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Comment by rob74 | Hacker News Reader

Languages are fascinating! German has an almost identical word ("gesellig" - https://dict.leo.org/german-english/gesellig), but with a different meaning that can easily be translated as "sociable" (referring to a person) most of the time. Looks like the Dutch extended it to places that encourage being sociable?

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Similarly, Germans might find the Dutch usage of "lekker" (lit. "tasty", same root of German "lecker") quite... inconsiderate: it of course applies to food, but it's way common to use it for relaxing, enjoyable activities (you can sleep and sit "lekker", and something can also "go lekker" - meaning it goes well).

At least, that's what I made out of, but I welcome a proper explanation from a native speaker!

Actually in the part of Germany next to the Dutch border, "lecker" already starts being used that way. For example, someone from Cologne might call a nice girl/woman a "lecker Mäd(s)che" (https://verliebtinkoeln-com.translate.goog/die-bedeutung-von...).

hahaha well for dutch the way Germans use Geil (horny) is quite funny, using it 5 times per conversation for things you like is quite normal for Germans.

And further with 'ape horny' as Dutch hear it: "Daß ist ja affengeil!" (That's awesome!)

What makes it even funnier is it even means horny in German. The young kids just turned it into meaning "cool". So now you have 40+ year olds saying how horny a presenation is in a corporate board room.

In English, "sexy" is routinely applied to things that are not, literally, sexy, including in many business contexts, and largely for cases in which "cool" would work just as well (especially before the meaning of the word "cool" became a bit diluted). A sexy car, a sexy logo, a sexy pivot table—potentially none of them having anything to do with sex, in fact, it just means "cool" (they may be sex-adjacent in some sense, sure, but only in the same way that "cool" things generally are—in this usage, the words are basically interchangeable).

We've got "to get a hard on for" (or, "to get wet for") used for "likes very much", in "low" English registers. A bit less politely, perhaps (I don't have a read on exactly how offensive this usage is? If it is at all?) "to be gay for", as in "Tim's gay for Zelda games" is somewhat common. May have originated with or been popularized by South Park? Not sure. Though, unlike "sexy", none of those are common in business outside incredibly-brotastic environments.

Agreed. We use sexy same way in dutch (we use a lot of english words, and sex is a dutch word so sexy also feels dutch). But first of all, it's still not something official, and not often used in professional settings. In german, Geil has become the standard way to say "cool" or even acknowledge something.

At the same time in Dutch, we use it also, exactly the same word "Geil" with exactly the same sexual meaning, but for us it has a bit of a dirty feeling.

I had conversation with Germans: "oh that means horny for us", they: "yeah for us too".

As well as I find Horny in itself a bit more invasive then sexy.

'Haben sie gespart? Ja, wochen.' is a German two-liner my wife and I use a lot (we are both Dutch). Not even in a sexual way, btw.

I'm not even sure where its from. Probably some comedian.

Tina, was kosten die kondome? Tina replies: 3,99. To which a customer says: Nein, 2,99, sie sind in Sonderausverkauf.

I can understand the bit about the "special sale" being funny in context, but the two liner completely passed me by.

My extremely limited German translates "gespart" to "saved", and "Wochen" to "weeks". I'm guessing that the two liner actually translates into something like "Have you come? / Weeks ago", but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it.

The scene is also funny because the person who mentions its on sale isn't attractive (at least, in my opinion) yet they're informed. Its a clever trick, given the goal was to prevent HIV spreading by promoting condom usage among the German people. I'm not even sure why I remember the commercial. Probably because I'm from a Dutch area where people watch a lot of German TV (not our household though).

With regard to the other quote: a man cannot save sperm for weeks, he'll have a wet dream eventually, after approx one week. So its either a straight up lie, an overstatement / white lie, someone who doesn't know such (though we don't know if the person asking knows such or sees through it), or its taken honestly and literally (he's saved up, but who knows how full the bucket is). Since we both have autism, I suppose we go for the last explanation.

Thank you for the explanation! Unsolved puzzles drive me crazy, especially the linguistic kind :)

Edit: idiom

Ahh now I get it, that's what you meant with saving. Such an insider joke. Hahaha

In Dutch, lekker also means tasty. But like you said, it also applies to many other things. Even to people (that woman is lekker, as in hot).

Languages need words with specific meaning, and also words that are broad and vague. "lekker" is in the same category as "nice" in English. The imprecision is useful sometimes.

Sweet! Is also used in English. But lecker makes me think of delectable.

Interesting, it seems quite similar to "rico" in Spanish.

And the sarcasm / hostility potential it has. Rot lekker op.

Not a native German speaker, but for me the word "gemutlich" came to mind as their equivalent, at least from what I understood from the article.

IMO Gemütlich is more closer to "cozy" rather than "Convival" which Gezellig is being used for in Dutch.

You mean convivial (the same word in French, slightly different meaning)

Yes convivial is the perfect translation for gezellig. I don't understand why articles about gezelligheid always claim that it is somehow untranslateable!

Thanks for the clarification.

Gemoedelijk is probably the Dutch word which is linguistically related to the one you mention. Interestingly, it has no megative connotation, but it won't be a word used much in randstad (the densely populated ~West of The Netherlands). So it is by definition not as popular as gezellig.

> be translated as "sociable" (referring to a person) most of the time.

Gesellig is also used for occasions, like a geselliger Abend as also listed on the Leo link. In Switzerland it's sometimes also used for places like a geselliges Restaurant. From that perspective I use the German word in pretty much the same way.

Side note: The adjective likely comes from "Gesellschaft," which can mean "society" but also "company."

> In Switzerland it's sometimes also used for places like a geselliges Restaurant.

In Bavaria and probably the rest of (Southern?) Germany as well. I doubt there's much difference between the German and Dutch words.

In German it can also mean a place is cosy and vibrant. We use it for more than just people.

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