Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Going dutch??
I went out to dinner with a guy that also works at Penn State. We went walking downtown and then got dinner at one of the Indian restaurants (his idea). When the bill came, I offered to pay my portion because that is what girls are supposed to do but boys are not supposed to let us pay. He did. I have never gone dutch on a date and was a little surprised.
I wonder if the Dutch are happy that they have this dating practice named after them?
(From: http://www.word-detective.com/back-l2.html)
Dear Evan: I am curious about the history of the phrase "going dutch." -- Gary Zimmerman, via the Internet.
I'm going to hazard a guess that what you're asking about is the phrase "Dutch treat," meaning "no treat at all because each person pays his or her own check." "Dutch treat" is a linguistic relic of a low point in relations between England and The Netherlands. Back in the 17th century, when both countries were building their global empires, their intense rivalry found an outlet in a wide range of popular sayings invented by each country to insult the other. Since we are primarily an English-speaking culture, the few phrases that have survived are, inevitably, those disparaging the Dutch, but even those are rarely heard today.
According to Hugh Rawson, who explores such topics at length in his wonderful book "Wicked Words" (Crown Publishers), many of the English anti-Dutch terms became popular in the U.S. because of confusion with the word "Deutsch," or German, and were often applied to German immigrants. For the connoisseurs of insults among us, Mr. Rawson lists more than two pages of anti-Dutch slurs once popular.
Along with "Dutch treat," which originally implied "cheap," other insults once popular included "Dutch courage" (liquor), "Dutch defense" (a retreat), "Dutch headache" (a hangover), "Do a Dutch" (commit suicide), "Dutch concert" (a drunken uproar), and "Dutch nightingale" (a frog, which seems an especially low blow).
"Dutch treat" has long since lost its original sting, and today "pay your own way" seems to be standard practice among those who date.
I wonder if the Dutch are happy that they have this dating practice named after them?
(From: http://www.word-detective.com/back-l2.html)
Dear Evan: I am curious about the history of the phrase "going dutch." -- Gary Zimmerman, via the Internet.
I'm going to hazard a guess that what you're asking about is the phrase "Dutch treat," meaning "no treat at all because each person pays his or her own check." "Dutch treat" is a linguistic relic of a low point in relations between England and The Netherlands. Back in the 17th century, when both countries were building their global empires, their intense rivalry found an outlet in a wide range of popular sayings invented by each country to insult the other. Since we are primarily an English-speaking culture, the few phrases that have survived are, inevitably, those disparaging the Dutch, but even those are rarely heard today.
According to Hugh Rawson, who explores such topics at length in his wonderful book "Wicked Words" (Crown Publishers), many of the English anti-Dutch terms became popular in the U.S. because of confusion with the word "Deutsch," or German, and were often applied to German immigrants. For the connoisseurs of insults among us, Mr. Rawson lists more than two pages of anti-Dutch slurs once popular.
Along with "Dutch treat," which originally implied "cheap," other insults once popular included "Dutch courage" (liquor), "Dutch defense" (a retreat), "Dutch headache" (a hangover), "Do a Dutch" (commit suicide), "Dutch concert" (a drunken uproar), and "Dutch nightingale" (a frog, which seems an especially low blow).
"Dutch treat" has long since lost its original sting, and today "pay your own way" seems to be standard practice among those who date.
# posted by Tracy @ 12:37 AM 
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