Dutch words for body part (was: Kissing etc.)

> > When you give someone a peck on the cheek out of
> > gratitude, you would use
> > "zoenen".
>
> LOL... sorry, but somehow to me, these look like
> "ga-zun-tite" (sorry, I have no clue how to spell the
> German word), we use in the States to say "bless you"
> after someone sneezes.
Well, we have the same word in Dutch: "gezondheid", which basically means
"health". Just stating that word means that you wish someone good health.

> > "tongen" or "tongzoenen"
> > The basic words for French kissing
>
> Hmm, from a foreigner's perspective, that might make
> sense - "TONGen" looks like "tongue"
Well, "tong" is dutch for "tongue", so it is quite certainly derived from
it.

> > "bekken"
>
> Sort of like to BECKON someone - that's what it makes me think of.
Lol... it comes from "bek" meaning 'mouth'. However, we have a few words for
'mouth' in Dutch, namely  "mond" (which is what people normally have) and
"bek" or "muil" (which is what animals eat with). However, the latter are
also used in slightly vulgar speech to refer to people, as in the expression
"Hou je muil!"or "Hou je bek!" (meaning 'Shut up!'). A much less vulgar form
(used with children etc.) would be "Hou je snavel!", which means literally
'Keep your beak!'.

It is in general quite interesting to see that the Dutch language has
different forms for many body parts, depending on whether they are used for
people or animals. I already noted "mond" as opposed to "bek" or "muil" for
the word 'mouth', but there is also "hoofd" as opposed to "kop" for the word
'head' and "been" as opposed to "poot" for the word 'leg'. In all these
instances, the animal forms are used with people in more vulgar speech. A
few examples:

"Die man heeft een hoed op zijn hoofd"
(lit.)  That means has a hat on his head.
(trans.) That man is wearing a hat.

as opposed to:

"Zijn kop staat mij niet aan!"
(lit.) His head doesn't appeal to me.
(trans.) I don't like the way he looks.

And another example:

"Dat meisje heeft mooie, lange benen"
(lit.) That girl has nice, long legs
(trans.) That girl has nice, long legs

as opposed to:

"Haal je poten van tafel!"
(lit.) Get your feet off the table!
(trans.) Get your feet off the table!

Maarten

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