Bloedbad

bloodbath, massacre, carnage 
[noun]
[het bloed-bad, de bloed-ba-den]

Alphen Last Saturday a young man killed 6 people in a shooting at a shopping centre in the town of 'Alphen aan den Rijn' after which he committed suicide. In this context I heard the word 'bloedbad' on the radio this morning. A shooting of this kind is unique in the Netherlands. One can only possess a (hand-)gun/pistol when a member of a shooting club and members are supposed to be thoroughly scrutinized. Read more here about the shooting.

Examples:
– "Het bloedbad dat onlangs is aangericht in Alphen aan den Rijn is een unicum in Nederland." 
("The bloodbath that was caused recently in Alphen aan den Rijn is a unique event in the Netherlands.")

– "De vreedzame demonstratie ontaardde uiteindelijk in een bloedbad." 
("The peaceful demonstration eventually turned into a bloodbath.")

– "De daders van het bloedbad in Mexico zijn hoogstwaarschijnlijk afkomstig uit het drugsmilieu." 
("The perpetrators of the massacre in Mexico most likely come from the criminal drugs scene." The word 'milieu' means 'environment' in general.)

– "De gemeente Alphen aan den Rijn spreekt van een schietincident, ik vind het meer een bloedbad!" 
("The municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn uses the term shooting incident, but I think it's more like a bloodbath." Note the combination "spreken van …": to mention …, to use the term …)

Related words:
– Bloed: blood [noun] [het bloed, <no plural>].
– Bad: bath [noun] [het bad, de baden].
– Aanrichten: to cause/create, to bring about [verb] [richtte aan, aangericht].
– Slachting: massacre, butchery [noun] [de slachting, de slachtingen].
Slachtoffer: victim [noun] [het slachtoffer, de slachtoffers].

One thought on “Bloedbad

  1. A true ellende, if there ever was one.
    One really has to wonder why any civilian would need an automatic (or indeed other sort of) weapon in The Netherlands, or here in the UK where we’ve had similar heart-rending incidents.

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