"orange fever" [noun] [de oranjekoorts, <no plural>] [‘o-ran-ju-koorts’]

What on earth is "orange fever"? Well, I’m having serious orange fever at this moment, and it all has to do with the European championship football/soccer 🙂 "Oranjekoorts" can occur when the Dutch get excited about any Dutch representative competing in any international sports event when the probability of victory increases, but usually it’s the national football/soccer team at a European or world championship.

People with "oranjekoorts" suffer from increased body heat and adrenaline due to a sudden outburst of unusual patriotism and national solidarity. Usually there is a bit of "oranjekoorts" leading up to the sports event and it will abate when we (there is always suddenly talk of "we") do badly, but it will increase significantly when we do well. Many Dutch people have "oranjekoorts" right now as a result of the unexpected victory against Italy last Monday. This is a bit premature of course 🙂

"Oranjekoorts" can turn into "oranjegekte": orange madness. This is the word for the behaviour and appearance of Dutch supporters, ranging from decorating your street with orange and national flags, to dressing up as an orange lion. It is expected that 50,000 Dutch fans will populate the city centre of Bern when the Dutch play against the French this Friday: there will be "oranjegekte"!

As it is quite unlikely that you will use "oranjekoorts" on a daily basis, I’ll also include examples with "koorts" and "oranje".

Examples:
– "Zelfs Sabina heeft oranjekoorts, en zij houdt niet eens van voetbal!"
("Even Sabina has "oranjekoorts" and she doesn’t even like football/soccer!")

– "Tijdens de aanloop naar het EK, neemt de oranjekoorts toe."
("During the build-up to the European Championship, the "oranjekoorts" increases." The abbreviation "EK" (pronounce "ee-kaa")is commonly used ("Europees Kampioenschap").)

– <The morning after the match of Holland against Italy:> "Ik bel om door te geven dat mijn man niet kan werken vandaag, hij ligt met koorts in bed…" – "Met koorts zegt u? Ja ja, u bedoelt zeker oranjekoorts!"
("I’m calling to report that my husband cannot come to work today, he is in bed with a fever…" – "With a fever you say? Yeah right, you must mean orange fever!" Note that "doorgeven" translates to "to report" or "to notify" in this case.)

– "Leuke kleur heeft die jurk van jou, een beetje oranjeachtig is het niet?"
("Your dress has a nice colour, a bit orange-like isn’t it?" Lit.: "Nice colour has that dress of yours…")

– "Ik voel me niet zo lekker, volgens mij heb ik koorts!"
("I feel a bit under the weather, I think I have a fever!" Here "niet lekker" can also mean "nauseous" or "sick". "Volgens mij" is a common substitute for "ik denk dat".)

Related words:
– "Oranje": orange.
– "Oranjegekte": "orange madness".
– "Koorts hebben": to have a fever.
– "Koortsachtig": feverish, frenetic.
– "Ziek": ill, sick.

door policy [noun] [het deurbeleid, <no plural>] [‘deur-bu-leid’] 

The
Dutch word for "policy" is "beleid" and it is mostly used in the realm
of politics, civil service and government bodies. However it is not a
formal word per se.
A specific kind of "beleid" to which we might all have been exposed in
our lives is "deurbeleid". It involves you, the doorman or bouncer, and
usually some kind of inexplicable policy or imaginary membership. Then
all that is required in order to get in or change the door policy on
the spot is specialist persuasive powers, a lot of luck, or just good looks
🙂 Or perhaps a bit of bribing and maybe even violence, examples of
which have been reported in recent years in the Dutch news when refused
customers returned with a weapon to "solve the issue".

Although bouncers can get away with refusing admittance based on you
not wearing dress shoes, or being male when there are too many males
inside (this argument usually works for men), it is illegal to
discriminate. Currently the city of Amsterdam is encouraging people to
report incidents where they felt discriminated when they were refused admittance
to a bar or club. There is even a special website set up for this
purpose: www.deurbeleidamsterdam.nl.

Examples:
– "De populaire clubs en bars in het centrum van grote steden voeren vaak een streng deurbeleid."
("Popular clubs and bars in the centre of big cities often pursue a strict door policy.")

– "De uitsmijter werd ontslagen omdat hij het nieuwe deurbeleid niet wilde opvolgen."
("The bouncer was fired because he did not want to comply with the new door policy.")

Related words:
– "Uitgaan": to go out.
– "Uitgaansleven/Nachtleven": night life.
– "Toelaten": to admit, to let in.
– "Weigeren": to refuse.
– "De toegang": entrance, admittance.
– "De entree": entrance, or entrance fee.
– "De uitsmijter": bouncer. From "uitsmijten": to throw out.

toodle-oo, bye(-bye), cheers, cheerio [interjection] [‘toe-du-lu-doo-kie’]

“Toedeledoki” is a very informal way to say (good)bye.

The use of “toedeledoki” in the Dutch language was strongly boosted by the comedy series Jiskefet, which aired from from 1990 to 2005 on Dutch
television. It was a show with various humorous and absurdist
sketches. One of the recurring sketches had three men in it with a southern Dutch accent (from the province of Brabant), sitting in the office, talking about various trivial everyday topics. One of these characters would always dump his sandwiches – made by his wife – in the trash bin while exclaiming “Toedeledoki!”

Sometimes, Dutch ‘goodbye words’ – such as “dag”, “doei” or “toedeledoki” – are used to express one’s disapproval of a certain activity or situation. See the last example.

Examples:
– “Ik ga naar huis, toedeledoki!”
(“I’m going home, bye-bye!”)

– “Mensen, het was erg gezellig, maar nu moet ik echt gaan…Toedeledoki!”
(“People, I had a great time, but I really have to go now…Cheerio!”)

– “Schat, kun jij de afwas doen?” – “Toedeledoki, daar heb ik nu echt geen zin in!”
(“Honey, can you do the dishes?” – “Forget it, I really don’t feel like doing that now!”)

Related words:
– “Doei“: bye bye, so long, ta ta, see you.
– “Tot ziens”: goodbye, bye.
– “Afscheid”: [noun] parting, leaving.
– “Iemand gedag zwaaien”: to wave hello/goodbye to someone.
– “Vaarwel”: farewell.

Extra:
Another brilliant joke from the same Jiskefet episode (at 2min09sec): “Wat is de verleden tijd van komkommersla?” – “Kwamkwammersloeg!” 😀 Ask you local Dutch Guru for an explanation…

Extra 2:
Let’s do some alternatives for “toedeledoki. Here are a few ways to say goodbye in (spoken) Dutch:

Informal
– “Groetjes!”: bye-bye!
– “(De) groeten”: bye.
– “Doei/doedoei/doeidoei/doeg”: bye, cheers.
– “(De) mazzel”: see you.
– “Toedels/toedeloe”: toodle-oo, cheerio, bye-bye.
– “Later/lator/laters”: (see you) later.
– “De ballen!”: cheers! bye!
– “(Ik) zie je”: see you.
– “Tot sinas”: (a pun for “tot ziens”) (good)bye.
– “Hoihe”: [used in the province of Limburg] bye-bye.
– “Houdoe”: [used in the province of Brabant] bye-bye.
– “Tabee”: so long.

(Semi-)formal
– “Tot ziens”: goodbye.
– “Tot horens”: [on the phone] bye (lit.: until we hear each other again).
– “Dag”: bye.
– “Tot de volgende keer”: until next time.
– “Tot snel”: see you soon (lit.: till soon).
– “Tot binnenkort”: see you shortly (lit.: till shortly).
– “Vaarwel”: farewell.

ass cap, butt wings [noun] [het aarsgewei, de aarsgeweien] [‘aars-gu-wei’]

Since we’re in the mood, we’ll end this week with another GURU word 🙂 "Aarsgewei" is composed of "aars" and "gewei", which respectively translate to "arse/ass" and "antlers": a tattoo on a woman’s lower back just above the buttocks, also known as an ass cap or butt wings…

The use of "aarsgewei" is somewhat derogatory/sexist, but not necessarily vulgar.

Examples:
– "Ik zie het steeds vaker: jonge meisjes met een aarsgewei. Het is een schande!"
("I see it more and more frequently: young girls with butt wings. It’s a shame!")

– "De aangeklaagde billenknijper zei dat hij zich geprovoceerd voelde door het aarsgewei van de jonge vrouw."
("The accused bottom squeezer said he felt provoked by the young woman’s ass cap.")

– "Wist je dat Valerie een aarsgewei heeft?" – "Ga weg! Dat is ongelofelijk!!"
("Did you know that Valerie has butt wings?" – "No way! That’s unbelievable!!")

Related words:
– "Billenknijper": bottom squeezer.
– "Bil": buttock.

smelly/sweaty feet [noun] [<no singular>, de zweetkakkies] [‘zweet-ka-kies’]

Note
that "zweetkakkies" can only be used informally! The normal word for
sweaty feet is "zweetvoeten". The Dutch verb for "to sweat" is "zweten".

Only in the word "zweetkakkies" is the word "kak" associated to feet and only in this plural (informal diminutive) form. In general "kak" is
used for "sh*t/crap" or in connection to posh people or likewise
social environments (see DWOTD Kakker).

You might also hear "zweetkakken".

Examples:
– "Zo, jij hebt vandaag zweetkakkies zeg, wat heb je gedaan?"
("My, you have quite smelly feet today, what have you been up to?")

– "De laatste tijd heb ik last van zweetkakkies, ik hoop niet dat het iets blijvends is!"
("Lately I’m bothered by sweaty feet, I hope it will not stay like this!" Lit. ",… that it will be something staying/remaining.")

– "Toen ik studeerde aan de universiteit deelde ik een kamer met een
jongen die heel erge zweetkakkies had! De hele kamer stonk ernaar!"
("When I went to university I shared a room with a boy who had very smelly feet. The whole room smelled like it!")

Related words:
– "Zweetvoeten": regular word for sweaty feet.
– "Zweten": to sweat.
– "Stinken": to smell.