Schaamluis

crab louse, crabs Click to listen
Schaamluis
[noun]
[de schaam-luis, de schaam-lui-zen]

"Schaamluis" is composed of "schaam" (from "zich schamen") and "luis", which respectively translate to "to be ashamed" and "louse". 

The Dutch call the area in which crabs tend to nest the "schaamstreek": the pubic area, literally the shame area…

If you have crabs, your doctor will tell you: "U heeft schaamluis" (<note: in this case the singular form is used>), or "Je hebt platjes" (<plural form again>), which is more informal…

Examples:
- "Ik ben gisteren naar de dokter geweest…ik heb schaamluis…" – "Balen!" 
("I went to the doctor yesterday…I've got crabs…" – "Tough luck!")

- "Heb je het al gehoord? Frank heeft schaamluis!" – "Dat verbaast me niks met al zijn knipperlichtrelaties…" 
("Have you already heard? Frank has crabs!" – "I'm not surprised, with all his on-and-off relationships…" Lit.: "That surprises me nothing…")

- "Schaamluizen leven van menselijk bloed." 
("Crab lice feed on human blood.")

Related words:
- Condoom: condom [noun] [het condoom, de condooms].
- Geslachtsziekte: sexually transmitted disease, venereal disease [noun] [de geslachtsziekte, de geslachtsziekten].
- Jeuk: itch [noun] [de jeuk, <no plural>].

Example:
- "Ik heb jeuk in mijn schaamstreek…" – "Misschien moet je je laten controleren op schaamluis."
("I have an itch in my pubic area…" – "Maybe you need to go have yourself checked for crabs.")

- Schaamstreek: pubic/genital area [noun] [de schaamstreek, de schaamstreken].
- Soa (seksueel overdraagbare aandoening): STD (sexually transmitted disease) [noun] [de soa, de soa's].
- Zich schamen (voor): to be ashamed (of) [verb] [zich schamen, schaamde zich, h. zich geschaamd,].

Extra:
Now we're on the subject, here's the STD top 7 in the Netherlands (from SOA Aids) (although crabs aren't necessarily an STD…):
- Chlamydia (chlamydia)
- Genitale wratten (genital warts)
- Gonoroe / druiper (gonorrhea / (lit.) dripper)
- Hepatitis B (hepatitis B)
- Genitale herpes (herpes simplex)
- HIV (hiv)
- Syfilis

3 thoughts on “Schaamluis

  1. “When you have crabs, your doctor will tell you…”
    Perhaps that should be “if” rather than “when”?
    I think we’d all hope not to have crabs so an “if” would be more appropriate than a more definite “when”?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>