spuit elf
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Dutch
Alternative forms
Etymology
Uncertain. Literally, “hose eleven”; referring to the eleventh fire company. Querido glosses it as “mud hose”, compare spuit elf geeft ook modder, but why “eleven” is linked to “mud” is unclear. Hypotheses include:
- from the concept of 11 as a crazy or incomplete number, not quite a dozen (cf. gekkengetal);
- from an old firefighting figure of speech: by the time the eleventh fire hose arrives at the scene of a fire, the canal from which the fire brigade was drawing water may have only mud remaining.
Sometimes pronounced as if it is interpreted as a compound of spuit (“hose; syringe”) or spuiten (“to spray, to spund; to inject”) and elf (“eleven; elf, fae”).
Pronunciation
Noun
spuit elf f (plural spuit elven)
- (Netherlands) a nobody who is late in commenting or catching up, often one whose comment is ignorant or irrelevant
- 1925, Israël Querido, "Mooie Karel", in De Jordaan. Amsterdamsch epos, part 4, Scheltens & Giltay (6th ed., first ed. 1924), page 435.
- Karel wrong zich overeind en schreeuwde:
- Louw kans, spuit Elf!.. Ik ferdom 't!... Is da kwant of nie?...- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1925, Israël Querido, "Mooie Karel", in De Jordaan. Amsterdamsch epos, part 4, Scheltens & Giltay (6th ed., first ed. 1924), page 435.
Related terms
Further reading
- “Spuit elf geeft (ook nog) modder”, in taaladvies.net (in Dutch), 2004
- “Spuit elf geeft ook modder”, in Onze Taal (in Dutch), 2016, archived from the original on 26 March 2022