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.)