364. Visitekaartje

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business card [noun] [het visitekaartje, de visitekaartjes] [‘vie-sie-tu-kaart-ju’]

"Visitekaartje" is composed of "visite" and "kaartje", which respectively translate to "visit" and "little card". Sometimes "visite" is left out, which would obviously translate to just "card".

"Visitekaartje" is also used in a figurative way: someone or something can be the "visitekaartje" of something, indicating a positive ambassador’s function, see the examples.

Examples:
– "Sander heeft DWOTD visitekaartjes ontworpen."
("Sander has designed DWOTD business cards.")

– "Mag ik u mijn kaartje aanbieden?"
("Can I offer you my card?")

– "Ik heb geen visitekaartjes meer, waar kan ik die laten drukken?"
("I’m out of business cards, where can I have them printed?")

– "Het Lange Voorhout is een van de visitekaartjes van Den Haag."
("The Lange Voorhout is one of The Hague’s frontpieces/highlights.")

Expression:
– "Je visitekaartje afgeven": literally to hand out your business card, this is said when you do something that makes you leave a good impression.

Extra:
The DWOTD business card: highly popular collector’s item 🙂

Dwotd_card_3

363. Vogelvrij

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outlawed [adjective] [‘voo-gul-vrij’]

"Vogelvrij"
is composed of "vogel" ("bird") and "vrij" ("free"). Although it sounds
like being free as a bird, the real meaning of "vogelvrij" is that you
are not protected by law.

Today in the Netherlands this word is mainly used in its figurative
sense, most often in the expression "iemand vogelvrij verklaren": to
outlaw somebody.

Examples:
– "Velen vrezen dat Geert Wilders zichzelf vogelvrij verklaart als hij zijn film over de Koran uitbrengt."
("Many
fear that Geert Wilders outlaws himself if he releases his film about
the Koran." Here we refer to the Dutch politician Geert Wilders who plans
to release a critical film about the Koran titled ‘Fitna’. There are
already protests against this film (in the Netherlands but also abroad)
even though it has not been released yet.)

– "In het wilde Westen was het niet ongebruikelijk dat iemand vogelvrij werd verklaard."
("In the Wild West it was not uncommon for somebody to be outlawed.")

– "Er is onlangs een document gevonden uit de negentiende eeuw
waarin de onschuldige wetenschapper Giordano vogelvrij werd verklaard."
("A document from the nineteenth century has recently been found in which the innocent scientist Giordano was outlawed.")

Related words:
– "Rechteloos": lawless.
– "Straffeloos": unpunished.