Dutch Word of the day | Sander – Ik ben gekke Henkie niet!
do they/you think I’m stupid or what
http://www.dwotd.nl/web-log/audio/808.%20Ik%20ben%20gekke%20Henkie%20niet.mp3
[Dutch phrase of the week]
[Ik ben gek-ke Hen-kie niet]
You can use this expression when you want to say that you are surely not stupid enough to do or believe something. “Ik ben gekke Henkie niet” (I am not crazy Henkie) is an informal expression; Henk is a common but slightly old-fashioned name. ‘Henkie’ is what I call the informal diminutive; derived from ‘Henkje’ (which one would never say). Who Henkie is in this context, no one knows 🙂
You may also hear: “Ik ben toch gekke Henkie niet” and “Ik ben toch zeker gekke Henkie niet” (surely I am not crazy Henkie, am I?).
Examples:
– “En dan verwacht hij dat het eten klaar staat als hij thuiskomt; ik ben gekke Henkie niet, hij doet het zelf maar!”
(“And then he expects dinner to be ready when he comes home; what is he thinking, he can do it himself!”)
– “Ja ik ben toch zeker gekke Henkie niet, ze ruimen zelf die troep maar op!”
(“Do they think I’m stupid or what; they can clean up the mess themselves!”)
– “Ik ga hier echt niet zitten wachten totdat meneertje eindelijk klaar is; ik ben gekke Henkie niet!”
(“Surely I’m not going to sit here and wait till his lordship is finally ready; what does he think I am, crazy??” You can use the diminutive “meneertje” when you want to be ironic.)
– “500 euro? Ik bestel ‘m wel op internet, daar is ie 100 euro goedkoper; ik ben gekke Henkie niet!”
(“500 euro? I’ll order it from the internet, it’s 100 euro cheaper there; I’m not stupid!” Note the use of ” ‘m ” and “ie”; both informal usage of “hem” and “hij”.)
– “Luister, ik ben toch zeker gekke Henkie niet, als hij per se met de auto wil dan gaat hij zelf maar in de file staan!”
(“Listen, I’m no fool, if he wants to go by car at all costs then he can be the one getting stuck in traffic!” Lit. ’then he himself can go and stand in the “file” ‘.)
Expressions:
– “Ik ben toch niet gek!”: I’m not stupid/dumb.
– “Ja, daaag!”: with prolonged short ‘a’ and some irony this says something like “no way”, “do it yourself” or “get lost”.
Related words:
– Gek: crazy, loony [adjective/adverb].
This entry was posted in Dutch phrase of the week, DWOTD 1.0, Vocabulary Guru and tagged gek, Henk, Henkie, ik ben toch zeker gekke Henkie niet by Sander. Bookmark the permalink.
One thought on “Ik ben gekke Henkie niet!”
bva on September 25, 2013 at 3:23 PM said:
Also “maffe Henkie” is used by many.
Dutch Word of the day, Learning DUTCH can be FUN, Posted on September 20, 2010
http://www.dwotd.nl/2010/09/808-ik-ben-gekke-henkie-niet.html
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