The Mill Doesn't Care Trivia Quiz

Answer: Don't worry about things that have already happened

A rough equivalent in English would be "don't cry over spilt milk", meaning that there's nothing you can do about something that has already happened. The Dutch version is especially appropriate, given the importance of windmills to Dutch life and culture.

Answer: To exaggerate

The Dutch proverb implies that you've left your cakes in the oven for too long, and thus over-cooked them: hence to exaggerate something. An English equivalent, also with a culinary reference, might be to accuse someone of over-egging the pudding, with the similar suggestion of spoiling something by adding too much.

Answer: One drink is not enough

This is typically said when someone offers you a second drink in the pub, the implication being that one drink (or one leg) is simply insufficient for you to go about your normal business, and it hardly needs saying.

Answer: To be deceived

The meaning is similar to the English "to buy a pig in a poke", which means to buy something without seeing it first. In other words, if someone offers you a bag of apples for sale, be sure to look inside first, in case they are passing off lemons for apples.

Answer: To make a serious mistake

The origin of this Dutch expression is not known, although early examples refer to shooting a pig or a calf instead. It may therefore simply refer to the fact that for a farmer to shoot one of their valuable animals is a really stupid mistake to make.

Answer: Making no meaningful contribution

If you're at a meeting of a Dutch company, and you make a suggestion that really isn't very helpful, the Chair might say that your comment "isn't putting any sods in the dyke". It's a very Dutch response and refers to the importance of artificial dykes (embankments or levees) in keeping the sea at bay in the low-lying Netherlands landscape.

At one time these were often constructed of tightly-packed sods of turf, which needed to be regularly inspected and repaired.

Answer: To talk about old, forgotten issues

The implication is presumably that an old cow stuck in a ditch should probably be left there, and that trying to move it would be more trouble than it is worth - a bit unfair on the cow! A rough equivalent English idiom would be "to let sleeping dogs lie", which frankly makes a bit more sense to me.

Answer: Someone in an important position is easy to criticise

This is sometimes known as "tall poppy syndrome", whereby successful people are regarded as somehow getting above themselves and thus deserve to be criticised and have their achievements belittled. As a concept, it can be traced back at least as far as Ancient Greece and Rome, where similar proverbs exist.

Answer: To pretend not to hear something

This particular idiom dates back to the early nineteenth century, when the Dutch had colonial interests in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). The precise etymology is unknown, but is generally believed to refer to the habit of the native inhabitants of the area pretending not to hear or understand what their Dutch colonial rulers were saying, especially if they being asked to do something they didn't want to do.

Answer: That they are drunk

This idiom is very similar to the English phrase "to be well-oiled", also meaning drunk. It refers to the fact that old-fashioned machinery often needed lots of oil pouring onto the moving parts to keep them running smoothly. By inference, pouring lots of alcohol into your body results in you being "well-oiled", although probably not working as efficiently as you would when sober.

The Dutch version also conjures up the image of someone trying to stand up on an oily, slippery floor without falling over - which is similar to being very drunk, apparently.