Embrace the Whore, Hoor

"Papa zegt dat hoor!" shouts my three year old at me. The emphasis very clearly on hoor, which is pronounced whore. I can laugh now when my children yell hoor at me. I've embraced the hoor. But it remains a word that I can't quite take seriously, even though it is second nature for my children to throw it around in almost every sentence. As in "ja hoor" and "nee hoor" and "ik wil het hoor".

It's actually a stop word really, used for emphasis of the sentence verb. It can also mean 'you know', or 'yeah right' or 'sure enough' or 'yes absolutely' or 'no certainly not' - you get the picture. It's extremely multifaceted, but the best thing about it is that you can use the word sarcastically. And that appeals to the Brit in me. It makes me even fonder of the Dutch.

Of course, should we ever move to England that word will be on a ban list. There'll be no addressing people with hoor in England. There has to be a line drawn somewhere. But here, here in the Netherlands, they can use hoor to their heart's content.

Tip number 5 to help you #LiveLikeaDutchie and feel at home in the land of the Dutch is to embrace the hoor in you.  Throw it out there. Go wild and put hoor at the end of all your sentences, hoor.