I have a hate-hate relationship with spaces. My mother even called me a Spatie Nazi not too long ago. Spatie is the Dutch word for the ‘character' space. I sincerely hope I don’t have to explain the word Nazi. What I do have to explain, is the difficulty of the Dutch spatie. Why is the spatie so important?
In the Dutch language, we have an infinite amount of words. Well, actually, according to some the English language has more, but keep on reading anyway. In Dutch you can pick two words, stick them together and make a new one. In some cases you can even do this with three or more words. Where in English you keep these words mostly separate, in Dutch, using spaces can be wrong and change the entire meaning of a sentence. Adding a space can lead to funny or weird sentences. Let me clarify this with some examples.
Silent film actress
A silent film is called a stomme film in Dutch. Stomme is the adjective form of the word stom, which, used by itself, means stupid. An actress playing a part in a silent film is called a stommefilmactrice, with the three words run-together. So, in the article the poor lady is not being called a silent film actress, but a stupid film actress. That is probably not what the writer intended to say about this woman, who apparently just died.
See how important the correct use of the space is? Here are some more funny examples.
Scheidsrechterstekort
What they meant to say: Shortage of referees (scheidsrechterstekort)
What they actually said:
Referees too short
Mistbel
What they meant to say:
Fog bell (mistbel)
What they actually said:
Bell missing
Bell missing
Stemlokaal
What they meant to say:
Polling station (stemlokaal)
Polling station (stemlokaal)
What they actually said:
Vote locally
Vote locally
So, please be careful where you space!
I have a love-love relationship with spaces! The more spaces the better! They ease my mind, give me time to think over my life and about the shopping I have to do, alongside reminiscing about the universe. Besides that, they make writing in the English language easier for me. No thinking about if I should use a space or a hyphen between two words, or write two words in conjunction, bind them. Just enter a space! Everyone will understand what I mean, no doubt!
ReplyDeleteOkay, here the fun part ends. You are right! People make stupid space-mistakes (?), leading to completely different understandings.
But, more important (to me): How about the use of a hyphen (in Dutch: 'verbindingsstreepje' or 'koppelteken' or 'divisie'). Sometimes they seem even easier then using a space.... I use the hyphen a lot in the Dutch language. My way to avoid studying the (stupid) rules about using the hyphen in the Dutch language, as set by 'De Nederlandse Taalunie' (the Dutch official organ that sets the rules about writing in Dutch) and published in 'Het groene boekje' (the official standard for writing in Dutch). See http://woordenlijst.org/leidraad/6/ if you want to know all about the use of the hyphen in the Dutch language (and if you really care to know!). Unfortunately I couldn't find a web-page about this in the English language. Ha-ha, you noticed? I just used a hyphen! Not even knowing if I should, or caring about it, for that matter. So, Emily, can you persuade me to apply the rules without having to think about them?
I know, the Dutch language has a way of making you think too much about silly stuff like spaces and hyphens, instead of giving you the 'space' to think about the important things in life.
DeleteMaybe I should write an article about hyphens. Hyphens exist to make our lives easier, and, in some cases, give us the 'space' to choose whether or not we use it. O-M-G! How cool is that?