So about a month ago Marco and I were reading something from Teletext. That is a sort of information retrieval system for your television, created back in the early 70s. Of course, it is really ugly/gaudy/you name it, but it was apparently great before the advent of the internet. Below is only one color scheme. (I don’t really use it much, but I didn’t grow up with it either.)
Imagine my surprise reading this article. Not so much for the content, but for the random use of a swear in the middle of an official news piece. Although shit is not such a strong swear word in the Netherlands — somewhat more akin to the Americans use of ‘damn’.
The actual news item above talks about an American mayor who stepped down after getting caught throwing a bag of poop on the driveway of a political rival (who voted against the mayor’s plan for a dog park). He initially denied the charge but unfortunately for him he was filmed doing it.
But then there is the random English phrase thrown in there. Tja equals something like ‘yeah, shrug’. Shit happens. Puns…
But it is rather mild. Just weird to see in an official news source!
Life in the Hague 