goodness gracious/me
[Dutch phrase
of the week]

Probably not used much by today’s youth, this somewhat old-fashioned expression allows you to express your amazement or discomfort in a decent way. It is composed of "mensen" (people) and "kinderen" (children). Perhaps it was originally used to address the people around you before sharing your amazement with them 🙂 Why the two words are now combined into one I don’t know.

Examples:
– "Mensenkinderen wat een weer!" 
("Goodness me, this weather is crazy!")

– "Mensenkinderen, moet je die rij zien!" 
("Oh my, look at that queue!")

– "Mensenkinderen…" 
("Goodness gracious…")

– "Mensenkinderen… Dit is toch niet te geloven… Sterker nog, het is te bezopen voor woorden!" 
("Goodness me… I can’t believe it… No wait, it is insane!!" Literally: ‘This is not to be believed… To put it stonger…’ Note the expression "te bezopen voor woorden": ‘bezopen’ is the state of being drunk.)

Related words:
– Hoofdschuddend: shaking one’s head [adverb].
– Verbazing: amazement, surprise [noun] [de verbazing, <no plural>].
– Ongelofelijk: unbelievable [adjective/adverb].
– Jeetje: oh my [interjection]. This is actually derived from ‘Jezus’. You will also hear ‘Jee’, but as you know, we turn (almost) anything into a diminutive 🙂