Jack den Haan Feb 26, 2013:

@Textpertise Thank you for pursuing the point a bit further, Textpertise. Yes, it could be Brabants as well. But on the other hand, my father was a "Brabander" and I never heard him use this expression. Anyway, I have no doubt at all that "4 op 3 cm" in this context does indeed mean 3 by 4 cm. Cheers!

Textpertise Feb 26, 2013:

@Jack A bit tangential to the topic, but I believe this could also be Brabants dialect spoken in the South of Holland. When I first started in this business back in 1970, from 1970-1974 I worked in an office in Helmond and one of the teenage clerks in the Order Department spoke with a heavy Brabants dialect, as did the cleaning lady. I seem to remember that I was sponging up expressions at that time (being relatively new to the language), and was told by my boss (the Company Director) that I should not use that expression because it was not ABN (Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands). But this is a vague recollection going back 40 years in amongst many other expressions on which I was being corrected as I toddled through the early stages of my language acquisition, so I may not be totally accurate in my recall ;-0

Jack den Haan Feb 26, 2013:

Thought it might be ;-)

ebell (asker) Feb 26, 2013:

Flemish Yes, it is a Flemish text