language (is not a virus)

Sometimes I encounter certain things that can only be expressed in one of the languages I know- makes me wonder what would be available to me if I knew more languages, for those moments when I am at a loss for words. Sometimes things just sound better in one language than another. For instance, the German 'ruhig', if pronounced correctly, is a beautiful word compared to the throaty Dutch 'rustig' (in my humble opinion, but I am partial to German, if not to the German grammar).

Nowadays I mostly read, speak, think, write, in English. Few people would understand me in Dutch or German (besides my family and select friends). And have you ever noticed how certain jokes are cultural references?

I would like to tell you that I have made a nice (if partial to this point) recovery, because I took 'uitzieken' seriously this time (I've had the flu once before and it took me way longer then because I was very resistant to the whole idea of taking my rest/fluids/time to properly ban the nasty thing out of my system). How to explain this Dutch idea of 'uit- zieken'?  Ich habe keine Ahnung! (Je ne sais quois).

Clearly, we have had some fun with words on our fridge (the kids may be relieved that I am not showing the more dubious ones). Tomorrow night, I hope to be able to attend my first Haggis-festivities, who knows what language jewels I will be able to collect from that traditional Scottish experience?