Category Language

One of my children had, during childhood, sometimes questions about language of great importance to him. If unanswered he kept repeating them, over and over again, like:” if inham (cove) exists does uitham (tongue of land) also exist, and if it doesn’t exist, why not?”

My dad had a had a large leather toolbox he called de Boormossel (Stone borer). That name was a hint of his sense of humour: the toolbox contained amongst other tools his electric drill (boor) hence Boormossel.

One morning, somewhere on holiday, my partner and I woke up. I wanted to use the little bathroom first, so I asked him if I could use the bathroom first, or if he wanted to go first. It was an…