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Police patrol on a shopping street in Antwerp
Photo: NICOLAS MAETERLINCK / AFP
There are foreign language expressions that somehow sound particularly cute to German ears, even if they actually mean something unsawful.
For example "Schedelkraker", a Dutch term for a medieval instrument of torture that pinched the skull.
A Flemish word that is currently circulating in social networks has an ugly cause, but it sounds as sweet as it sounds: "Knuffelcontacten", with "ü" as in "sniffing".
"Knuffelen" means cuddling or cuddling - and that is exactly what the Belgians should only do with selected people in the second Corona wave.
Or better: with exactly one.
After new corona infections rose dramatically in Belgium, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced new restrictions that should come into force on Monday.
The reduction of the number of "Knuffelcontacts" per citizen is an essential element.
According to this, members of a household are only allowed to meet with one person instead of the previous three, without having to maintain the generally applicable minimum distance of 1.5 meters.
There is strict "Knuffel monogamy" - you only cuddle with one person.
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