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The phrases "fill in" and "fill out" are idiomatic in English. The word idiomatic is the linguistic weasel term for "beats the crap out of us why it's this way".
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote: The word idiomatic is the linguistic weasel term for "beats the crap out of us why it's this way".
 
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flammable inflammable
There are strangers on the Plain, Croaker
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What is the difference between filling out and filling in a questionnaire?
It is "ingevuld", "filled in".
Sander Rossel wrote: I think both are correct even though 'in' and 'out' are each others opposites...
As you already said yourself, 'fill out on details' is a no go - spoken language is not coherently logical.
Sander Rossel wrote: In or out?
Throw 'filled out' into GTrans and have your answer.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: Throw 'filled out' into GTrans and have your answer.
Now do the same with "filled in"
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Still, as a Dutch person I prefer to "fill in the gaps on a form", opposed to "filling it out".
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"Fill in" really means "put down so there's nothing wanting". So there's a great amount of leeway left to chance in the directive.
This is not a lecture but you shouldn't let your mind wander in this way. Concentrate.
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RedDk wrote: This is not a lecture but you shouldn't let your mind wander in this way. Concentrate.
I was concentrating on my writing. So much even that I started to wonder what would be better, in or out?
And then I set off to find out about it. Or did I find it in?
Now that's dedicated writing!
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This is a question of preference by location.
Yanks tend to use Fill Out
Poms tend to use Fill In
I would suggest that "Fill In" is strictly more correct as "fill out" is just nonsense.
Best definition I cold find of Fill Out was
"to extend or enlarge to the desired limit; to make complete" (Websters)
Which explains its use as in "Sean fills out the dress" and you can see how it could be used to suggest extending the contents of a form to complete it.
Fill In on the other hand, is "to enrich with detail"
Which is why you can "fill someone in" on the results of the enquiry.
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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A coder tends to use "fill in" but a manager want it to be "fill out"ed ...?
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When in doubt, use "complete". The reader can then make her own interpretation.
Bobby
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Hi Sander,
In Afrikaans we also use "invul". But the more correct Afrikaans would be "voltooi" for a form of some sort. So I would go with "complete" for a questionnaire. So it is probably going to depend on the context 
Regards,
Eben
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In German we use "ausfüllen" for forms, which in principle means close the gaps so that it's completely filled in the end.
The good thing about pessimism is, that you are always either right or pleasently surprised.
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I think these are idiomatic phrases; there's no particular sense to the meaning of the specific words as an entity; native speakers have developed this phrase over time which people just understand the meaning.
So, there's not a way to take phrase 1 from Dutch and translate it word-for-word; it's more about figuring out the context and replacing the entire phrase.
I was told by a Dutchie a couple years ago about 'kip' and playing cards like a chicken, but it didn't mean afraid like English would take chicken. I can't remember exactly, but it was more like being nonsensical.
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Playing cards like a chicken? Never heard of that one before 
I'm not about translating word for word, I understand the English language well enough not to do that 
But still, 'fill in' and 'fill out' makes no sense at all.
We have stuff like that in Dutch too though!
One of my favorite phrases to literally translate is "that shall be me a sausage!", which is what the Dutch say when they really don't care about something
Sounds so stupid in English, yet makes perfect sense in the Netherlands 
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Sander Rossel wrote: "that shall be me a sausage!", which is what the Dutch say when they really don't care about something
Do the Dutch have a particular disregard for sausages then? Clearly this would not go down well in Britain where we use 'water off a duck's back' for the same meaning.
English is full of totally contradictory expressions which actually mean the same thing and make the choice of 'in' and 'out' a very minor matter indeed. Puzzle instead how 'slim chance' and 'fat chance' can possibly both mean something isn't going to happen in a million years or 'flammable' and 'inflammable' both warn you to keep something away from the fire! Then you can really mess your brain up with how steep upward slopes in this green and pleasant land came to be called 'downs' and 'head over heels' came to be the standard expression for lifting your heels over your head!
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I'm always amazed by ordinary and extraordinary.
Ordinary is just something common, in the Netherlands it even has a negative feel to it. If someone is ordinary he or she has no class or style.
Now if you are EXTRA ordinary you're everything but ordinary! How did that happen? 
And we use the words in Dutch too (spelled a little different), but with the same meaning: common and amazing
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'Extra' in that case doesn't mean 'more' but 'outside' as in extra-terrestrial, extraneous etc. It's actually the meaning of 'extra' as a separate word that's extraordinary. Used as a prefix it always means, 'out', 'beyond' etc.
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You deserve a medal for explaining that to me!
It was one of those life questions that kept me up at night
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It translates literally as "having been filled in" - "in" is "in; "vuld" is "filled" and the "ge" part is the "been" (sort of). In German, "Abgefickt" would be "f***ed up" or literally "having been f***ed with/to/up" -- similar construction (note the "ge")...
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Yeah, but that wouldn't make sense
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Well, probably not if it were translated directly, word for word - but most things don't: you have to try to get the sense of it and do an idiomatic translation.
In this case, "filled in" or "fill in" would be the phrase to use, depending on which one fits better in English.
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Both can be correct. When a house burns down, it burns up.
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If you are attacked by clowns, should you go for the juggler?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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