Awesome Foreign Word of the Day: Uitwaaien

Uitwaaien (Dutch): to take a brief break in the countryside to clear one’s head.
Prononciation: Out-vye-in

After yesterday’s somewhat depressing AFWD I thought we’d lighten it up with something beautiful. Uitwaaien literally means ‘to walk in the wind’ and I’ll be damned if that doesn’t tickle my adventure bone. This word embodies what it means to breathe deep and relax, to seek out the solitude of nature when it beckons you with a light breeze that smells vaguely of pine. So I implore you, dear linguists, whether you are reading this at school or from work or from the sanctum of your home, to take a moment for your wonderful selves; go outside, regardless of weather (use your judgement, fact: tornadoes aren’t great for uitwaaien) and smile, take a deep breath and void all those negative notions wrestling around in your heads like disgruntled gorillas. We all need to walk with the wind more often; life is too short not to indulge our desire to uitwaaien.