Thursday, April 16, 2015

Nèchi -- #Curacao expressions on the #AtoZChallenge 2015

Nèchi
[NEH-chee]
Origin: the Dutch netjes [NET-yes]
Literally: Nice, neat (cute, beautiful, good-looking)

Yep. That simple. Nice.

The Handelskade in Curaçao is probably the most nèchi waterfront in all the Caribbean.
(But maybe I'm a tad biased.)


You show up to pick up your new girlfriend and she comes out in a miniskirt and high heels.
You: "Néchi!"

You spend three hours cleaning up your apartment--the works: vacuuming, window-washing, pounding out dust from rugs, polishing wood. At the end, you'd look around you and say, satisfied, "Nèchi."

A friend invites you to visit her home for the first time--a sprawling villa straight out of Architectural Digest. On the tour, you'd probably find yourself saying "Nèchi" several times.

Strawberries in at a market in Holland, looking very nèchi.

NOTE: it's more about appearances than character. So if someone is nice to you, you wouldn't say they're nèchi--not unless they're well-dressed, too.

Nèchi. Most often used for clothing, jewelry, and other items of luxury. An artwork can be nèchi. So can a car--and a sweet deal on buying one would definitely be nèchi. A well-behaved dog might be called nèchi--but I've never heard it used on a well-behaved child. A seaside restaurant with soft lighting and lounge-style furnishings would elicit a nèchi... But their food, no matter how good, would never be nèchi--unless you were referring to an especially precise presentation.

Façades in a nèchi neighborhood of Lima, Perú

(No one has guessed yesterday's bonus word yet, so I'll wait until tomorrow to post the answer.)

10 comments :

  1. Hi Guilie - the word Nechi .. totally refers to your waterfront and I'd probably say the Nechiest in the world!! Lovely descriptive word ... and beautiful photos depicting it for us .. cheers Hilary

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    1. Love the anglicized "nèchiest", haha. Glad you enjoyed it, Hilary!

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  2. Biased or not, that waterfront is absolutely nèchi! I would love to visit Curacao one day. And thanks for the distinction about when the term nèchi would not be used. I'm sure I would have tried to carry it over to those other forms of "nice", but it makes sense that it would apply to appearance.

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    1. You know, Chuck, once I posted this I realized I should've translated it as "neat" instead of "nice"... Though the "nice" usage works, it's much clearer (I think... now) if you think of it as "neat". Sorry about that. But yes, please do come to Curaçao! I think your family would love it here :)

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  3. I stopped to check out your blog. Loved the A-Z theme. And the blog itself??? Nèchi!

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    1. Wow! Masha danki, Jeffrey! (That's, as you might have guessed, "thank you very much" :D )

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  4. Very nechi Guilie thank you! The photographs are beyond nechi. I want to say nechi to everything about this post.

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  5. Love the painting. Very nechi! Great word. Great explanation.
    Michele at Angels Bark

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Michele! Glad you found me :) Off to check out your blog now!

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