Morbid humour
Trying to prove my Dutch was improving, I sat browsing a paper with a Dutch friend of mine and came across a headline announcing Twee meisjes verdronken, which I imagined to be 'two girls drunk' and jumped to the conclusion that this meant they were worse for wear from drinking. I nudged my friend and laughed about 'kids today'. He looked stunned until he realised my mistake. The word wasn't gedronken (past tense of 'to drink') but verdronken, which means drowned. I felt terrible.
Sent by: D.I.
Comments
Actually, 'two girls drunk', meaning two girls who had too much to drink would be twee meisjes dronken in Dutch. Twee meisjes gedronken would also translate as 'two girls drunk', but in this case meaning that the two girls had been drunk by someone, which would have been news indeed!
Gedronken is actually the past participle of drinken, to drink. Without the verb hebben, to have, it would indeed mean they were drunk by someone or something, though most people would interpret it correctly, since that is quite absurd.
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