Going Dutch! A Football Phrasebook for the Euros

The Euros guide closes with a phrasebook assembled by a Dutch supporter for travelling fans, and it is pitched exactly right. There are greetings and thanks, with a note that the southern informal ‘Houdoe!’ will win friends in Breda or Tilburg; there is ‘Ref, that was offside!’ and ‘That was diving!’; there is a line for ordering two beers and a bowl of bitterballen, and one for admitting you are lost. There is also ‘No thank you, we’re British’, a request for directions to the stadium, and a question about where the Euros might be watched nearby. Every entry carries a phonetic rendering. It ends with the Dutch saying that does the work of ‘football is a funny old game’, and one about wooden shoes.