Laf! -- #Curaçao expressions on the #AtoZChallenge 2015

Remember that post about ferfelu and how it differs from its (probable) Dutch root of vervelend? Same case today... but worse. (Well, funnier.)

laf [lahf] (yep... just like "laugh")

but it's not "laugh".
In Papiamentu laf means boring. In Dutch--yes, spelled exactly the same--it means cowardly. (Or, worse, chicken shit.)

You can imagine the confusion.

Dutch Guy asks a Curaçao girl out and suggests a movie and dinner.
Curaçao Girl: "Maybe. What movie?"
DG: "There's that new German one that won the Golden Palm at Cannes."
CG (no fan of art-house films): "Ai no, hopi laf."

She means boring, but he'll hear her insulting his bravery... And there goes that love story, swirling down the drain of cultural non-entendres.

Sam, for instance, becomes a different dog in Dutch and in Papiamentu.

Today's bonus word:
lihé [lee-HEH] Hint: People in Curaçao speak Papiamentu hopi lihé... which makes it hard for us beginners to understand ;)
(Congratulations, Romi C (Letters from the Land of Cherry Blossoms)--you got yesterday's bonus phrase right, and you're in the draw for the collection of Curaçao short stories :) )