“It Makes Sense”: Dutch Woman Married to an Afrikaner Stunned by Afrikaans Word for Peanut Butter
- Joyce, a Dutch woman married to a South African Afrikaner, filmed the playful exchange in their home
- The couple compared the Afrikaans word grondboontjiebotter to the Dutch pindakaas, leaving Joyce surprised
- Viewers from around the world joined in, sharing how their own languages tackle the same word
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Source: Instagram
A Dutch woman married to a South African Afrikaner has the internet in stitches after she and her husband compared how their two languages describe the same everyday pantry staple: peanut butter.
@joyceverwaayen, who describes herself as a "Dutchie married to a South African," posted the clip to Instagram, and it quickly gained traction for its warmth and humour. Seated together at home, the couple held a small piece of paper and took turns saying the word in each language.
Ruben said the Afrikaans word first: grondboontjiebotter. Joyce repeated it back slowly, clearly delighted, before realising it actually made complete sense. Grond means ground, boontjie means little bean, and botter means butter. Underground bean butter. Meanwhile, Dutch speakers call it pindakaas, which literally translates to peanut cheese, despite containing no cheese whatsoever.
"That's actually more logical than the Dutch one," Joyce admitted in the video.
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Why Afrikaans and Dutch sound so alike
The two languages share a deep historical connection. Afrikaans developed from 17th-century Dutch dialects brought to South Africa by settlers, making it a daughter language of Dutch. The two share an estimated 90% to 95% of their vocabulary, which explains why the couple can so easily follow each other's words.
Over time, Afrikaans absorbed influences from Malay, Portuguese, German, Khoisan and Bantu languages, while also simplifying its grammar considerably compared to modern Dutch.
What viewers had to say
People worldwide flooded the comments on the Instagram page with their own takes:
@anderleandale wrote:
"All I hear is boinky boinky butter."
@cleo_boonstra shared:
"That's not Dutch, that's African. My favourite African word is Rondjerond for a roundabout 😂"
@manuijradical summed it up perfectly:
"Underground Bean Butter vs Peanut Cheese."
@duvynn added:
"Afrikaans is using the German logic 😂 it's Erdnussbutter for us — literally the same as grondboontjiebotter 😀"
@sizwe_african explained for those who needed it:
"'Boontjes' = Beans 🫘🤣🤣🇿🇦"
@jade.x04 simply said:
"I love this, idk why 😂"
Watch the couple's exchange here.
Source: Instagram
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Source: Briefly News
