5 Dutch expressions about body parts
It has long been my ambition to leave a lasting mark on the English language. I mean, it has given me so much - I just want to give something back.
I have thought a lot about what I have to offer, and the answer seems obvious: I can translate some of our wonderful Dutch sayings and normalise their use in English. The English language has form: it has spent the past 15 centuries or so blithely appropriating words and expressions from all over the world for its own use. What’s a few more, between friends?
We have so many great sayings that it was hard to choose, so for today I have limited myself to 5 expressions that refer to body parts, with handy conversational contexts to help you use them correctly.
Walking around with your soul under your arm.
“Hey Harry, what’s up?”
“Meh, just walking around with my soul under my arm. I can’t settle to doing anything.”
Harry is at a loose end. He is a bit bored and is wandering around the house aimlessly.
4. Get a white foot
“Why is Amy making coffee? She doesn’t even drink coffee!”
“Isn’t it obvious? She’s trying to get a white foot with the boss by having coffee ready for him when he comes in.”
Amy is clearly sucking up to the boss. When you suck up to someone, you are trying to get a white foot - a little white foot, even, because everything in Dutch is ‘little’. To make it seem less threatening.
The origin of this expression, Dutch language society Onze Taal tells me, can be found in the days when it was favourable for your horse to have white feet, as it meant you did not have to pay toll for the horse. This has left me with many more questions than I had before I looked this up, but I thought you should know anyway.
2. Take someone by the nose
“Oh hi, I’m Will and this is my first day as an apprentice at the builder’s opposite. They sent me to your shop to get a skirting ladder?”
“Erm, I think they’ve taken you by the nose, my friend.”
Now this expression has a false friend in English. “To lead someone by the nose” in English means to coerce them into doing something. It implies that they will follow your lead like a dumb animal to where you want them to go. Certainly, there is something of that in the Dutch expression, and the origin is the same. The meaning in Dutch, however, is very clearly to fool someone and make them look like an idiot.
5. Have a little eye on someone
“Kate from work keeps sending me memes. On the weekend. Quite late at night sometimes. It’s… a lot.”
“Aw I think she has a little eye on you.”
Yes. It’s pretty obvious isn’t it? Kate has a crush on you. A little crush. Nothing too threatening. Don’t be too worried. A younger, hotter accounts manager will probably turn up next week and it’ll all be over before it’s even started.
3. Stick a heart under someone’s belt
“Meghan is so nervous about her speech tomorrow.”
“I’ll go chat to her and stick a heart under her belt.”
When you stick a heart under someone’s belt, you give them courage. A good friend will do this for you. They will build your confidence by reminding you of how great you are, the brave things you have done before and telling you that you’ve got this.
Incidentally, your heart can also sink into your shoes, along with your courage. That is when you need someone to stick it back under your belt. The heart is a tricksy organ that clearly needs a lot of handling.
So there you have it. Five Dutch expressions. My gift to the English language in return for all the suffering and pain it has caused me over the years.
Of course, I can’t popularise these on my own. I am going to need help to really get these expressions to catch on. So I am relying on all of you to start using these and any future sayings in your everyday life. The trick is not to flag them up as special in any way or to make it a joke. Just slip the expressions into your conversations as if they are perfectly normal and greet any lack of understanding with incredulity and scorn. Let me stick a heart under your belt: You can do it. I believe in you.