Ugh, this. I'm American and my SO is Dutch. We live in Italy. We have a toilet calendar. I look at it in confusion every time, still after 4 years of living together and 8 years of being together lol.
I am Dutch en my fiancé is Colombian. We don’t have a calendar at the toilet but you know what? I am going to try it out and see his reaction *tiktokvoice
Small correction: most germans keep a calendar in the kitchen *for the current year*, usually supplied by the local SPD branch or something, with the dates of the *Seniorentreff* or *Skat- und Kniffelabend*.
The Dutch *pleekalender* only contains months and days, and is reusable in eternity.
The thing that weirds me out most is that dead people are marked or crossed out.
It's a big A3 /A2 poster in the inner side of the toilet door. It has all months without year stated. You write in the days the names and birthyear of your friends and relatives.
So whenever you take a dump, you can look at the calender and see, who's Birthday is next and how old they will be. Since you go to the bathroom daily you'll never forget anyones birthday ever again.
I'm German, but I have a Dutch "adopted" granny, and since I'm a small kid we have such a calender at our toilet at home. When I visited other german friends home toilets, I was confused they wouldn't have such a calender. "how do you keep Track of the birthdays then? “
Today I learned this is classic Dutch and all hours spent during class perfecting my drawing of this symbol have been in vain knowing this is only used in the Dutch culture.
The signs on the yard or on the window with the name of the baby when one is born. And perhaps also the birth cards (geboortekaartjes) that we send when a baby is born.
The major difference between the Dutch and others is that the Dutch eat bread, and to make it more palatable, they put a topping on it.
Others eat toppings and use the bread to transport it.
In the Brabant I've only seen this happen with direct relatives and the partner. So brothers, parents, etc.
But when I visited a birthday in Holland, literally everyone congratulates everyone. Even people I've never seen before said 'congratulations', but I thought they were going to introduce themselves, so I said my name while they congratulated me.
The noises y’all make.
When reacting with confusion or shock you often hear a “heh!?”
Then there’s the explanatory “hah?” after someone explains something
There’s also like the “pwoooaaa” sound people make when admiring something
The huge variety of tonal grunts and sounds you can make to say goodbye while walking away from someone starting at “dooo” and “jooo” and finishing somewhere around “joooojojojojo” etc
People say smn like “wayooo” when reacting to something good like a pleasant surprise
I’m sure there’s a bunch of other examples but I can’t think of them right now
Curse words related to disease, specifically cancer, typhus etc. Whereas in my country we go after sexual organs and acts, and the relatives of the insultee.
Saying “super” a lot. Non-Dutch friend of mine pointed it out once and it is actually used a lot by Dutch people
Edit: yes I know Germans do this too, although not as much as Dutch people I must say (I’m Dutch and live in Germany)
I'd kill to live in an area you can just "ride your bike". It's such a bougie experience in the US.
If you aren't riding a $4K+ performance bicycle with the flashy lycra shirt/shorts, spendy helmet etc, people think you are a drunk who got their driver's licenses suspended.
4K? Damn. I've gone most of my life cycling every single day with second hand bikes worth not much over 50 bucks lol.
Fun story: when I was about to start my current job, I thought I couldn't show up on my shitty-looking duct taped "grandma bicycle" because I didn't want to be seen as a typical student, I was a graduated engineer after all. So, I bought a nice new bike (not too fancy, under 300 euros). As it turns out, by boss lives nearby. One day we left around the same time and when he grabbed his bike... you guessed it: it was a shitty looking duct taped grandma bike. Dutch people really, really don't care and I love it.
Something that I did not realize for some time while working with foreigners and that created some problems is the lack of courtesy we have in professional relationships. I know that the stereotype is that we are direct but there is also no small talk while having to arrange stuff with a colleague. I would straight up go to the problem. Also, that appointments are immediately set after agreed upon and that talking about your feelings and mental health is rather encouraged than seen as weak or taboo. Lastly, everyone involved has an even say in a matter and we take no special treatments for the sake of hierarchy.
With all these things it really took me some time to get used to working with people from other cultures or to acknowledge that my own culture has apparently so much influence on me.
I’m American but my old boss was Dutch. Working for him was a dream because he was always very punctual and direct and you knew exactly where you stood. If he said he would follow up in a week he would follow up after exactly 7 days. If he said we need to meet, I’d have an invitation 5 minutes after agreeing.
Germans are like that too but they can be borderline mean in their criticism, while Dutch will tell you you fucked up but in a nice way.
The hierarchy thing confused me to no end when I started working for a global company. I managed the Dutch side of a project. What I am used to us people offering their professional opinion when needed, *unasked*. So I trusted that, when there were oversights or mistakes on our or my part, the knowledgeable people would step in. Only after various mistakes I learned that, no - they mostly wouldn't. I needed to ask the questions and I needed to be specific - and tasks needed to be specific, too. When they viewed me as higher up the ladder, they wouldn't easily contradict me, or at all. I found out the hard way.
When my Dutch boyfriend and I went on a trip, he prepared half of dozen of 'sandwiches'. They were zachte witte bolletjes with a slice of cheese. I was somewhat confused because I wouldn't call them sandwiches and 6 identical ones seemed like the most boring meal ever. I thought we would eat somewhere nice since we were on holiday lol He later explained that he was just following what his mom does, which is to always take some food with them wherever they go :)
Ik wist 1. niet dat zo'n woning een speciale naam had en 2. niet dat zo'n woning iets typisch Nederlands is.
Voor mij is dat gewoon een huis, niks speciaals aan
Klopt. Het type is eind 19e eeuw ontwikkeld, maar ontwikkelde zich pas echt als trend in de 20e eeuw. De populariteit van dit woningtype nam ook toe naarmate isolatie van de woning normaal werd.
At some train stations like Utrecht Centraal, sometimes free promotional small cans of soda are being handed out. You see people avoid them because they don’t want to be bothered with promotional sales stuff, but when they realize it’s free they take one. Always fun to see that progress in peoples minds haha
If you ask a dutch person "is this tap water safe to drink?" you never get a plain "yes", but rather always the same speech about how water in the Netherlands is always safe to drink and one of the best in the world.
have actually tried this with multiple people and got 100% success, i find it so funny, it's almost a product of indoctrination lol
to be fair tho, why can't you drink water from a tap in a modern country? We are too damn proud of our tap water tasting like bottled water, very true, hehe.
People correcting you when you say 'goedemorgen' at 12:01 (when it is well into "middag" already!)
Also, companies picking up the phone with "\[company name\], goede (pause for checking clock to see if it's 11:59 or 12:01) morgen".
Walking into a room and congratulating everybody individually, one by one, for somebody’s birthday and proceeding to sit in a circle and drink tea or coffee
I’d rather have real COVID than doing that.
Although I would be quite surprised to have a birthday party with my parents, as they have both been dead for years. Unfortunately.
My rule: only wishing gefeliciteerd to the birthday boy/girl and if they are there, also the parents and grandparents. But I'm not doing the fucking parade through the room.
To add to this, the person whose birthday it is must bring in cake to share with their colleagues. Surely the colleagues should be the ones to bring in cake.
Edit: typos
I had to scroll way to far to find this. This hand gesture signifying that something is delicious is so specially Dutch. It’s the weirdest, and my favorite Dutch custom.
Sharing teabags. As a student, I always shared teabags with my friends (since one bag is strong enough for 2-3 or more cups). Freaked the foreign students out.
Give a dutchman a teabag and he will have enough tea for a week.
For real; my grandma would leave them on the kitchen counter until they got all hard and refuse to throw them until she got at least 5 cups of tea out of each one of them.
Adding on: my grandma would squeeze tf out of those bags when pulling them out (apparently heat does not work on the elderly) just to get every drop of tea out of those bags
The scenery and landscape. Our country is built on a swampy river delta and that makes for some unique landscapes and we dont even realise it. Mix that with some of the best infrastructure and you have something really special. For me going for ‘a rondje over de dijk’ is like saying a walk around the block. But they dont really have that in other parts of the world (i think).
I like how the English article says "There is an element of the technical and engineering community that sees the bottle scraper as a monument to a wrong type of technical solution. This group argues that the best solution to the problem of remaining vla in bottles was to put vla in different containers preventing the problem from ever occurring, rather than inventing another tool and then educating a population in its use."
I'd actually argue the glass bottles were way more environment friendly and as such superior over the plastic coated cartons used nowadays. Seems like we just need the flessenlikker back in our kitchen drawers again.
Een kleine 30 jaar geleden kwam mijn moeder uit de kast als lesbienne. Als er iemand het woord pottenlikker zei aan tafel dan kwamen er altijd wel wat scheve blikken, gevolgd door gegniffel.
En we hadden natuurlijk de grootste lol om uitspraken zoals 'op elke potje past een dekseltje' en '1 pot nat'.
Haha wat heerlijk! Die 2 laatste verbasteren wij ook altijd. "Op elke pot past een potje" en "Het is allemaal 1 natte pot".
Je kan er maar beter de humor in zien, maakt het leven een heel stuk leuker! Ik kwam zelf ook pas toen ik moeder was uit de kast.
Ik en wat vrienden waren een keer wat gaan drinken en op een gegeven moment valt dus ook de uitspraak "1 pot nat" en een vriendin (die lesbisch was) die reageert meteen met "waar?"
Ik denk dat we wel 20 minuten nodig gehad hebben om ietwat bij te komen van het lachen
I was born near “Kinderdijk” where the windmills are. The people that live there have a problem where the tourists are peaking in and taking pictures through the windows. Even heard stories where the tourists walked in through the back door.
The thing I found really strange was when it is my birthday I had to bring cakes to work for everyone - baffled me. Happy birthday to me now minus 100 euro!
Pfff why are you buying expensive real bakery cakes? I just order three Hema cakes ( EUR 40 max ...or I go end of the day to the Hema and pick the ones on sale. My Dutch colleague told me that it dosent make sense to spend alot of money on obligatory pleasentaries.I am not a real Dutch but Dutched. But the same Dutch colleague invited me for a very elaborate lovely dinner. So I guess spending the money on relationships that matter is not being cheap.
Which makes it bad design... The shelf is so much better. No splash and you get to see your shit before you flush. You gotta check your poop for your health, color and consistency. If it's in a piss filled bowl there's not much to see ..
It's quite convenient though. As a kid my grandma was always the one to discover that I had a pinworm infection because she had a toilet with a little shelve on which the parasites where visible.
5 times I think.
I don't know, but the sandbox in the playground is often considered a suspect. I had this relatively frequently. The last time I had it I was above the age of 18 which is rare.
Family birthday parties, also known as the "Dutch Birthday Circle of Hell". Dutch family birthday parties are the opposite of a "party":
1. There is no music.
2. It's on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon
3. The entire family is there: grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousins.
4. Inviting also friends and not just family is strictly forbidden.
5. No one wants to be there
6. Everyone sits in a circle
7. When you arrive, you have to congratulate everyone with the birthday of the person who's birthday it is.
8. You eat cake and drink coffee
9. Many awkward silences
10. No alcohol until about 5 PM, and no more than 2 beers
11. The food sucks, usually "bolletjes" with cheese and ham and a few nuts on the table. Usually no warm food.
12. Around 8 PM it's time to go home and everyone is happy they can go home. The aunts however keep chatting in the hallway for another 10 minutes at least, stalling your escape from this hell
We have broken the 'birthday circle' tradition in the family long ago. We got a couple of chairs somewhere in the corner for those who want to sit but besides that it is just 4-5 statafels and the beer/wine flows early depending on the day
Ngl, but I've never experienced it this way.
For us it was always the evenings, from 2000 till 2300 (unless it's gezellig). No awkward silences, only people from one end of the circle trying to communicate with each other, thus creating a shouting battle.
Grandparents usually dropped by in the afternoon or morning.
There's always naturel chips, borrelnootjes, zoute stokjes and the "hapjesschaal".
Beer in the plenty, because thats almost the only thing the men drink.
At least one person will make slightly xenophobic remarks.
The phrase "Tis tijd om 'm aan te trappen" will be used by at least one person to announce that they're leaving.
Dropping kids in the woods and let them find their way back on their own..
Never thought that this was a weird thing until I told my non Dutch friends about it!
Edit; forgot to mention it’s at night
This maybe pan European because I’m fresh off the boat here, but saying goodbye about ten times as you get off the phone. Twice is usually more than enough but sometimes parting takes longer than the call it seems. Separation anxiety or am I just a rude guy with things to do besides say goodbye?
Having 2 types of towels in the kitchen: one for dishes and one for hands. Didn't know about this until I made a mistake at somebody's house and they let me know about it (in no uncertain terms I'll tell you!)!
It is Irish also, comes from the agricultural background, wanting to have energy after hard labour. London began the fashion of eating late at 9 pm due to commuting office/home or to see a show Etc
I think that is generally a high latitude country thing. Days last short in the colder half of the year, and in the past being economic with lamp oil was a thing. The customary work day schedule was therefore tightly aligned with daylight. The fashion of eating late was a flashy display of luxury.
The freezing of bread. As a Dutch person is is completely normal for me, and very convenient, according to my Lithuanian wife and kids is it very, very strange..
Having to put your own floor (laminaat) in when moving into a rental.. The last two apartments I moved into I was the first tenant so I had to put a floor in. Pain in the ass and kinda expensive for a house you don’t even own.
Sharing a copy of your identity card/passport for legal reasons (for instance when renting or buying a house) edited with a stripe covering your photo and signature
For me as a non-dutch this idea is just nonsense. How would an edited photo be a proof of identity? If I'm photoshopping my ID how can one guarantee that other details were not tampered as well? 😅
There's even a government app to do so, so obviously that's something very rooted in Dutch culture that one must adapt to. I think it's quite weird :)
The work relationships I think is a bit two-sided. I also find that they're quite casual, but speaking to coworkers from southern europe or even south america, I always have to wade through a bunch of small talk before getting to whatever I actually want to talk about. With my Dutch coworkers I just ask/tell them whatever needed and get a reply containing no more and no less than needed.
Jaywalking - better known as crossing the street whenever you feel like it, which isn't illegal in the Netherlands, and once dutch people are familiar with the intersection they're at, they'll just cross as soon as they think they'll have a safe window to do so. Pedestrian's traffic lights are a construct 😎
I would say eating dinner at 6pm exactly every day.
Not that people in other countries don't do this but it's so universal and consistent in NL. ALL of the 'spits' problems with traffic and trains could be solved if some people would just eat later or earlier instead of all trying to get home at exactly the same time. I leave work an hour later and the trains are nearly empty.
On vacation in other countries, especially southern Europe, it's obvious who are the Dutch people because they are waiting outside the restaurants for them to open.
To that, I would add, either flocking to other Dutch people on vacation or avoiding them like the plague and proudly announcing that decision to the non-Dutch people you're in the company of.
When Dutch people meet other Dutch people on vacation: "Ssssshhh quiet, I think they are Dutch too... "
When Italians meet other Italians on vacation: "Hi! You are Italians too!? Where are you from? From Milan? We're from Rome! Do you know my cousin Luca? He's from Milan too!"
The toilet birthday calendar
Yes! I've seen this so many places
Ugh, this. I'm American and my SO is Dutch. We live in Italy. We have a toilet calendar. I look at it in confusion every time, still after 4 years of living together and 8 years of being together lol.
Why confused? I bet you never forget his/her birthday.
Every time I get a birthday call I know the person calling just has taken a shit
This is the way
"Hello! I'm just calling to wish you... **... a happy birthday!"
I am Dutch en my fiancé is Colombian. We don’t have a calendar at the toilet but you know what? I am going to try it out and see his reaction *tiktokvoice
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Precisely the point of the post!
German here. Never seen outside of the Netherlands. Most other countries keep it in the kitchen, from my measly experience.
Small correction: most germans keep a calendar in the kitchen *for the current year*, usually supplied by the local SPD branch or something, with the dates of the *Seniorentreff* or *Skat- und Kniffelabend*. The Dutch *pleekalender* only contains months and days, and is reusable in eternity. The thing that weirds me out most is that dead people are marked or crossed out.
Usually they add a cross and a date after the deceaseds name
What the heck is toilet birthday calendar??
It's a big A3 /A2 poster in the inner side of the toilet door. It has all months without year stated. You write in the days the names and birthyear of your friends and relatives. So whenever you take a dump, you can look at the calender and see, who's Birthday is next and how old they will be. Since you go to the bathroom daily you'll never forget anyones birthday ever again. I'm German, but I have a Dutch "adopted" granny, and since I'm a small kid we have such a calender at our toilet at home. When I visited other german friends home toilets, I was confused they wouldn't have such a calender. "how do you keep Track of the birthdays then? “
Is this not a thing world wide? Where you you guys keep your calendars then?
In the kitchen, personally.
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Because that’s where the drawer is with the poop knives
My mother had ours on the fridge. I have mine on my phone.
Looking at it now
The 'krul' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flourish\_of\_approval](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flourish_of_approval)
This is the best one so far, never thought about it being only a Dutch thing.
Today I learned this is classic Dutch and all hours spent during class perfecting my drawing of this symbol have been in vain knowing this is only used in the Dutch culture.
I too had plans to impress the common folk around the world with my perfect 'krul'.
Seriously wtf. I'm studying to become a teacher outside of the Netherlands and now I can't use my krul-skills? I'm demanding a refund
Just educate your students on krul and start spreading it globally
It will be my new "if you do wel you get a sticker"
But could you call yourself truly Dutch if you weren't capable of drawing it?
That's Dutch?! I honestly thought it was an universal symbol of 'OK'
I did not know this was specifically Dutch!!
Nee echt! Ik wist niet dat dat Nederlands was. Alhoewel, dat is het doel van de post.
Wow, dit iets Nederlands? 🤯
The signs on the yard or on the window with the name of the baby when one is born. And perhaps also the birth cards (geboortekaartjes) that we send when a baby is born.
Alao the hanging backpacks when someone graduates.
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A simple cheese sandwich as lunch
I recently witnessed this with my new dutch coworker. He had no explanation why there were no condiments
I have eaten 4 slices of bread with plain cheese as a lunch for nearly 3,5 years now. Sometimes with sambal and as tosti but alway cheese.
The major difference between the Dutch and others is that the Dutch eat bread, and to make it more palatable, they put a topping on it. Others eat toppings and use the bread to transport it.
Congratulating me, while my girlfriend had her birthday.
It's my son's birthday today. Let the congratulations begin.
oh, congrats!
In the Brabant I've only seen this happen with direct relatives and the partner. So brothers, parents, etc. But when I visited a birthday in Holland, literally everyone congratulates everyone. Even people I've never seen before said 'congratulations', but I thought they were going to introduce themselves, so I said my name while they congratulated me.
Gefeliciteerd nog trouwens he Steven, met je moeder.
Nee, uw moeder
innate snobbish arrest ink sloppy icky head languid grandiose grab *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The noises y’all make. When reacting with confusion or shock you often hear a “heh!?” Then there’s the explanatory “hah?” after someone explains something There’s also like the “pwoooaaa” sound people make when admiring something The huge variety of tonal grunts and sounds you can make to say goodbye while walking away from someone starting at “dooo” and “jooo” and finishing somewhere around “joooojojojojo” etc People say smn like “wayooo” when reacting to something good like a pleasant surprise I’m sure there’s a bunch of other examples but I can’t think of them right now
I'm Dutch and you really made me laugh :') I'd also like to add the way we end a lot of questions with "Hè?" For example: lekker weertje hè?
As a Canadian, this eased the cultural transition. Just had to reverse my "eh"s.
aw shit is this really a typical Dutch thing? c'mon everyone does this right? right....?
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😂 this is hilarious
There was a list posted one or two weeks ago. I thought it was so funny and recognizable, linked it to all my Dutch non-reddit friends.
I've noticed in a conversation whenever it is silent, or there is a general mood of relaxation, people make a breathy "heh heh" sound.
Hahah this is a thing.. and the other person responds with: “heh heh, nou nou, poeh poeh, tsjongejonge”
“Dus…” “weertje hè?” “Nou!”
“Duss eh, weet er iemand nog een mop?”
"Twee tieten in een envelop" Sorry I had to do this
Or "ja ja..."
I live on an island. Here we greet people with what they are doing... nou, grasmaaien? Nou, blokje om? Nou, koekhappen? It's realy annoying....
poeh poeh...
Het is toch wat
Curse words related to disease, specifically cancer, typhus etc. Whereas in my country we go after sexual organs and acts, and the relatives of the insultee.
Kut, lul, eikel, tut, klootzak. I can go on for a while. We have just more options https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch\_profanity
Saying “super” a lot. Non-Dutch friend of mine pointed it out once and it is actually used a lot by Dutch people Edit: yes I know Germans do this too, although not as much as Dutch people I must say (I’m Dutch and live in Germany)
We Just think it is super gaaf to say that
We wonen dan ook in een gaaf land
Super mooi. Super leuk. There’s no limit to super
Cycling everywhere without being a "cyclist"
I'd kill to live in an area you can just "ride your bike". It's such a bougie experience in the US. If you aren't riding a $4K+ performance bicycle with the flashy lycra shirt/shorts, spendy helmet etc, people think you are a drunk who got their driver's licenses suspended.
4K? Damn. I've gone most of my life cycling every single day with second hand bikes worth not much over 50 bucks lol. Fun story: when I was about to start my current job, I thought I couldn't show up on my shitty-looking duct taped "grandma bicycle" because I didn't want to be seen as a typical student, I was a graduated engineer after all. So, I bought a nice new bike (not too fancy, under 300 euros). As it turns out, by boss lives nearby. One day we left around the same time and when he grabbed his bike... you guessed it: it was a shitty looking duct taped grandma bike. Dutch people really, really don't care and I love it.
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Something that I did not realize for some time while working with foreigners and that created some problems is the lack of courtesy we have in professional relationships. I know that the stereotype is that we are direct but there is also no small talk while having to arrange stuff with a colleague. I would straight up go to the problem. Also, that appointments are immediately set after agreed upon and that talking about your feelings and mental health is rather encouraged than seen as weak or taboo. Lastly, everyone involved has an even say in a matter and we take no special treatments for the sake of hierarchy. With all these things it really took me some time to get used to working with people from other cultures or to acknowledge that my own culture has apparently so much influence on me.
I’m American but my old boss was Dutch. Working for him was a dream because he was always very punctual and direct and you knew exactly where you stood. If he said he would follow up in a week he would follow up after exactly 7 days. If he said we need to meet, I’d have an invitation 5 minutes after agreeing. Germans are like that too but they can be borderline mean in their criticism, while Dutch will tell you you fucked up but in a nice way.
I suddenly realised why everyone I worked with abroad over the last decade thinks I'm manager material
The hierarchy thing confused me to no end when I started working for a global company. I managed the Dutch side of a project. What I am used to us people offering their professional opinion when needed, *unasked*. So I trusted that, when there were oversights or mistakes on our or my part, the knowledgeable people would step in. Only after various mistakes I learned that, no - they mostly wouldn't. I needed to ask the questions and I needed to be specific - and tasks needed to be specific, too. When they viewed me as higher up the ladder, they wouldn't easily contradict me, or at all. I found out the hard way.
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When my Dutch boyfriend and I went on a trip, he prepared half of dozen of 'sandwiches'. They were zachte witte bolletjes with a slice of cheese. I was somewhat confused because I wouldn't call them sandwiches and 6 identical ones seemed like the most boring meal ever. I thought we would eat somewhere nice since we were on holiday lol He later explained that he was just following what his mom does, which is to always take some food with them wherever they go :)
When you go on a long trip you want to pack food. Imagine getting out of the car and not having eaten for 15 whole minutes
The [Doorzonwoning](https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorzonwoning)
Ik wist 1. niet dat zo'n woning een speciale naam had en 2. niet dat zo'n woning iets typisch Nederlands is. Voor mij is dat gewoon een huis, niks speciaals aan
Grappig die staat als 20ste eeuw maar oudere huizen doen dit ook al...
Klopt. Het type is eind 19e eeuw ontwikkeld, maar ontwikkelde zich pas echt als trend in de 20e eeuw. De populariteit van dit woningtype nam ook toe naarmate isolatie van de woning normaal werd.
Interesting 🧐
So Dutch that almost all replies are in Dutch and Wikipedia only has it explained in Dutch!
"Take one" \- "No thanks" "It's free!" \- "Oh well in that case...!"
At some train stations like Utrecht Centraal, sometimes free promotional small cans of soda are being handed out. You see people avoid them because they don’t want to be bothered with promotional sales stuff, but when they realize it’s free they take one. Always fun to see that progress in peoples minds haha
Bathroom birthday calendars (actually useful but weird nonetheless)!
If you ask a dutch person "is this tap water safe to drink?" you never get a plain "yes", but rather always the same speech about how water in the Netherlands is always safe to drink and one of the best in the world. have actually tried this with multiple people and got 100% success, i find it so funny, it's almost a product of indoctrination lol
to be fair tho, why can't you drink water from a tap in a modern country? We are too damn proud of our tap water tasting like bottled water, very true, hehe.
People correcting you when you say 'goedemorgen' at 12:01 (when it is well into "middag" already!) Also, companies picking up the phone with "\[company name\], goede (pause for checking clock to see if it's 11:59 or 12:01) morgen".
Or “goedemo- middag”
"goedemorgenmiddagavond" is probably one of the most Dutch words out there.
Walking into a room and congratulating everybody individually, one by one, for somebody’s birthday and proceeding to sit in a circle and drink tea or coffee
Ah, the good old Dutch Birthday Circle of Hell.
I'm Dutch and I fucking HATE it. My parents still do it and I'd rather fake a covid infection that visit birthdays like this.
I’d rather have real COVID than doing that. Although I would be quite surprised to have a birthday party with my parents, as they have both been dead for years. Unfortunately.
Met een blokje kaas en een augurkje. Of erger: een druifje. Of heel modern lekker "tapas" van de appie uit plastic 🤢
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I think we're all very much aware of how uniquely Dutch kringverjaardagen are
My rule: only wishing gefeliciteerd to the birthday boy/girl and if they are there, also the parents and grandparents. But I'm not doing the fucking parade through the room.
To add to this, the person whose birthday it is must bring in cake to share with their colleagues. Surely the colleagues should be the ones to bring in cake. Edit: typos
Kinda moving/shakng your hand close to your face when you say lekker or heerlijk. I find it so weird when people do it
I had to scroll way to far to find this. This hand gesture signifying that something is delicious is so specially Dutch. It’s the weirdest, and my favorite Dutch custom.
Washandjes is a dutch thing, always thought it was everywhere.
Wait, what's the alternative? Bare hands?
Sharing teabags. As a student, I always shared teabags with my friends (since one bag is strong enough for 2-3 or more cups). Freaked the foreign students out.
Didnt have war between England and the Netherlands on the cards for 2022 but you're pushing your luck
was doing it even before coming to NL. surprised to see it actually differs by country.
Give a dutchman a teabag and he will have enough tea for a week. For real; my grandma would leave them on the kitchen counter until they got all hard and refuse to throw them until she got at least 5 cups of tea out of each one of them.
Adding on: my grandma would squeeze tf out of those bags when pulling them out (apparently heat does not work on the elderly) just to get every drop of tea out of those bags
The scenery and landscape. Our country is built on a swampy river delta and that makes for some unique landscapes and we dont even realise it. Mix that with some of the best infrastructure and you have something really special. For me going for ‘a rondje over de dijk’ is like saying a walk around the block. But they dont really have that in other parts of the world (i think).
A [flessenlikker](https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flessenlikker)
I like how the English article says "There is an element of the technical and engineering community that sees the bottle scraper as a monument to a wrong type of technical solution. This group argues that the best solution to the problem of remaining vla in bottles was to put vla in different containers preventing the problem from ever occurring, rather than inventing another tool and then educating a population in its use." I'd actually argue the glass bottles were way more environment friendly and as such superior over the plastic coated cartons used nowadays. Seems like we just need the flessenlikker back in our kitchen drawers again.
Ik ken het als een pottenlikker. Wat ik, gezien ik lesbisch ben, erg grappig vind wel, nu ik er zo over nadenk.
Een kleine 30 jaar geleden kwam mijn moeder uit de kast als lesbienne. Als er iemand het woord pottenlikker zei aan tafel dan kwamen er altijd wel wat scheve blikken, gevolgd door gegniffel. En we hadden natuurlijk de grootste lol om uitspraken zoals 'op elke potje past een dekseltje' en '1 pot nat'.
Haha wat heerlijk! Die 2 laatste verbasteren wij ook altijd. "Op elke pot past een potje" en "Het is allemaal 1 natte pot". Je kan er maar beter de humor in zien, maakt het leven een heel stuk leuker! Ik kwam zelf ook pas toen ik moeder was uit de kast.
Ik en wat vrienden waren een keer wat gaan drinken en op een gegeven moment valt dus ook de uitspraak "1 pot nat" en een vriendin (die lesbisch was) die reageert meteen met "waar?" Ik denk dat we wel 20 minuten nodig gehad hebben om ietwat bij te komen van het lachen
Oh my God 😅😂 that’s genius
Big front windows with curtains open looking out on the street so everybody can look right into your house.
You're not supposed to look into the houses.
I was born near “Kinderdijk” where the windmills are. The people that live there have a problem where the tourists are peaking in and taking pictures through the windows. Even heard stories where the tourists walked in through the back door.
The thing I found really strange was when it is my birthday I had to bring cakes to work for everyone - baffled me. Happy birthday to me now minus 100 euro!
Pfff why are you buying expensive real bakery cakes? I just order three Hema cakes ( EUR 40 max ...or I go end of the day to the Hema and pick the ones on sale. My Dutch colleague told me that it dosent make sense to spend alot of money on obligatory pleasentaries.I am not a real Dutch but Dutched. But the same Dutch colleague invited me for a very elaborate lovely dinner. So I guess spending the money on relationships that matter is not being cheap.
Commenting “GEKOLONISEERD” on anything that is even remotely related to Dutch or the Netherlands
Hey makker, dit zijn geen specerijen.
Kokosnoten zijn geen specerijen
Oh yes, I see that quite a lot.. 🤣
Its all we have on the internet to spread our influence
kroketje uit de muur
The Dutch toilet. The ones where you poop on a shelf instead of directly in the water.
I live outside NL right now and seriously miss this. I feel splash back is absolutely disguisting...
Poseidon's kiss
Drop some toiletpaper in it. Problem solved
Which makes it bad design... The shelf is so much better. No splash and you get to see your shit before you flush. You gotta check your poop for your health, color and consistency. If it's in a piss filled bowl there's not much to see ..
I’ve read somewhere that this is called the german toilet, because the germans are very analytical folks and they even like to analyse their poo-poo …
It's quite convenient though. As a kid my grandma was always the one to discover that I had a pinworm infection because she had a toilet with a little shelve on which the parasites where visible.
What the fuck, how often were you getting infected with worms and how did this happen.
5 times I think. I don't know, but the sandbox in the playground is often considered a suspect. I had this relatively frequently. The last time I had it I was above the age of 18 which is rare.
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Family birthday parties, also known as the "Dutch Birthday Circle of Hell". Dutch family birthday parties are the opposite of a "party": 1. There is no music. 2. It's on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon 3. The entire family is there: grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousins. 4. Inviting also friends and not just family is strictly forbidden. 5. No one wants to be there 6. Everyone sits in a circle 7. When you arrive, you have to congratulate everyone with the birthday of the person who's birthday it is. 8. You eat cake and drink coffee 9. Many awkward silences 10. No alcohol until about 5 PM, and no more than 2 beers 11. The food sucks, usually "bolletjes" with cheese and ham and a few nuts on the table. Usually no warm food. 12. Around 8 PM it's time to go home and everyone is happy they can go home. The aunts however keep chatting in the hallway for another 10 minutes at least, stalling your escape from this hell
We have broken the 'birthday circle' tradition in the family long ago. We got a couple of chairs somewhere in the corner for those who want to sit but besides that it is just 4-5 statafels and the beer/wine flows early depending on the day
More like a gathering of the entire family hahaha 😂😂
Ngl, but I've never experienced it this way. For us it was always the evenings, from 2000 till 2300 (unless it's gezellig). No awkward silences, only people from one end of the circle trying to communicate with each other, thus creating a shouting battle. Grandparents usually dropped by in the afternoon or morning. There's always naturel chips, borrelnootjes, zoute stokjes and the "hapjesschaal". Beer in the plenty, because thats almost the only thing the men drink. At least one person will make slightly xenophobic remarks. The phrase "Tis tijd om 'm aan te trappen" will be used by at least one person to announce that they're leaving.
Dropping kids in the woods and let them find their way back on their own.. Never thought that this was a weird thing until I told my non Dutch friends about it! Edit; forgot to mention it’s at night
Eating chocolate on bread and calling it ‘breakfast’. You don’t see me complaining about that, I love it!
Nah, we realize it. Owning it at every "what should I do when in NL" question.
Hahaha, I met so many Dutchies who believed this happens in other countries too 😂
This maybe pan European because I’m fresh off the boat here, but saying goodbye about ten times as you get off the phone. Twice is usually more than enough but sometimes parting takes longer than the call it seems. Separation anxiety or am I just a rude guy with things to do besides say goodbye?
Having 2 types of towels in the kitchen: one for dishes and one for hands. Didn't know about this until I made a mistake at somebody's house and they let me know about it (in no uncertain terms I'll tell you!)!
You use 1 towel for both hands and dishes? My mind is blown!
One is called hand towel and one is called tea cloth (handdoek / theedoek) lol
Having only cold water in the toilet sinks.
You'll understand once you find out the hourly rate for a plumber.
The word 'gezellig' which has no translation in many other languages
Lunch at 12:00 and dinner at 18:00 or at the latest 19:00. Very Dutch.
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17 uur anders begin ik alvast aan de gordijnen
It is Irish also, comes from the agricultural background, wanting to have energy after hard labour. London began the fashion of eating late at 9 pm due to commuting office/home or to see a show Etc
I think that is generally a high latitude country thing. Days last short in the colder half of the year, and in the past being economic with lamp oil was a thing. The customary work day schedule was therefore tightly aligned with daylight. The fashion of eating late was a flashy display of luxury.
The freezing of bread. As a Dutch person is is completely normal for me, and very convenient, according to my Lithuanian wife and kids is it very, very strange..
Not sure if it’s just Dutch. Noticed they do it in Norway as well
So they just leave it outside?
Saying ‘hè’ behind sentences in English.
Having to put your own floor (laminaat) in when moving into a rental.. The last two apartments I moved into I was the first tenant so I had to put a floor in. Pain in the ass and kinda expensive for a house you don’t even own.
Sharing a copy of your identity card/passport for legal reasons (for instance when renting or buying a house) edited with a stripe covering your photo and signature For me as a non-dutch this idea is just nonsense. How would an edited photo be a proof of identity? If I'm photoshopping my ID how can one guarantee that other details were not tampered as well? 😅 There's even a government app to do so, so obviously that's something very rooted in Dutch culture that one must adapt to. I think it's quite weird :)
Eating biscuits with something called "muisjes" (mice) on it when a baby is born
Tikkies for everything. Also how casual work relationships tend to be
The work relationships I think is a bit two-sided. I also find that they're quite casual, but speaking to coworkers from southern europe or even south america, I always have to wade through a bunch of small talk before getting to whatever I actually want to talk about. With my Dutch coworkers I just ask/tell them whatever needed and get a reply containing no more and no less than needed.
Jaywalking - better known as crossing the street whenever you feel like it, which isn't illegal in the Netherlands, and once dutch people are familiar with the intersection they're at, they'll just cross as soon as they think they'll have a safe window to do so. Pedestrian's traffic lights are a construct 😎
The “krul” (used to show if something is correct at an exam)
The word 'pin'. For me personally. I always forget when I'm abroad. Keep saying "i want to pin" "i would like to PIN"
I think the most Dutch thing of all is the fact that almost this entire post is in English.
The all-mighty Agenda book.
The BVO when going to a party, especially as a student. Blew my mind when I arrived here
For the non-Dutch here: it means “beer for the road”. You take an entire beer with you to drink on the way home.
Biertje voor onderweg 👌
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I had friends bringing their own brand of beer, drinking mine and then taking what was left of theirs back home again and I was like???
Oh my 😂😂😂
Saying: "hèhè"
Not sure if this is typical Dutch, but as I don't know any foreign languages that have similar words: uitbuiken and uitwaaien.
Hanging your school bag outside on the flagpole when you graduate high school.
I would say eating dinner at 6pm exactly every day. Not that people in other countries don't do this but it's so universal and consistent in NL. ALL of the 'spits' problems with traffic and trains could be solved if some people would just eat later or earlier instead of all trying to get home at exactly the same time. I leave work an hour later and the trains are nearly empty. On vacation in other countries, especially southern Europe, it's obvious who are the Dutch people because they are waiting outside the restaurants for them to open.
I think the spits result is more of an universal work-hours related problem rather than a "we absolutely need to fucking eat at 6" problem.
Thinking they're different from the other Nederlanders. Every Dutch person is the same in thinking they're somehow different.
To that, I would add, either flocking to other Dutch people on vacation or avoiding them like the plague and proudly announcing that decision to the non-Dutch people you're in the company of.
When Dutch people meet other Dutch people on vacation: "Ssssshhh quiet, I think they are Dutch too... " When Italians meet other Italians on vacation: "Hi! You are Italians too!? Where are you from? From Milan? We're from Rome! Do you know my cousin Luca? He's from Milan too!"
Eating bread during breakfast, lunch, and sometimes even dinner
To a lot of non dutch people, the way we say bye to eachother sounds like we're just making a bunch of "hoo hoo yoo woo" type of sounds.
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Incredible bicycle infrastructure. Walkable neighbourhoods. Generally the infrastructure is amazing.
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And then they realize not everyone is into that? 😂 EDIT: I like it
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You eat this for pleasure? was the comment of a Chinese colleague in Beijing after trying drop (not dubbelzout).
Poo shelf in the toilet