Cruijffiaans

Cruijffiaans[1] is the name given to the way of speaking, or a collection of sayings, made famous[2] by Dutch association football player and coach Johan Cruijff (1947–2016), particularly "one-liners that hover somewhere between the brilliant and the banal".[3] An example is "Je moet altijd zorgen dat je één doelpunt meer scoort als de tegenstander" (You always have to make sure that you score one goal more than your opponent.)[4]

Cruijff at Camp Nou, 2009
Johan Cruyff This article is part of a series about
Johan Cruyff

Career in football

Eponyms

Related

Description

Je gaat het pas zien als je het doorhebt.[5]
("You'll only see it when you understand it.")

Cruijff's Dutch was not the generally accepted variation (Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands or ABN), according to linguist Jan Stroop.[6] Lexically, Cruijffiaans is noted for its syncretism of highly diverse linguistic registers, and combines a working class Amsterdam dialect and football lingo with words not frequently found in the language of football. Semantically, Cruijffiaans contains many tautologies and paradoxes that, while appearing mundane or self-evident, suggest a deeper level of meaning, a mysterious layer not normally attainable for the average speaker or listener.[7] Syntactically, it uses the rules of Dutch grammar selectively and freely reorganizes word order.[1] Other quirks, for instance, are that Cruijffiaans knows only one relative pronoun, wie.[7]

Cruijff's aphorisms, neologisms, and bastardizations have proven influential, having been the subject of some ridicule, praise, and linguistic investigation. His pronouncements oscillate between pithy aphorism and "endless monologue"; Kees Fens said Cruijffiaans was an essayistic style that compares to stream of consciousness prose.[7]

Legacy

A poll in 2007 by Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool asking readers about their favorite Cruijff saying found that it was Elk nadeel hep zijn voordeel ("Every disadvantage has its advantage"--hep being the Amsterdam pronunciation of heeft; linguist Jan Stroop noted that Renate Rubinstein had used that expression before Cruijff did, but thinks it unlikely Cruijff had gotten it from her[1]), followed closely by Als ik zou willen dat je het begreep, legde ik het wel beter uit ("If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better").[1] While Stroop said Cruijffiaans frequently was more murky than enlightening and that Cruijff's language was accepted because it was his, journalist and television presenter Hanneke Groenteman said it was hypnotic.[1]

The Johan Cruyff Foundation, which promotes sports activity especially for disabled children, sells Delftware tiles with some of his expressions.[8][9] In 2014, the organization published a daily calendar.[10]

See also

References
  1. Kleis, Constanze (2011). Vrouwen houden van mannen, mannen houden van voetbal. Meulenhoff. p. 111. ISBN 9789460230196.
  2. Bas, Paul van der (24 March 2016). "In memoriam: Johan Cruijff. Zijn tien meest legendarische uitspraken op een rij". De Dagelijkse Standaard (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  3. Nowak, Martin; Highfield, Roger (2012). SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed. Simon and Schuster. p. 100. ISBN 9781451626636.
  4. Nowack, Highfield (2011), SuperCooperators, Canongate, pp. 100–101, ISBN 9780857860453
  5. "Bestel nu een tegeltje met uitspraken Cruijff" (in Dutch). Ajax Showtime. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  6. Stroop, Jan (2010). Hun hebben de taal verkwanseld: over Poldernederlands, fout nederlands en ABN. Singel Uitverijen. p. 130. ISBN 9789025367909.
  7. Middag, Guus; Zwan, Kees van der (1996). "'Utopieën wie nooit gebeuren': De taal van Johan Cruijff" (PDF). Onze Taal (11): 275–77.
  8. op den Brouw, Ward; Oudshoorn, Erik (27 December 2004). "'Er zijn te veel allerlei dingen, je moet specialiseren'". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  9. Galan, Menno de; Loenen, Jan van. "Volledig interview met Johan Cruijff". NOVA (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  10. "Een jaar lang Cruijffiaans op het toilet". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 8 October 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.