "grocery". See also DWOTD Supermarkt for more on "boodschap". The meaning of "Daar heb ik geen boodschap aan", most likely refers to its meaning as "message". Literally, it can be translated as "I don’t have a message on that" but that doesn’t make much sense. A sentence with a similar meaning is "Daar heb ik niks mee te maken".

Examples:
– "Wat de buurman van mijn tuin vindt, daar heb ik geen boodschap aan." 
("What the neighbour thinks of my garden doesn’t interest me at all.")

– "Hij heeft geen boodschap aan de ouderwetse opvattingen van zijn overgrootoma." 
("He has no interest in the old-fashioned views of his great-grandmother.")

– "Zij heeft er geen boodschap aan wat haar studiegenoten van haar communistische opvattingen vinden." 
("It’s of no interest to her what her classmates think of her communist views.")

– "De Nederlandse politicus Wilders had geen boodschap aan de oproep van de regering om zijn Koran-film niet te vertonen." 
("Dutch politician Wilders didn’t care about the request of the government to refrain from showing his Quran-film.")

Related words:
– Boodschap: grocery, message [noun] [de boodschap, de boodschappen].
– Boodschappen doen: do groceries [verb] [deed boodschappen, heb boodschappen gedaan].

It’s probably (just) me
[Dutch phrase of the week]

The verb "liggen" usually translates to "to lie" (position of the body), or "to be" (location of an object). "Liggen aan" can therefore mean "to be located at", but it can also take on the meaning of "to depend on", "to be caused by" or "to be due to". When you say "het zal wel aan mij liggen", you mean to say that it is probably because of the way you are, or the way that you interpret something, that you are somewhat bothered (by something).

Other examples of the use of "liggen aan" are: "het ligt altijd aan een ander" (it is always somebody else’s fault) or the classic "het ligt niet aan jou, maar aan mij" (it’s not you, it’s me).

Examples:
– "Het zal wel aan mij liggen, maar ik vind 2,40 voor een biertje behoorlijk duur!" 
("I think 2,40 for a beer is quite expensive, but that’s probably just me!")

– "Ik dacht eerst, het zal wel aan mij liggen, maar later gaf zij zelf toe dat ze fout zat." 
("At first I thought it was because of me, but later she admitted that she was wrong.")

– "Ik vind het asociaal als mensen afval op straat gooien, maar goed, het zal wel weer aan mij liggen." 
("I think it is antisocial when people litter, but hey, it is probably just me again." Literally we say: "throw rubbish on the street.")

Related word:
– Oorzaak: cause, origin [noun] [de oorzaak, de oorzaken].