A damper on the party… / a shadow over the party…
[Dutch phrase of the week]
Every year on Queen’s day the Dutch Royal family visits a town or village somewhere in the country. Locals put on a show and the Royal family waves, smiles, participates in games and shakes hands. This year the festivities in the town of Apeldoorn were heavily disrupted by a man trying to drive his car into the bus transporting the royals. He missed the bus but killed 6 spectators and did not survive himself in the end.
Throughout the country festivities were canceled or sobered down. At first one spoke of "een domper op de feestvreugde": a typical Dutch phrase often used when something ruins the party (or otherwise good atmosphere) one way or the other. When the severity of the accident became clear though, one spoke of "tragedie", "drama" and "Koninginnedag zal nooit meer hetzelfde zijn".
Examples:
– "De aanslaag op de Koninklijke familie in Apeldoorn was een domper op de feestvreugde.
"
("The assault on the Royal family in Apeldoorn cast a shadow over the party.
")
– " ‘Een domper op de feestvreugde’ vind ik een eufemisme; Koninginnedag zal nooit meer hetzelfde zijn!"
("I believe that ‘a damper on the party’ is a euphemism; Queen’s day will never be the same!")
– " ‘Mijn ouders kunnen niet bij de première aanwezig zijn en dat is voor mij een domper op de feestvreugde’, zei de veelbelovende toneelspeler."
(" ‘My parents are unable to attend the opening performance and that kind of ruins it for me’, the promising actor said." Note that a "toneelspeler" is an actor in a play, whereas an "acteur" is an actor in general.)
Related words:
– Feestvreugde: fun, festivity [noun] [de feestvreugde, <no plural>]
– Vreugde: joy, happiness [noun] [de vreugde, de vreugden]
– Verdriet: grief, sorrow [noun] [het verdriet, <no plural>]