Talk:lekker

Etymology of Afrikaans lekker

I'd say the phrasing "From Afrikaans lekker, akin to Dutch lekker." is better, since Afrikaans today is considered a distinct language from Dutch. Wakuran 18:29, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

No comments? The Dutch that Afrikaans evolved from doesn't even exist anymore. Wakuran 22:55, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

(sorry for such a late reply) I do agree with you, but I think "from Dutch lekker" is be appropriate as it is an etymological description. For example, other wiktionary entries trace the etymology back to very old High German etc. of course the meanings of the modern words differ from those of the original languages, but the etymology is only to show whence the word derives from - Hannes

Oh and it seems confirmation is sought as to whether saying "this is more lekker than ..." is correct. Well, lekker isn't really an English word, so we simply change it to "more lekker" when using it in that way in (avant-garde) South African English. - Hannes 2Feb2009

Ben je wel helemaal lekker?

In this insulting question, lekker means “sound of mind”, “sane”. Should this be added as a separate sense? Or is this sense restricted to the collocation helemaal lekker? On a related note, lekker in the sense of “healthy” appears to be used only with a negative polarity, unlike the curious derived term kiplekker. Is this observation correct? (@Lingo Bingo Dingo, Morgengave, Rua)  --Lambiam 09:49, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

@Lambian. The word lekker isn't used in this sense in Belgium. Morgengave (talk) 10:55, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

@Lambiam: Yes, I think it could be included as a separate sense. The meaning “healthy” could be used with positive polarity, e.g. in the question voel je je wel lekker?, but that indeed seems rather marginal to me. As with many of the more generalised informal meanings of lekker, these are not used in Belgium as Morgengave says. Perhaps @Appolodorus1 could tell whether these two or any of the other senses (other than “tasty”) are used in Suriname. ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 11:23, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

Negative contexts are generally understood to include yes–no questions, as seen in the use of the negative polarity item rocket science in the rhetorical question, “Is this rocket science?”.^[1]  --Lambiam 15:20, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

By the way, we don't cover adverbial use of lekker as in zal ik even lekker over je rug aaien at all, where lekker basically functions as a particle and where translations like “pleasantly, nicely; tastily” don't work at all. I'm not sure whether the POS should be adverb or particle, though the former is probably more informative. ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 11:57, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

Lekker eten, lekker drinken & lekker leven,^[2] lekker uitslapen,^[3] lekker feestvieren,^[4] lekker zoenen,^[5] lekker aaien – is there an important difference?  --Lambiam 15:20, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

@Lambiam What do you suggest? One thing that they all have in common is that a translation "tastily" or "nicely" is grossly inadequate; in all cases the adverb communicates that some part of the utterance is enjoyable (tasty or pleasant) to a party involved. ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 16:41, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

It seems to be rather normal for an adverb that modifies a verb not to qualify the manner in which (as in luidkeels schreeuwen or heimelijk lachen), but the effect of the action of the verb (as in aangenaam vertoeven, heilzaam slapen, or dodelijk verwonden). Indeed, “nicely” is less appropriate, but the adverb “pleasantly” (see sense 2) seems to work.  --Lambiam 12:09, 18 May 2021 (UTC)