Dutch Saying: We’re Going Up the Beet Mountain (Wij gaan de bietenberg op)

Ever feel like everything’s going the wrong way? Like… you spill something on your white shirt, you’re running late for something important, then it starts raining, and you don’t have an umbrella?

This amusing Dutch expression is made just for those situations.

About the Expression

This hilarious Dutch expression is used for those terrible situations when just everything seems to be going wrong. It can also be used when one is in serious trouble.

A mountain made of beets is guaranteed to be extremely slippery. To try and climb one would be a very unpleasant exercise in futility indeed.

Linguists think that this quirky expression comes from a time when farmers with beet carts had to cross bridges or mountains.

Whenever a farmer crossed to the other side, a few beets would inevitably fall off their cart. The bridge would gradually become slick with crushed beets.

As a result, if you weren’t careful, you would slip; or even worse, your beet cart could entirely slide off the bridge.

This Dutch saying belongs to our Bites of the World collection, which spotlights unique food-related expressions from ten countries. It’s also available individually as a vibrant postcard design.