# voor spek en bonen



## beri

Hi all,
I'm French working with Dutch people and my direct line manager is Dutch. Lately I was having my year review with him and the HR manager was attending (and she was not supposed to, I believe). So she said – "Don't worry, I'm just here for bacon and beans --oh no, that's a Dutch expression."

I don't speak Dutch but from what I've recollected, that would be "voor spek en bonen" and I couldn't find the exact meaning in a dictionary.

Could anyone clarify, although I have a slight idea?

Tenkyu


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## Brownpaperbag

Hi

It's something like "I'm just here for the show"

Brown


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## Ilseum

Exactly  To take part in something 'voor spek en bonen' means to be present but to not actually do anything. When you play a game you have never played before for example, you can play the first round 'voor spek en bonen' in order to get how the game works. In this case your HR manager was present (probably to see what happened during the meeting) without having a specific function.


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## Hitchhiker

I think it could be explained English as, "for the experience".


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## HKK

I think you guys make it sound too positive. As far as I know, being somewhere "voor spek en bonen" means you're wasting your time because you have no function. You may also embarrass yourself because your uselessness is obvious to everyone present.

The way I see it, the expression doesn't suggest you will _earn _bacon & beans for your (non-)activity, but rather you feel like you _are _about as useful to a meeting as a quantity of meat and vegetables.


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## Ilseum

I've never heard it used in a negative way, really.. maybe it can mean that too, but I've never come across it.


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## beri

Thanks all for your input 
I don't think it is negative in this context


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## The Machine of Zhu

Ilseum said:


> I've never heard it used in a negative way, really.. maybe it can mean that too, but I've never come across it.



I think the negative connotation might be a Flemish one. It sounds negative to me too.


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## Ilseum

> I think the negative connotation might be a Flemish one.



Ahh, that could be it!


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## Frank06

Hi,

I share HKK's surprise. 


HKK said:


> As far as I know, being somewhere "voor spek en bonen" means you're wasting your time because you have no function. You may also embarrass yourself because your uselessness is obvious to everyone present.


That's how I know and use the expression too...
Yet another difference between North and South?

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Ilseum

I think it may be a difference between the usage in the Netherlands (the kind of Dutch I speak) and Belgium, like The Machine of Zhu mentioned


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## Peterdg

I share HKK's view. (I'm Belgian too)


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## Sauv

I share HKK's view, and I'm Dutch. I never heard anyone use this expression in a positive way.


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## HKK

Oscar Wilde said:
			
		

> Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.



No I'm just kidding


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## limonade

agreed, never heard it in a positive sense either


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## Ilseum

> I share HKK's view, and I'm Dutch.



That's strange.. But then again I've never heard it used in a professional context, just with games and such.


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## Lawrencelot

The expression doesn't sound negative nor positive for me. If you play a game 'voor spek en bonen' for example, you can not win and you can not lose because you are not playing for real, you are just playing to (learn to) play, so it is both positive and negative, or neither.


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## Ktke

It must indeed be a north - south difference. I would never play a game 'voor spek en bonen', because of the negative connotation the expression has for me. For me 'voor spek en bonen' really means that it has no use at all, not even 'fun'. I'd never use it in a professional context such as described above either, because who wants to describe his contribution to a meeting as completely useless? I might use it after a meeting, for example, when complaining to collegues that nobody listened to what I had to say and I might as well not have been there. Anyway, another difference I didn't know of


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