Dear Language Squire: My grandparents came from Holland and I was wondering what the story is behind sayings like Dutch treat, Dutch uncle, and Dutch courage, and something about a Dutch Auction on eBay. What did the Dutch do to the English?
There was a time when the English and Dutch navies were suddenly forced to merge under very artificial circumstances. King William and Queen Mary (yep, the same as the American college "William and Mary") reigned in Britain from 1689 to 1702. Europe was in the horrible period when Catholics and Protestants were being about as unchristian as Christians can get and the wars and revolts of the time were nearly constant.
When William became king, he merged his Dutch navy, which was a force to be respected, with the Royal Navy and set about making the seaways just as miserable for Catholic sailors as the kings of Spain and Portugal had made them for Protestant sailors. His expectation was that he could put a unified fight force afloat that would keep Dutch and English fleets supreme. His sailors, however thought otherwise.
The Dutch, as a generalization, are not known for excessive flexibility in habits or subtlety in verbal expression. The phrase used in many English-speaking countries of someone being a "Dutch Uncle" means that they give their opinions freely, without invitation, and with little concern for the rules of propriety. And, again as a generalization, the Dutch are rightfully and fiercely proud of their accomplishments as a people and are not burdened with any kind of inferiority complex..
And then there are English sailors. While not as openly opinionated as the Dutch, the English, too, have a rather elevated sense of self in contrast to other nations (listen to the second half of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta HMS Pinafore for more data on this). British habits and social rules were not something that gave way lightly to the standards of other cultures. Additionally, the Royal Navy and the Dutch navy were, prior to William and Mary's ascension to the throne, competitors on the high seas and in colonial places from Indonesia to the north coast of Brazil.
Sailors at the time, regardless of nationality, were not always the most tolerant and broadminded segment of their respective country's populations. Imagine, if you will, a sailing ship of the late 18th Century. It is small and cramped and a place of severe discipline and harsh natural conditions, and packed to the gills with men, most of whom would rather be somewhere else. Along come your cousins from overseas to share bunks and square meals (another term from the Royal Navy's square wooden plates that were easily made and efficiently stored) and it's time for cultural tolerance lessons for all hands! Under the circumstances, exchanging cultural values was a somewhat informal affair conducted almost entirely by shoves and pushes.
What happened was a general British contempt for the Dutch and the result was a bad precedent for making slurs against Hollanders. A Dutch treat is no treat at all, as most of us know. Dutch courage, a common British phrase, means allowing an excessive intake of alcohol to provide motivation. And any Dutch uncle will tell you, without being asked, that there are other terms like Dutch auction (starting high and dropping the price until a buyer is found and no inspection of goods. See eBay for more on this.), a Dutch concert (when musicians accidentally played two tunes together), Dutch consolation (meaning only that someone says the problem isn't worse), to be "in Dutch" (get in trouble), and so on. A few of of these phrases are American in origin. They could be a result of the 18th and 19th Century Yanks being unable to her the difference between "deutsch" (German) and Dutch. That'!
s how the Pennsylvania Dutch, who are really of German and Swiss backgrounds, got their name.
Regardless, the Dutch seem to have got a bad rap in all this. Once you're on someone's cultural Bad List, it's hard to get off. While the phrases live on, especially in the non-American English-speaking world, the fact is that the British and the Dutch today have great regard for one another. The Second World War proved to be a showcase for national character and the Dutch showed no end of determination and courage in the face of overwhelming circumstances. Alas, a vocabulary of distain created by disgruntled sailors has long outlived its humorous intent.
And for those who don't know, Holland is a province of the Netherlands. The correct name of the country is the Kingdom of the Netherlands [het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden]. Holland was the richest of the Dutch states and most of the Netherlands commercial activity came through Holland. The word "Dutch" has the same Germanic root as "Deutsch".
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