Before I start, I should probably let you know my prejudices. I used to work for a publishing company and was let go (twice) after the company was acquired by a Dutch company. My fault for coming back in the first place. One time during the question-an-answer part of one of those company-wide how did the company do last year meetings, one San Diego employee stood up and said, “I’ve heard that there is an expression going around, that ‘If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much.’ Have you heard this and what do you think about it?” The rep from the Amsterdam office who was answering the questions smiled knowing, sort of a silent chuckle, and proceeded to lie through his teeth about how important they thought their American counterparts were. Suffice it to say that there is no love lost between me and the Dutch.
That said, have you ever noticed that just about anytime the word Dutch is combined with another word, the meaning is either the opposite or something negative. Say someone invites you to dinner, and says, “Dutch treat.” That means you’re buying your own dinner. Dutch courage is bravery by virtue of being drunk. The Flying Dutchman, a sailor. I did some research and found several others:
- A Dutch wife or a Dutch widow is prostitute.
- Dutch comfort means saying things like, “Things could be worse.”
- Dutch metal or Dutch gold is a cheap alloy resembling gold.
- A Dutch concert is a noise or uproar, as from a drunken crowd.
- Dutch-bottomed is empty.
- Dutch pride means straight.
Okay, I made up that last one, but the others are real.