# Kloten



## Godfather

I remember that a Dutch girl was very amused when the name of the airport Kloten (a town outside of Zurich) came up. She told me what it means in Dutch but I don't remember what she said. So what does kloten mean in Dutch?


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## Drusillo

From a free-online translator kloten=bastards....
Ciao


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## Whodunit

Since Dutch is very close to German, I bet it means something like  "balls" (referring to man's genitals). I looked it up in a dictionary and it concurs with me.


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## Godfather

Do you mean it is like "Klöte" (balls) in German?


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## Whodunit

Godfather said:
			
		

> Do you mean it is like "Klöte" (balls) in German?


 
Yeah, that's at least what this dictionary suggests.


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## ALOV

I confirm:

Kloot =  1 testikel
Kloten = testikels

 Explicit language
Klootzak (sac with balls): bastard


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## Paul Wessen

It seems so unlikely that staid Dutch authorities would choose a name that would elicit such derision.  So... I'm wondering if the airport was named in order to honor an important figure in Dutch history who was unfortunate enough to have that family name???

---------  Paul


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## Johannes

The airport "Kloten " is in Switserland, hence the Dutch authorities had no say in the naming of the airport.  Without looking it up, I would say that in Germanic languages 'kloten'  originally could have  meant something like ' lumps'or 'clumps'


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## Whodunit

Paul Wessen said:
			
		

> It seems so unlikely that staid Dutch authorities would choose a name that would elicit such derision. So... I'm wondering if the airport was named in order to honor an important figure in Dutch history who was unfortunate enough to have that family name???
> 
> --------- Paul


 
And even if a Dutchman would have named the airport like that, I wouldn't be surprised. In Germany, we have sometimes somehow funny names for cities and villages. I just can remember "Kotzen" (vomit) and "Pissen" (pee).


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## MrMagoo

Whodunit said:
			
		

> And even if a Dutchman would have named the airport like that, I wouldn't be surprised. In Germany, we have sometimes somehow funny names for cities and villages. I just can remember "Kotzen" (vomit) and "Pissen" (pee).


 
For all the funny names of people and villages/cities in Germany, have a look at this page: http://www.echtenamen.de/ ...


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## Canela_am

I think the "kloten" derived from the name of an old popular Dutch game ("klootschieten") that is mentioned in records as early as the 13th century. (Mainly records prohibiting the game for being played for it caused a lot of destruction).
The "kloot" can be a stone or a piece of iron that players had to throw in as few throws as possible to a certain point or mark. (Hence the records showing cities prohibiting the sport) 
Later cannonballs were called “donder-kloten” after the game lost its popularity. 
The word is used in many proverbs and has many significations but currently "kloten" refers most to male testicals.


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## savasorda

Yes, I confirm the explanations about the 3 words kloot, kloten and klootzak. And I have been landing severak times at that airport.
Once there was a problem with the airport (closed, attack, whatever) the Dutch speaking TV guys had real fun using the name in every sentence, because that word would never be used in its other sense on TV....


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## Mimi2005

Kloot is a standard word for something that is round, a ball therefor. A very oldfashioned way of talking about the earth (as a lump) is to call it the "aardkloot" . Thence also the klootschieten etc.
And ofcourse if you use it which an exclamationmark (Klote!) it can mean all kinds of things, amongst them someting like: that sucks !
And if I may add another joke: someone who didn´t like Switzerland, said to me once: which ever way you go to Switzerland, by train (arriving at Bale, i.e. Basel) or by plane (arriving at Kloten), it always sucks. Balen of Kloten, het maakt niet uit.


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## HKK

Mimi2005 said:


> Kloot is a standard obsolete word for something that is round, a ball therefor.



 It's only used for testicles these days. Maybe that's what you meant to say, but just to prevent embarassing moments for our courageous Dutch learners.


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## Mimi2005

You're quite right, HKK, before someone gets slapped in the face without knowing why.


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## kapoen

Hey,

- "Kloten" here is also used as a verb that means "annoying somebody a LOT in a bad way". In this way it's slang-language and please don't say it your proffesor, parents,... it's very informal but commun used by teenagers.

- The other translation about "a mans balls" is also used here.

- "Kust mijn kloten" or "ge kunt mijn kloten kussen" is also a very informal expression we use here (again, mostly teenagers). It's VERY rude, you're surely really pissed off in the moment that you say it. Litteraly it means "kiss my balls" or "you can kiss my balls" which kind of means: "(you can) go to hell!"


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## oso

Now I know why this is so funny then. Prince Willem used this word in Spanish, 
and that was a blunder....

*[YouTube link removed, Frank, moderator DF]*


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## Grytolle

kapoen said:


> - "Kust mijn kloten" or "ge kunt mijn kloten kussen" is also a very informal expression we use here (again, mostly teenagers). It's VERY rude, you're surely really pissed off in the moment that you say it. Litteraly it means "kiss my balls" or "you can kiss my balls" which kind of means: "(you can) go to hell!"


"Suck my balls"


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## Lopes

Even later landden wij op het vliegveld van Kloten. Dat is geen grapje. Dat is geen grapje, er is een vliegveld dat ligt bij het Zwisterse plaatse Kloten. Kloten dat ligt dan vlak bij Basel. Basel.. Zurich...
Basel of Zurich, wat maakt het toch uit, het blijft Kloten!

Toen ik op het station aankwam was de trein net weg. Ahhhh. Ik denk: "Ach geeft niet, loop ik wel even de stad in. Koop ik wel een paar leuke ansichtkaarten van Mooi Kloten."

Affijn, ik loop zo wat te dwalen door die kleine stad,
het was zondag in dat kleregat.
Winkels dicht, kroegen gesloten, ik denk bij mezelf: "Dit is dus ...."

(Herman Finkers)


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