Going for broke

As the night is still young I think I can venture on to one more post. Especially as it will be a short one.
First of all, may I suggest that if you do not read and/or understand Dutch you skip this post as you will never read the book anyway. If you plan to get it and read it.. you stupid idiot!! But, fair enough, perhaps you are some kind of glutton for punishment and want to select this one as the first Dutch book you will ever read. But really...... Please don't, this is Dutch for Advanced learners! Go and read some Ot and Sien stories first, maybe some Pinkeltje for seconds and then move on to this one.

Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding - Paulien Cornelissen
This is not really a story but more a collection about all kinds of turns of phrase and conversation fillers that occur in Dutch. There are some links to English in there but Cornelissen does give us a very nice analysis of why and where the word 'fucking' can be added into sentences. A must read for the frequent user of the word in English or Dutch.
I have to say it is a very funny book and it had me chuckling out loud at times. Especially as I could just imagine the types of people who would be saying certain things. It not only tells you about what they say but also how they would say it and in doing that gives you a bit more of an idea of the Dutch themselves as well. Sometimes you realise that an English person would just not say things the way a Dutch person does. It deals with everything from the use of parentheses (apparently a pub in Amsterdam was hiring "waitresses"... really not sure I would want that job) to childrens' names and the language of the TomTom (satnav). Cornelissen picks up on many small things and manages to make a big deal out of them in a very funny way. Many things she talks about made me go "Oh, god yes, I have heard someone say that". 
I feel that having been away from Holland myself now for almost 10 years (I do go over there regularly but feel out of touch when I do at times) I do not always feel up to date and hip when it comes to language use so it was fun to read what the Dutch have been up to in the time I have not been there. From the fact that the book has had 18 reprints since 2009 once can certainly see that many Dutch people seem to like it too.
Thank you very much to my friend for getting it for me all those years ago!

Title: Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
Author: Paulien Cornelissen
212 pages
Uitgeverij Contact
ISBN #978-90-254-3049-8

Books to be read: 154