# tuttebel



## Westy_cpw

Hello  I am new to the forum so I hope someone can help.  

I have a Dutch friend who likes to throw in Dutch words to see if I can  translate them, however I am having trouble with this one: tuttebel.  

I apologise if it is rude as only have the word and no context.

Can anyone help?  

Thanks Westy


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## Kayla321

LOL Though it's not exactly polite, it's not very rude, either. Een tuttebel is a certain sort of woman/girl. I don't know any English words for it, but I would say that most of the women in chick lit books are tuttebellen. Does that make sense?


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## Westy_cpw

We have a word and it is frump which I think means the same based on your description.  Thanks a lot.


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## Kayla321

If this description of a frump is right:
1. A girl or woman regarded as dull, plain, or unfashionable.
2. A person regarded as colorless and primly sedate.

Then a frump is NOT een tuttebel. The opposite, I think!


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## Suehil

No, a tuttebel is definitely not a frump, but for the life of me I can't think of a good translation.


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## Peterdg

Kayla321 said:


> If this description of a frump is right:
> 1. A girl or woman regarded as dull, plain, or unfashionable.
> 2. A person regarded as colorless and primly sedate.
> 
> Then a frump is NOT een tuttebel. The opposite, I think!


Hmm? Van Dale: tuttebel: onbetekenende, onaantrekkelijke, zeurderige vrouw of meisje...

Seems pretty close to what the "frump" definition says, no?


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## Kayla321

Peterdg, Van Dale is not exactly part of the real world... ;-)


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## Suehil

A frump is uncared-for, out of fashion, probably fat and either elderly or behaves as if she were.
A tuttebel is too neat, too proper, too silly and too young to be a frump.


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## Peterdg

Kayla321 said:


> Peterdg, Van Dale is not exactly part of the real world... ;-)


But the meaning Van Dale gives is exactly how we use and understand it.

That's why I looked it up because I found that the definition you gave of "frump" corresponded exactly to how we interpret "tuttebel".


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## Frank06

Hi,


Peterdg said:


> But the meaning Van Dale gives is exactly how we use and understand it.


Who's we?
I find it weird that the definition is so limited, given the rather simple fact that _tuttebel _can be used for a whole range of female (stereo)types.

F


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## killerbees

Dutch/English Van Dale gives me a pretty broad variety of definitions:

_pietluttig_ ditherer, fussy 
_met betrekking tot kleding / uiterlijk_ frump 
_preuts_ prude 
_met betrekking tot jongen_ sissy

I don't know if we have a word in English that really encompasses that many definitions. It sounds a little bit like an uptight, young, female nerd.

PS - A "priss" maybe? (edit: apparently, this is an Americanism and a back-formation of the adjective, prissy.)

PSS - Also, if it's helpful at all, I would describe most of the characters in a Jane Austen novel as varying degrees of prissy (maybe adventurous for the pre-Victorian era, but prissy by today's standards )


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## Kayla321

Peterdg said:


> But the meaning Van Dale gives is exactly how we use and understand it.
> 
> That's why I looked it up because I found that the definition you gave of "frump" corresponded exactly to how we interpret "tuttebel".


*You*, not we! For me, tuttebel does not fit this description at all.

I agree with Frank06 and Killerbees.


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## Peterdg

Kayla321 said:


> *You*, not we! For me, tuttebel does not fit this description at all.
> 
> I agree with Frank06 and Killerbees.


I didn't include "you" in my "we"

I meant: in my environment.

(PS. I have no connections to Van Dale; but the fact that the definition they give corresponds to what "we" understand from "tuttebel" means that there are other people that understand it like I do).


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## Westy_cpw

Thank you for all the replies.

It has certainly provoked some healthy discussion.

I had no idea that translating the word was such an invlolved process!


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