# er op los



## kindlychung

Ze komen op klaarlichte dag op straat, dragen niet eens Dreuzelkleren en roddelen er lustig op los.
What does "op los" mean here?


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## YellowOnline

kindlychung said:


> Ze komen op klaarlichte dag op straat, dragen niet eens Dreuzelkleren en roddelen er lustig op los.
> What does "op los" mean here?



The "op los" part belongs together with the "er" - a word that confuses a lot of non-native speakers (in this context it is called a "loos voornaamwoordelijk bijwoord"). To do something "erop los" means to do it in an extreme way or non-stop - which can be both negative or positive. Because it is kind of hard to explain, some similar sentences picked randomly from the internet:



Duitse voetballers dansen erop los
Jobstudenten flirten erop los
Moeder mept erop los
Knuffel erop los!
Praet en Siska kreunen erop los in partijtje tennis
Niek de Groot kladt erop los
De Boer wisselt erop los tegen ADO
Prince Jackson feest erop los
Brazilianen swingen erop los
Fred en Sylvia shoppen erop los
Real Madrid scoort erop los
Deze sterren bedriegen erop los
Erdoğan scheldt erop los
Pasgeboren girafje galoppeert erop los


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## kindlychung

I got the gist of it. Thanks!


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## bibibiben

English can use _away _most of the time:

erop los schieten = fire away
erop los beuken = pound away
erop los kletsen = chat away

I have this feeling, though, that _erop los_ may be a bit more versatile than _away_.


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## Syzygy

I was wondering: could "_maar raak_" be used interchangeably in the examples above or is there nuance between the two? I am aware it probably would not work in the original sentence unless you just left out the _lustig_.


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## bibibiben

Syzygy said:


> I was wondering: could "_maar raak_" be used interchangeably in the examples above or is there nuance between the two? I am aware it probably would not work in the original sentence unless you just left out the _lustig_.



I think _maar raak _and_ erop los _are not synonymous. 

_Hij sloeg erop los_: without constraint (not necessarily at random).

_Hij sloeg maar raak_: at random (not necessarily without constraint).


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## eno2

Erop los = ad libitum (lengua franca)


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## ThomasK

Excellent question, excellent answers (thanks), but I do not consider _ad libitum _a very good suggestion, because it often has a negative connotation, which _ad lib. _does not have, I think.

@KC: if you like such expressions, then there is also _volop _(to the full) and _voluit _(which comes close to _erop los_, but does not have any neg. connotation...


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## eno2

ThomasK said:


> I do not consider _ad libitum _a very good suggestion, because it often has a negative connotation, which _ad lib. _does not have, I think.
> 
> .


Sure. There's too much music in ad libitum.


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## ThomasK

My music knowledge is not that good: what do you mean precisely?


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## eno2

ThomasK said:


> My music knowledge is not that good: what do you mean precisely?


It's musical terminology. Like rubato.


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## ThomasK

But I knew that much, and even know at rubato is ;-), but I thought you were suggesting _ad lib_. was no good because there was a reference to too much in it, of which I was not aware . But now I think I understand: you suggested that _ad lib._ was no good here because it is too musical, not used outside that context. My main argument against that it contained no reference to too much (freedom)...


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## eno2

er op los= ongeremd, uninhibited 

ad lib = freely


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## ThomasK

I quite agree. I would just love to see whether any of you can come up with other, (semantically) related expressions - not just meaning 'uninhibited', but just referring to some kind of freedom, judged positively or negatively. *Raak *for example was a good idea, I think _voluit _and _*volop *_belong in this enlarged group. 

I also thought of *zomaar*: _Je kan dat niet zomaar doen./ Hij doet zomaar iets (hij doet maar wat)...  _


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