Before I go to any country I learn how to say "please" and "thank you" in that language out of pure, unwavering, British politeness (I think one of the best ones I've learnt has to be "Teşekkür ederim' which is “Thank you” in Turkish). Now because I knew the word for "please" in Dutch I found it slightly confusing when turning up in Amsterdam two weeks ago I said 'Danke vel' to someone at the airport and his response to this was to say 'Alstublieft', which means “please”. What was he pleading me for? Had I already given it to him and if so what the hell was it?
I wondered if perhaps it was sarcasm but then we all know that it is impossible for Europeans and sarcasm to ever co-exist without dire consequences. I was there visiting the Fella as he works in Amsterdam so I thought I’d ask him if he knew why they do that. He told me that it was just a tradition, just something they do, which I took to mean that he had absolutely no idea. If anyone can tell me a more satisfying answer than that then please do.
After that I stopped giving a shit and just went with it, but it has got me thinking about bizarre traditions and sayings that we have in this country that appear to have been pulled out of someone’s arse. As I work mostly in the theatre I’ve realised that a lot of them in this country tend to come from that area. This doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.
One example of this being “In the limelight”, which basically means being in the spotlight. Limelight was actually a method used in the theatre before electricity. By heating lime in an oxyhydrogen flame (usually reflected using a bucket) it would create a spotlight for the actor.
The other is “Break a Leg”. Most people think that you say, “break a leg” because it became bad luck (for some reason) to say “good luck”. It was actually because the lever for the curtain used to be called a “leg” so basically “break a leg” was a short way of saying “I hope your performance is so good that the audience keep cheering and so therefore they have to keep opening and closing the curtain so much for you to keep taking bows that the leg breaks.”
I can’t think of any others right now but writing this has made me come over all Lovey. I feel the need to go flap my arms around a bit and kiss everyone on the cheek.
Ta ta sweetie darlings! Until next time my dears.
