Talk:struinen

Geographic range
Is this another word whose range is mostly restricted to the Netherlands? ←₰-→ Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk)  18:30, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I'd say (rond)snuisteren is more familiar to me. Then comes rondstruinen; struinen comes last. So, yes, mostly restricted to the Netherlands IMO. --Azertus (talk) 20:48, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't share the exact same view, Azerus. The word is imo more common in the Netherlands but not restricted to it. It's a literary word for me (not often used colloquially), and usage in the more formal/literary register seems common in Belgium; see for example the many search results here: This includes museum websites, blogs, user reviews, newspapers (e.g., GvA, HLN, DS...), magazines (e.g., Libelle), other media (Radio 2), etc. We can also rely on the word prevalence list  (btw also a great tool to make these checks more fact-based): ~98% of Dutch people know the word, while ~72% of Flemings do. (This is different from words which I would consider "(chiefly) Netherlands" such as "soebatten" (NL: 85% knows it, FL: 30% does) and "banjeren" (NL: 96%, FL: 44%). So yes, "struinen" seems more Dutch than Belgian, but I don't think it warrants a "(chiefly) Netherlands" label. Morgengave (talk) 21:41, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree that it doesn't warrant the label. Would you say it's the other way 'round, where "snuisteren" is "(chiefly) Belgium"? --Azertus (talk) 22:51, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
 * As a Belgian, I struggle to say what words are commonly known/used in the Netherlands. Perhaps LBD can help us. The word prevalence list, in any case, points to snuisteren being more Belgian-Dutch than Dutch-Dutch (In the NLs, only 50% knows it, while in FL 93% does), so you may be right. Morgengave (talk) 10:32, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
 * There's something that may be worthwhile to check: I do think that in FL we only use struinen in the sense of "to tramp, to roam" and rarely in the sense of "to nose about, to rummage" (for which we indeed use snuisteren). I just did a quick Google-check and I don't seem to find attestations (using site:.be) for the "nose about" sense, and personally that meaning is also new to me, so that sense may actually need a "(chiefly") Netherlands" label. Morgengave (talk) 10:48, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I am completely unfamiliar with snuisteren, but it is included in the EWDN, surprisingly mostly in the north (?), but I reckon that if speakers from the southern provinces are also somewhat familiar with the word, 50% familiarity is just about plausible. The WNT (volume from 1932) gives more or less this geographic distribution, by the way, South + Groningen. Maybe the word has spread a bit more in the north since then.
 * Yes, in any case that level of prevalence in Flanders suggests that a label like "chiefly Netherlands" would be out of place. I suppose you could compare it to werpen, which is entirely neutral in Belgium and the southern provinces of the Netherlands, but which is not very colloquial in the northern Netherlands (with the difference that just about every native speaker from the Netherlands knows the word werpen of course, but you know what I mean).
 * Just to be sure, you would use struinen for rondgaan/rondwandelen but not for rondneuzen? ←₰-→ Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk)  13:08, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
 * In my experience we would indeed in Flanders only use it for rondgaan/rondwandelen, and not for rondneuzen. Morgengave (talk) 15:22, 20 June 2021 (UTC)