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By Fledermaus
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02 February 2007 |
Don't worry, I'm not going to make a habbit of writing poems in languages other than English.... The 'Taalunie' are the Dutch equivalent of the Academie Francaise. The last years they have been busy messing up our language by introducing a new 'official spelling'. I borrowed the title to refer to this issue from this article on the BBC. Below the reason why I prefer not to write in Dutch. Paddestoel of paddenstoel (Toadstool -old spelling- or toadstool -new spelling-) Zo'n 'N' scheelt een heleboel (Such an 'N' matters a lot) Dus (So) Blijf van mijn taal af, bengels (Leave my language alone, brats) Anders schrijf ik wel Engels (Or I'll write English) |
Written by Witzl (1585 comments posted) 2nd February 2007 | Gee, for me it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. Paddlestoel or paddenstoel -- they both sound great!
My very favorite Dutch phrase was, if I recall correctly, Pas op zakkenrollers, (Is that right?) for 'Watch out for pickpockets.' What a great language to have a word like zakkenrollers. Lucky you. | HI Fledermaus
Written by jean.day (2366 comments posted) 2nd February 2007 | | Enjoyed this. Yes, I can see why you prefer to write in English, and we are all very pleased that you do so. |
Written by Fledermaus (3489 comments posted) 3rd February 2007 | Thanks!
Witzl: That's right  Though 'pickpocket' is a funny word too. It's funny that someone should remember such a phrase. When I last visited Schiphol, people were warned not to take fake cabs and to beware of zakkenrollers. It must give a strange impression to someone who just arrives. But then, most foreigner I've spoken to don't seem to be bothered very much about the petty criminals.
Jean: Wow, thanks. A great compliment
| Double Dutch
Written by 747AM (9 comments posted) 19th February 2007 | | Being English, though bilingual like yourself, I frequently make modest attempts to write poems in and from Dutch. It is a fascinating 'bezigheid' though regrettably I have yet to find a website that will accept such work. Any ideas? |
Written by Fledermaus (3489 comments posted) 21st February 2007 | Thanks 747AM.
Unfortunately I couldn't find such a website either. It took me ages to find this one and I never found anything similar for Dutch writing...  | Double Dutch
Written by Josie (2846 comments posted) 15th March 2007 | | Isn't that a funny expression? You wrote this when I was away on holiday and I have just found it. I liked the sound of it, but, of course, you can't translate it into English as a rhyming poem. I tried this, though, with my poem about "Fuffi" the Little Cat. Look at that one. Well done Fledermaus. |
Written by Fledermaus (3489 comments posted) 15th March 2007 | Thanks Josie. I'm not sure anymore if 'paddeNstoel' is correct in the new spelling. They messed it up so much that I don't understand it anymore. There used to be some rule that if the first part of the compositum was singular, it was without an 'n', dus 'hondehok' (doghouse), because only one dog fits into it, 'pannekoek' (pancake) because you only use one pan making it, and so on.
They changed the rule so that in any compositum where the plural of the first part would have the suffix '-en', there would be an 'n' in the compositum, thus 'hondenhok' and 'pannenkoek'.
As such 'paddestoel', which is completely similar to English 'toadstool' would have to become 'paddenstoel' (toadSstool). Yet for some reason certain words do not get this 'n'...
Luckily the English won't have their language changed by a comittee, for if they would everyone would shift to American English  |
Written by andybyers (181 comments posted) 10th July 2008 | But you didn't make it rhyme in English!  |
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