285. Flut

of bad quality, of low significance, rubbishy, not cool [adjective] [‘flut‘]

"Flut" is used to say informally that something is not to one’s liking. Usually this is because it’s of bad quality or just not cool. You can’t really use "flut" for "nonsense" in itself, like the English "rubbish", but in combinations it’s possible (see Examples).

There are many ways in Dutch to express that something is not to one’s liking, in other words: that something sucks 🙂 We’ll cover a few under Extra, ranging in mildness and vulgarity.

Examples:
– "Hé, bevalt je nieuwe stereo?" – "Niet echt, het is een flutapparaat!"
("Hey, do you like your new hifi set?" – "Not really, it’s a crappy device." The Dutch commonly refer to a hifi set as a "stereo".)

– "Dit is echt flut…ik ben weer eens blut."
("This really not cool…I’m broke again.")

– "Wat een flutargument!"
("Nonsense!" Literally: "what a rubbish/absurd/nonsensical argument!")

– "Heb jij ‘Spaceballs’ gezien? Wat een flutfilm!" – "Nee man, die film is geniaal!!"
("Did you see ‘Spaceballs’ ? I think that movie is rubbish!" – "No way dude, that movie is brilliant!!")

– "Heb je nog wat kunnen krijgen voor je auto?" – "Ja, een flutbedrag!"
("Have you been able to get something in return for your car?" – "Yeah, like nothing!" A "bedrag" is an "amount" and "flutbedrag" is something like a "measly sum".)

Extra: here are some other ways to say that something is not to your liking 🙂
– "Dit is pet": follow the link for explanation.
– "Dit is shit": no explanation needed.
– "Dit is kut": this is very informal, "kut" is slang for vagina.
– "Dit is klote": again very informal, "klote" is short for "kloten": slang for testicles.
– "Dit is vervelend": this is unfortunate/annoying.
– "Dit is onfortuinlijk": this is unfortunate.
– "Dit is ruk": literally "this is wank/jerk", a good translation of "this sucks"; derived from "rukken": to jerk off, to wank.
– "Dit is but": derived from English "butt", another good equivalent for "this sucks".
– "Dit is balen": this is unfortunate, this sucks, this is upsetting etc.
– "Dit is jammer": this is unfortunate/a pity.
– "Dit is niet tof": this is not cool.