Posted July 14, 2011
cjrgreen: Maybe the OP is of the same intelligence as the idiots who abolished "hello".
Seriously, "nekker" is a good old Dutch word for a water demon (and it has cognates in pretty much all the Germanic languages), like a drowner, only different. I've always figured its presence in the language was due to the frequent finds of well-preserved ancient corpses ("bog people") in the peat bogs of northern Europe.
Not to make generalizations, but there are some people that think the Universe revolves around them and their surroundings(i.e. the history of the U.S.) and can't see beyond their ears. Seriously, "nekker" is a good old Dutch word for a water demon (and it has cognates in pretty much all the Germanic languages), like a drowner, only different. I've always figured its presence in the language was due to the frequent finds of well-preserved ancient corpses ("bog people") in the peat bogs of northern Europe.
For some reason his post made me think that.