Sunday 17 July 2011

Dutch courage

My old friend Jan (pronounced Yarn), his wife and 2 kids came up for the weekend and we had a great laugh.  We basically ate and drank and chatted. We ended Saturday with the film 'Paul' as recommended by his oldest son Anthony. It's a really funny film, with loads of 'in jokes' based on science fiction classic movies.

Anthony is almost 16 and is extremely clever (not sure who he takes after!). I have no doubt he will go to University and be very successful. Pete and I have already suggested that he should be aiming for a place at Cambridge... mainly so that we can get on a train and be his guests are the student bar where beer is £1 a pint!

Jan's wife is Dutch and Jan has picked up a lot, having lived in Assen for a number of years until recently. The boys are bilingual of course. So this weekend I learned how to pronounce 'Beach' and 'Turd' in Dutch. It wasn't planned that way, but my pronunciation of the word 'Strand' sounded more like 'Stront'. At least it gave the Dutch speakers in the room a laugh. I am not sure how I will work either word into conversation though.  Perhaps it would go something like...


Er is een stront op het strand.

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