Dutch word of the year: swaffelen

[Grant Barrett]

> In their annual end-of-year craze for lists and nominations, the
> Dutch have elected the verb "swaffelen" as the word of the year. It
> netted 57 percent of the 16,000 votes on the website hosted by Van
> Dale Publishers, renowned for its authoritative dictionaries. The
> word, a loan from English, is not generally known and many wonder
> what it means. Stop reading here if you're allergic to nudity.
> "Swaffelen" is something only men can do. Apparently, it means 'to
> swing one's penis, making it bump against something, in order to
> stimulate either oneself or someone else.'

<http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/zijlijn/6096161/Slang-word-elected-Dutch-Word-of-the-Year
 >

The article claims the word is from English, which could be the case,
as there are a handful of related citations for swaffle, swaffling,
and swaffled online.

Grant Barrett
gbarrett at worldnewyork.org

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