that’s done and dusted / everything’s shipshape / good riddance
[Dutch phrase of the week]
[op-ge-ruimd staat net-jes] 
It’s been one of those weeks in which you don’t have time for anything and at home things are piling up and it’s turning into a mess! Today I finally had time to clean up (a bit). When a room is tidy and in good order, in Dutch we say it’s ‘netjes’. So, ‘opgeruimd staat netjes’ says something like ‘cleaned up looks neat/tidy’. You use the phrase to state/emphasize that cleaning up is a good thing, since the result is that everything looks ‘netjes’. (Note that in this phrase the verb ‘staan’ translates as ‘looks’ or ‘makes one/something look’.) The phrase is also often used when you finally succeed in getting rid of somebody 🙂
‘Netjes’ can also apply to the way one is dressed, e.g. ‘je ziet er netjes uit’ (which translates as ‘you look smart’), or ‘netjes gekleed zijn’ (to be smartly dressed).
Examples:
– “Bed opgemaakt, was gedaan, afwasmachine ingeruimd en aangezet: opgeruimd staat netjes!”
(“Made up the bed, did laundry, loaded the dishwasher and turned it on: everything’s shipshape!”)
– “Heb je gehoord dat ze Frank eindelijk ontslagen hebben?” – “Ja, opgeruimd staat netjes zou ik zeggen, die gast liep de kantjes er vanaf.”
(“Did you hear they finally fired Frank?” – “Yes, good riddance to him is what I’d say, that guy never did more than the bare minimum.” Note that the expression ‘de kantjes er vanaf lopen’ implies that the effort delivered is in fact insufficient. ‘Kant’ means ‘side’ in Dutch and the expression originally meant that you were avoiding work, always staying on the side.)
– “De verkrachter is veroordeeld tot 10 jaar cel. Het publiek dat aanwezig was bij de veroordeling reageerde met een ‘opgeruimd staat netjes’.”
(“The rapist was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The audience that was present during the sentence responded with a ‘good riddance to him’.”)
– “Ben je wel eens bij haar thuis geweest? Van ‘opgeruimd staat netjes’ heeft ze nog nooit gehoord! Weet je wat ik denk? Ik denk dat zij aan verzamelwoede lijdt en niks kan weggooien!”
(“Have you ever been to her house? She has clearly never heard of “that’s done and dusted”! Do you know what I think? I think she suffers from collector’s mania and is unable to throw anything away!”)
Expressions:
– “Die zijn we kwijt!”: Finally we got rid of her/him!
– “Het staat je netjes!”: This literally says “it looks good on you”, but is often used ironically so say that whatever you did or are doing does not look good on you at all.
– “Orde op zaken stellen”: to restore order / to put things right / to take care of business.
Example:
– “Ik heb het heel druk gehad en moet nu hoog nodig eerst thuis orde op zaken stellen.”
(“I have been very busy and I really must first restore order at home.” Lit. “…and must now highly urgently first restore…”)
Related words:
– Opruimen: to tidy up, to clear out [verb] [ruimde op, opgeruimd].
– Troep: mess, rubbish [noun] [de troep, <no plural>].
– Schoon: clean [adjective].
– Geordend: well-ordered, orderly [adjective/adverb].
The phrase ‘zo zijn we niet getrouwd’ literally translates as ‘that is not the way we got married’ and refers to the different formal ways one can enter in marriage (e.g. with a prenup in place or in community of property). However, in practice one only uses this phrase to express astonishment when somebody does something contrary to what had been previously agreed upon, or when something happens that is clearly not supposed to.
The verb ‘afwerpen’ translates as ‘to cast/fling/toss off/away/down’ depending on force and direction used 🙂 It is a bit strange to use ‘afwerpen’ in the context of (pieces of) fruit since a tree or plant would at most just drop its fruit with a little help from gravity. Perhaps it is meant to bring an image to mind of fruit flying everywhere in an attempt to symbolize ‘profit’. In any case the point is: we emphasize the fruit ‘falling off’, whereas in English one emphasizes the ‘bearing of’ the fruit.
This phrase is used teasingly and says that the person whose own fault it is should have known better, or simply had it coming.
(“I am sick to my stomach!” – “That’s your own fault! (Then) You shouldn’t have eaten five herrings and three ‘moorkoppen’!” My aunt, who likes food, once ate five herrings followed by three ‘moorkoppen’ and wondered why she was sick to her stomach.)
When a book, newspaper or any physical publication has just been released, we say it is ‘vers van de pers’: hot off the press. The phrase is popular due to the rhyme. The adjective ‘vers’ translates as ‘fresh’. Sometimes the phrase is also used to indicate that something has just been announced (or a bit of news has just been released).