A Dictionary of Dutchness

Bob

The Bob is the person who sticks to one beer and drives everybody home from wherever they have been partying. It is widely assumed that Bob stands for Bewust Onbeschonken Bestuurder (which literally translates as ‘deliberately not drunk driver’) but it doesn’t. In fact, Bob was simply a name originally used in a Belgian anti drink-driving campaign. Unlike a lot of Dutch road safety efforts, Bob has been a success and the word has entered into everyday use in both
the Netherlands and Belgium.