Comparle

Dutchblind word

struisvogelpolitiek

STROWS-voh-khel-poh-lee-TEEK[ˈstrœysˌfoːɣəlpoːliˌtik]

Pronunciation: Marcel coenders · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

refusing to face a problem — burying your head in the sand

Closest in English: ostriching, denial, denialism. None of them covers it.

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The story

Literally 'ostrich politics', after the bird that supposedly buries its head in the sand. Real ostriches do no such thing, but Dutch politics kept the myth alive as a standing accusation. English speakers coined their own verb for the manoeuvre: ostriching.

How it went in the game

Contains the answers. If you want to play the word yourself first, leave this closed.

  1. Which language is it from?Dutch
  2. What does it literally say?Ostrich politics
  3. Who gets accused of it?A minister dodging bad news
  4. What does it mean?Pretending a problem isn't there