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Re: Beating the Dutch

From:Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...>
Date:Monday, April 29, 2002, 12:15
 --- John wrote:
> > English is full of these "Dutch" idioms: Dutch anchor 'a useless > object (archaic)', Dutch uncle 'someone who talks to you patronizingly', > Dutch treat 'each pays for himself', Dutch auction 'the price is lowered > until someone bids', if that's so I'm a Dutchman '[emphatic negation]', > Dutch courage 'courage induced by alcohol', double Dutch 'jargon'.
Hmmm... Except for the "Dutch auction" I'm not so sure whether to take all these qualifications as a compliment ;) But at least, nothing that points into the direction of our supposed greed. I always thought, that the expression "to go Dutch" means, that a restaurant bill is split up equally between the participants. Jan ===== "You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." --- J. Michael Straczynski __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com

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John Cowan <jcowan@...>