Month: August 2026

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

Don’t ask me where I got these translations. You probably don’t want to know.

Gezellig is the ultimate Dutch concept—it’s less of a word and more of a whole mood! While there isn’t a single English word that captures it, its closest translation is cozy, but with a massive social upgrade.

It goes way beyond physical warmth. A soft blanket by yourself is cozy, but a room filled with close friends, warm lighting, shared laughter, and good food is gezellig.

It describes a feeling of togetherness, comfort, and belonging. You can have a gezellig conversation, a gezellig night out, or even visit a gezellig little coffee shop.

If an atmosphere feels cold, unwelcoming, or full of awkward tension, the Dutch immediately label it the opposite: ongezellig.

1. When did you last have a gezellig conversation or night out?
2. What is usually your contribution to (ie: what do you add to the feeling in) a gezellig gathering?
3. What are some ongezellig spaces you’ve known?
4. What do you know about the Netherlands?
5. Another Dutch word, uitwaaien, means literally “to blow out.” It’s heading out into the wind—usually walking along a beach, a dike, or through a park—specifically to clear your head, refresh your spirit, and let the breeze blow away your stress. When did you recently feel the need to uitwaaien, and where did you go?

Thanks for participating, and have a lekker weekend!

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these question to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

I was in a large work-related meeting Thursday morning, and our CEO talked about how another presenter said the usual job interview questions and resume review don’t usually give good insight on candidates. This presenter said companies get better results with the first two questions I’m asking this week. Our CEO offered the third. I like how they get to core values and emotional energy outside the usual rehearsed responses. Along these lines, I came up with the last two questions. What do you think of them? 🙂

I think we’ve asked forms of these questions, usually in narrower contexts, but I’m intrigued by the broader asks in these cases. Feel free to respond as you would in a job interview or just as you, today.

1. What do you brag about?
2. What do you complain about?
3. What makes you laugh?
4. What have you recently changed your mind about?
5. What non-work-related subject do you geek-out over?

Thanks for participating, and have a what-are-your-strengths-and-challenges weekend!

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

1. What’s the longest book you’ve read?
2. What’s the funniest book you’ve read?
3. What’s the saddest book you’ve read?
4. What’s the most useful book you’ve read?
5. What are you reading now or next?

Thanks for participating, and have a page-turner of a weekend!