Monday, March 2, 2009

Welke Taal Spreek je? Deel 3

It's true that many British people have a problem with Europe(that noise you can hear is my fiance shouting at me for the upteemth time that Britain IS a part of Europe!).I think the final straw for most people was when the EU told us the bananas we were importing were the wrong shape, too bendy. You can do a lot of things to a Brit but NEVER criticise the shape of his banana! But after a busy weekend of travelling I have to sing the praises of one European invention that I like a lot. Ladies and Gentlemen I ask you to raise a glass to the humble Kilometre.
As we all know the Imperial Mile is the correct way to measure distance, but a mile is so bloody long. That's why travelling in Europe is such a joy, you always arrive at your destination sooner than expected. Kilometres are wonderfully short!

Don't try to translate the word upteemth because you wont find a translation for it. It basically means 'a lot'. I'm still trying to work out what alstublieft means so don't think too harshly of me. For my English speaking readers the word alstublieft is used as often as possible, at the start of a sentence and at the end as well. This is confusing to me because I consider myself well mannered and like to say please and thank you when appropriate and I never know when to slip it in. This is largely due to shop assistants who will pepper their conversation as much as possible with this word:

Shop Assistant: alstublieft meneer?
Me: agehdlklfkl bieeedbkkl
Shop Assistant: alstublieft?
Me: abdij brood
Shop Assistant: ah...alstublieft (sound of bread machine cutting)
A neatly packed loaf of bread placed in front of me.
Me: dank je wel
Shop Assistant: alstublieft!

I like the word a lot, even though I'm not entirely sure what it means.

2 comments:

  1. Funny Boss. Ok... Gotland inst swedish, Sicilia isnt Italia etc. Get over it. You belong to us no matter what u say :))

    The belgium language seem impossible. I have great respect for you for learning and seems to do it well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alstublieft:
    Als het u belieft:
    If it pleases you.

    Used for "Please" and "Here you go" most commonly.
    The shop assistant using "alstublieft" the first time is a more rare use, basically telling you can you place your order.

    ReplyDelete

 

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