M and I got married on a hot summer afternoon in 1995. We were living in Moscow at the time, so I hadn't yet had a chance to get to know my mother-in-law well, but I already liked her a lot.
We went down to have our hair done together at her local salon. My hair was long, and I've got a LOT of it, so it took forever-- I have this vivid memory of her perched on a countertop chatting amiably with the hairdresser. My Dutch was still minimal so they switched over to English.
And at some point the conversation turned toward the weather and how unseasonably hot it was. Suddenly my mother-in-law turned to me and asked me rather loudly:
"I think it's too hot to wear panties today, don't you?"
Her friend the hairdresser nodded solemnly and said "Oh yes, definitely too hot for panties."
My mother-in-law turned back to me: "Will you be wearing any today, Betsy? Because I don't think I can handle it."
I know the American stereotype for the Dutch is that they're free and easy with their bodies, but is it common for 50 year old women to discuss their underwear status with a roomful of people?! Or was this some sort of gauntlet I had to run before I could officially marry her son?!
I decided to play it safe-- said I hadn't decided yet and would have to think about it. And secretly wished I'd brought a hip flask along. I was already nervous about the wedding and it was getting off to a pretty bizarre start.
It was only months later that I figured out that she was using the Dutch word panty's, which means pantyhose!
4 comments:
darn....this post makes me laugh out loud, which is ok if it were not that I am at my desk in the office right now. :p. Ok busted for not being concentrated at my work right now.
and Betsy... I understood your Dutch relatives immediately because to me (native dutch speaker as well) panties are nylon things and not at all underwear. We actually use the word "panty" in Dutch to talk about pantyhoses. So if I was in the salon that day, I would have agreed with them that wearing panties on a hot day was a bad idea and I would have probably added a comment that it would give you very smelly feet :p. Good for you I wasn't there huh.
Ha ha ha ha! I had no idea. That's great. And you handled it so well.
German retailers have now started using the term "panty" for MEN'S fitted boxer short type underwear and it makes me giggle every time I see it.
Oh, tooo funny! Love it!
I hope I can tell this one correctly, and apologies ahead of time if I botch it, but...
My uncle, an American who was married to my German aunt and prided himself on his (ahem)"knowledge of the German language," was in a very fancy restaurant in Germany and, in an effort to be friendly with the waiter (and probably show off his German) meant to ask the waiter if he shot the animal himself (schissen?)... but instead, it turns out he asked the waiter whether he SHIT the animal himself (scheissen)!!!
Carol
somehow or another I stumbled upon your blog and read this recent entry... I had to stiffle a rather large giggle as I am sitting in the office and therefore supposed to be working!
I'm living in the Netherlands now 12 years and I remember VIVIDLY like it was yesterday when someone asked me "How can you wear panties on a day like this?" I thought "Whether or not I go commando is none of your business!" LOL
Thanks for the laugh!!
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