This blog post was supposed to be about dealing with running in the cold and just what an adjustment that is. Unfortunately, I have actually only been running in the cold once. That is not to say that I have only been running once (although you are forgiven for assuming so), the weather is just fantastic. All the articles I have read online about running in the cold seem to assume dark mornings, snowfalls and ice, which hardly describes my current terrain. And, to be honest, make me feel like a bit of a pussy for even complaining.

For the last week it has been all blue skies and tweeting birds, and little blossoms peeking up everywhere. I barely even wear a jacket outside during the day.

What hasn't changed is my bemusement at the Dutch expression for exercising. I was in a clothing shop the other day browsing the various running attire when the sales assistant came up to me and said “Sporting?” which I at first took to mean, “Are you spotting?” as in 'Lady, are you joking? With that body?”. He reacted quickly to my puzzled/insulted expression and said “Are you going to sport later?”

Aha! It means exercise, I figured.

The next day, I walked the two flights of stairs to our new apartment with the estate agent and jokingly mentioned that I can skip gym if this is my daily routine, to which she replied “Yes, no need to sport.” The infinitive form is what really gets me. Sport. To sport. Sporting.

What I have found is that trying to explain the difference and why exercise is correct and sport not, the distinction is really not very clear. Sports are organised and generally competitive, exercise is, um, what? Something you do alone? So what is a yoga class?

A second expression that tickles me is that of “taking a picture” which appears to be translated from Dutch as “making a picture”. I appreciate the insertion of an active signifier, which renders the passive “taking” of a picture into an artistic creation of “making” it. I am not simply a vessel through which the camera does all the work. Je suis l'artiste.

Perhaps it is just me...

In any event, look at this picture of me sporting!