Comfort Cookies and Other Treasures

Comfort Cookies and Other Treasures

One of the unexpected joys of learning Dutch is stumbling across words that feel less like vocabulary and more like little gifts.

Take koekje troost for instance. Literally, it means “comfort cookie.” Isn’t that perfect? A biscuit to soften bad news, a tiny bite of sweetness when the world feels heavy. You don’t just eat a koekje troost — you accept it like an embrace in snack form.

And then there’s gezellig. Every Dutch learner gets introduced to it sooner or later, and no one word in English quite matches it. It’s cozy, but more.

It’s warmth, togetherness, the feeling of being exactly where you belong, whether in a candlelit café or just at home with friends laughing around the table.

My favorite recent find might be struisvogelpolitiek — literally “ostrich politics.” It describes sticking your head in the sand, pretending problems don’t exist. It’s funny, vivid, and painfully relatable for anyone who has ever ignored their laundry pile until it grew tall enough to qualify as a roommate.

Dutch can sound serious and guttural at times, but the more I learn, the more I discover these linguistic treasures tucked in between the hard consonants. Words that make me laugh, smile, or feel a little less alone.

Every new phrase feels like opening a door. And maybe one day I’ll stop calling them treasures and just call them… my words. Until then, I’ll keep collecting, one comfort cookie at a time.