Helaas, pindakaas

Literally: Alas, peanut butter

Example: “Het concert is uitverkocht? Helaas, pindakaas.” — The concert's sold out? Tough luck.

English equivalent: Tough luck

Origin: Genuinely recent and largely playful in origin: the phrase only caught on around 1986, apparently starting among students at the Osdorp school community in Amsterdam, who used it as a mock-apologetic response when something wanted — a snack, an item, anything — turned out to be unavailable. Pindakaas (peanut butter) has no real connection to the actual disappointment being expressed; it was tacked on purely because it rhymes with helaas (unfortunately), turning a plain apology into a small, absurd joke at its own expense. The construction follows a broader Dutch pattern of pairing an ordinary word with a nonsensical rhyming partner purely for comic effect, the same logic behind similar constructions like "jammer de bammer."