Dutch treat

[struct]

Does anyone know the origin of the phrases "Dutch treat" and "going Dutch" meaning to split the cost of something (usually a meal) with someone (usually a date)?

[Mr.Zambezi]

The same reason rape is Scotch. The dutch we stereotyped as being cheap. So "dutch treat" is a joke on the Dutch. Their idea of treating you is to let you pay for your own meal. Har Har.

Scotch tape, flimsy and thin, was cheap looking, and teh scotch were also stereotyped as cheap.

FWIW, "Hunk" came from characterizations of Hungarians. They did a lot of labor intensive tasks and were thought of as burly. Hunk is a derogatory term for Hungarian.

And don't get me started on a Puerto Rican Shower.

[JeffB]

Originally posted by Mr.Zambezi
The same reason rape is Scotch.

That's one major typo.

Anyway, you're basically correct about the origin of dutch treat -- it was an insult to the Dutch. The Word Detective (http://www.word-detective.com/back-l2.html#dutch) has this to say about it:

"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.

As for Scotch tape, again you are essentially correct. This is from the 3M site (http://www.3m.com/profile/backgrnd/name.html):

This first tape was called simply, "3M Non- Drying Tape."

3M finally named this new product 'Scotch' Brand masking tape and has been trying to explain why ever since. One story has become plausible legend. When the masking tape was first sold, the company, as an economy measure, applied adhesive only to the outer edges of the two-inch strips, leaving the center plain. One edge was to be taped to the paper, the other to the car to hold the masking paper in place. 3M's stinginess with the glue turned out to be a new headache to car painters, for the partially coated tape didn't stick too well, and the story is that these painters growled at 3M salesmen, "Why be so Scotch with the adhesive?" Soon, the tape was officially trademarked "Scotch" Brand.

[Stephen]

Dutch Courage (the result of getting drunk to bolster one's courage) is another example of terms from the feud.

Dutch Oven is a cool thing to have along when you camp out.

[JeffB]

Here's some more from The Word Detective link above:

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).

I may have to pick up Rawson's book in case Coldfire pisses me off.

[Sublight]

There's another 'Dutch' term I've been wondering about. In Japan, inflatable-woman sex toys (or conversation partners if you're lonely enough) are called "Dutch wives", but I've never heard this term used anywhere else. Was this another product of 17th century Anglo-Dutch enmity?

--sublight.