fri 06 nov 2009 22:26:20 — witte de withstraat
"shovel"
in today's parool it says
"Een kleine shovel is vrijdagmiddag bij de Oude Turfmarkt in het centrum van Amsterdam bovenop een aangemeerde rondvaartboot terechtgekomen. De shovel viel bij het lossen van een vrachtwagen."
i think this is another case of an english loanword acquiring a more specific meaning in dutch than it has in the original language, leading to a "false friend". presumably with "shovel" they mean something like a machine, not just a schepje. same thing with words like "game" (meaning computer game, not spel).
in other news: yesterday at5 says the gemeente ambtenaar from welzijn (?) has told a certain restaurateur his lanterns are too big for his facade, and must be replaced -- even though they've been hanging there for 37 years, and are no bigger than the other lanterns on the same street.
when is somebody gonna bring suit against the gemeente for this unequal and just plain crazy treatment of horecaondernemers? like how they were persecuting de nachtwacht for their signs that have been there forever, while letting the asshole across the square get away with mounting a giant fucking jumbotron outside the escape club? why aren't they required to be even-handed about these things? i think it's because they just get away with whatever they can get away with. there must be a reason why nobody from the gemeente wanted to respond on camera to that story.