Dutch culture

Goede Morgen :-)

Reading a book about Dutch culture last night there was this passage about
Dutch cycling.

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zdutch.htm

--

Simon M.

"Simon Mason" wrote in message ...
Goede Morgen :-)

Reading a book about Dutch culture last night there was this passage about
Dutch cycling.

Brings back happy memories of many enjoyable cycling tours there, the
only place other than on the London-Brighton I have ever been in a
bike-jam ;-)

Nice quote Simon,

What was the book and who is it by?

This is also interesting. It was on the net but now has gone. It is by
the author of http://www.kung-foo.tv/

'The Dutch thrive on "gezelligheid". It is such a highly valued and
aspired concept that there is no foreign word that equals it. Roughly,
it means a warm, cosy and homely feeling that you are doing the right
thing by contributing to the wellbeing of one and all. As such, it
applies to any context where you and/or your companions feel like
you're just created a safe and warm home, a place where you are
feeling happy and comfortable with the present companions, just for
that single moment. Gezelligheid does not depend on wealth, a
comfortable place, warmth, or what not. You can hear the phrase "He!
Wat gezellig!" (Hey! How "cosy" it is!) in the weirdest situations.
Sitting on the porch of a 'losmen' (lodgement) in Pangandaran,
Indonesia, in the late afternoon, looking at the rain pouring down
while drinking coffee "toebroek" can make you and your friend sigh and
exclaim simultaneously: "He! Wat gezellig!". Even a junkie in a
squatter's house at one of the Amsterdam canals can go like "He,
gezellig!", when, with his friends passed out on the floor, the sun is
breaking through the window and the smell of fresh bread from the
baker at the corner of the street is seeping through the cracks of the
floors. Gezelligheid is a state of mind.'

"Howard" wrote in message
om...
Nice quote Simon,

What was the book and who is it by?

This is also interesting. It was on the net but now has gone. It is by
the author of http://www.kung-foo.tv/

'The Dutch thrive on "gezelligheid". It is such a highly valued and
aspired concept that there is no foreign word that equals it.

Sorry, bad news for you: the literal translation is "fellowship".

Roughly,
it means a warm, cosy and homely feeling that you are doing the right
thing by contributing to the wellbeing of one and all.

Yes, indeed.

--
Mark South
Citizen of the World, Denizen of the Net
Tiens! Ce poulet a une grenade!

lid schreef ...
"Howard" wrote in message
om...
Nice quote Simon,

What was the book and who is it by?

This is also interesting. It was on the net but now has gone. It is by
the author of http://www.kung-foo.tv/

'The Dutch thrive on "gezelligheid". It is such a highly valued and
aspired concept that there is no foreign word that equals it.

Sorry, bad news for you: the literal translation is "fellowship".

We interrupt this message with the following: the literal translation of
'gezelligheid' is not 'fellowship'. Being Dutch, I should know ..... The
description by the previous poster is more accurate. 'Gezelligheid' is
not translatable (is that correct English?).

Roughly,
it means a warm, cosy and homely feeling that you are doing the right
thing by contributing to the wellbeing of one and all.

Yes, indeed.

True.

--
Regards,
Marten

schreef ...
Goede Morgen :-)

Reading a book about Dutch culture last night there was this passage about
Dutch cycling.

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zdutch.htm

Addition: there are now some 18 million bicycles in this country......

--
Regards,
Marten

"Marten Hoffmann" wrote in message
...
lid schreef ...
"Howard" wrote in message
om...
Nice quote Simon,

What was the book and who is it by?

This is also interesting. It was on the net but now has gone. It is by
the author of http://www.kung-foo.tv/

'The Dutch thrive on "gezelligheid". It is such a highly valued and
aspired concept that there is no foreign word that equals it.

Sorry, bad news for you: the literal translation is "fellowship".

We interrupt this message with the following: the literal translation of
'gezelligheid' is not 'fellowship'. Being Dutch, I should know ..... The
description by the previous poster is more accurate. 'Gezelligheid' is
not translatable (is that correct English?).

This is beginning to sound like the German claim that "gemuetlich" (content) is
untranslatable. In other words, you are claiming that your nation has something
that no other has.

You should be aware that every nation has such a set of self-myths.

So what's The Fellowship of the Ring called in Dutch?

Roughly,
it means a warm, cosy and homely feeling that you are doing the right
thing by contributing to the wellbeing of one and all.

Yes, indeed.

True.

In England this would probably be more likely to be described as
"parliamentarianism" :-(
--
"To live in San Francisco and just not care that
there are naked triathletes running across
your lawn, that's just a waste of exhibitionism."
- Kibo

In article ,
Marten Hoffmann writes:

We interrupt this message with the following: the literal translation of
'gezelligheid' is not 'fellowship'. Being Dutch, I should know .....

Not being dutch I wouldn't know. OTOH my knowledge of other languages
(excluding dutch) leads me to suggest "companionship". But I also
understand it's a word that carries meaning over and above the
literal to native speakers.

I wonder if it's a rather good expression of something that's
well-known to open-source software developers?

--
Nick Kew

On Wed, 19 May 2004 23:58:49 +0200, Mark South wrote:

"Marten Hoffmann" wrote in message
...
lid schreef ...
"Howard" wrote in message
om...
Nice quote Simon,

What was the book and who is it by?

This is also interesting. It was on the net but now has gone. It is by
the author of http://www.kung-foo.tv/

'The Dutch thrive on "gezelligheid". It is such a highly valued and
aspired concept that there is no foreign word that equals it.

Sorry, bad news for you: the literal translation is "fellowship".

We interrupt this message with the following: the literal translation of
'gezelligheid' is not 'fellowship'. Being Dutch, I should know ..... The
description by the previous poster is more accurate. 'Gezelligheid' is
not translatable (is that correct English?).

This is beginning to sound like the German claim that "gemuetlich" (content) is
untranslatable. In other words, you are claiming that your nation has something
that no other has.

You should be aware that every nation has such a set of self-myths.

So what's The Fellowship of the Ring called in Dutch?


I think it's 'de Reisgenoten' (travelling companions?) bimbw.

I don't understand your reference to the German 'gemuetlich' (content).
'Gemuetlich' often translates as 'cosy' or 'snug' and isn't very different
to gezellig although my German-Dutch dictionary doesn't translate
'gemuetlich' as 'gezellig' or vice versa.

Translation isn't as simple as you imply. One-to-one correspondence
between words in different languages is often lacking. This doesn't
necessarily mean that one nation has something another doesn't. It may
just mean that speakers of one language haven't found it necessary to
invent a word to communicate something represented by a single word in
another language.

Both the German words 'Schadenfreude' and 'Zeitgeist' have been imported
into English because there are no single word equivalents.

--
Michael MacClancy
Random putdown - "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't
it." -Groucho Marx
www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

"Howard" wrote in message
om...
Nice quote Simon,

What was the book and who is it by?

It was this one. Actually there is a much better one that I read in Holland
when staying with friends, but I can't for the life of me remember what it
was called.

http://www.ovalbooks.com/xeno/Dutch.html

--
Simon M.