(brand) spanking new, spic-and-span
[adjective]
[spik-splin-ter-nieuw]
When something is brand-new, in Dutch we say it is ‘gloednieuw’ or ‘splinternieuw’. The latter says: ‘as new as a splinter’, fresh splinters being indicative of a wooden object being brand-new (in the old days I guess). The ‘superlative’ of ‘splinternieuw’ is ‘spiksplinternieuw’; the word ‘spik’ is a corruption of the word ‘spijker’: nail. So it is as new as a fresh splinter and a nail straight from the forge 🙂
Read more about the etymology in Extra below.
Examples:
– “Als u zich vandaag nog registreert, maakt u kans op het winnen van een spiksplinternieuwe auto!”
(“If you register by today, you have a chance to of winning a spanking new car.”)
– “Goedemiddag, ik kom aangifte doen van diefstal van mijn fiets.” – “Dat is niet zo mooi meneer.” – “Nee, dat is zeker niet zo mooi, want hij was spiksplinternieuw!”
(“Good afternoon, I have come to report the theft of my bicycle.” – “That’s unfortunate sir.” – “That is very unfortunate indeed, because it was a brand-new bicycle!” Note that ‘dat is niet zo mooi’ is used colloquially.)
– “Hoe was je date met Sabina?” – “Heel geslaagd. En ze zag er fantastisch uit; ze droeg een spiksplinternieuwe jurk!”
(“How was your date with Sabina?” – “It went very well. She looked fantastic; she wore a brand spanking new dress.”)
– “Ik ben vanmiddag m’n spiksplinternieuwe handschoenen kwijtgeraakt; ik baal als een stekker.”
(“This afternoon I lost my brand-new gloves; I’m really pissed off about it.”)
– “Mijn spiksplinternieuwe iMac is nu al kapot, het ziet er leuk uit dat Applespul, maar de kwaliteit laat ernstig te wensen over.”
(“My spanking new iMac broke down already; Apple stuff looks great but the quality is mediocre.” Literally: ‘… but the quality seriously leaves to wish for.’)
Related words:
– Nieuw: new [adjective].
– Splinternieuw: brand-new [adjective].
– Gloednieuw: brand-new [adjective]. You may also encounter the colloquial ‘gloedjenieuw’.
Extra:
Regarding the use of ‘spik’, which is a corruption of ‘spijker’ (nail), German readers may recognize a similar origin in the adjective ‘nagelneu’ (as new as a nail) although we don’t have ‘spiknieuw’ or ‘spijkernieuw’ in Dutch. The ‘spic’ in English ‘spic-and-span’ has similar roots as ‘spijker’; compare English ‘spike’. The ‘span’ in its turn is derived from ‘span-new’ which has its origin in old Norwegian ‘spánnýr’. The Dutch word related to ‘span’ is ‘spaander’ which is basically a very big splinter (wood chip).