PROUD TO BE DUTCH? (3 april 2004)
Ever heard of French letters? Of course, it may be something like Ma chère Arlette, J'étais très heureux de reçevoir ta lettre ...
But the English seem to have given this expression a special meaning which has some connection with safe sex.
Names of nationalities sometimes have meanings other than just that people or things come from a certain part of this world. For instance chinaware , French kisses and Spanish fly don't have much to do with the countries these words suggest.
Of course, being a Dutchman, I was interested to know what the Anglosaxon world thought about the Dutch. So I consulted the Oxford English Dictionary. I'll give you the first ten I found:
| Dutch bargain: | bargain concluded by the parties drinking together |
| Dutch concert: | concert where each performer plays a different tune |
| Dutch cap: | French letter |
| Dutch comfort: | things might have been much worse |
| Dutch courage: | courage caused by drinking alcohol |
| Dutch feast: | dinner or party where the host gets drunk first |
| Dutch treat: | each person paying for himself |
| Dutch uncle: | person who lectures someone paternally |
| Dutch wife: | long pillow used in bed for support of the limbs |
| doubledutch: | unintelligible language |
Yes, I'm Dutch too. Can you imagine this has not exactly contributed to my self-esteem?
