Status Updates From Buurtaal: Praktische gids v...

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I dreamt last night about the future tense imagining people having to go to post officer to buy more more of it and then if the presence of the future tense was an argument for the existence of God. Strange dream.

The question of the correct pronouns to use when refering to a table (for instance) is complex. Varying not just geographically but also between spoken and written speech.

In Belgium een zwaluw maakt de lente niet, while in the Netherlands een zwaluw maakt nog geen zomer.
This is logical as Belgium is further south and the swallows get their sooner 😛

Discussing False Friends ( words that seem the same in 2 languages but have different meanings) she looks at words for parts of the day with the same word having distinctly different meanings in Belgium and the Netherlands. This is followed by a map showing that in the southern Netherlands both sets of concepts are used - beware of turning up at the wrong time!

Een Belgisch accent staat voor veel Nederlanders immers gelijk aan een zuidelijk en dus regionaal accent: heel leuk en sympathiek, maar onbewust nemen ze de spreker minder serious.

- a familiar story recognisable I guess in most language communities