# Is "Dutch" racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2000, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807 "2000-08-10T05:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/41 "2000-08-11T01:18:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pweetman \* > \*\*Isn’t Rik Smit’s nickname “Dutch Treat”? \*\* No, it’s ‘The Dunking Dutchman’, or as I like to call him, ‘Dutchboy in the Paint’. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/42 "2000-08-11T01:30:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mjollnir \* > \*\*“Dutch” was used as a derogatory adjective ascribed by the English settlers, and referred to things that were not specifically “Dutch.” (Remember they weren’t the best of friends in New Amsterdam.) > > Dutch treat: not a “treat” at all. Each pays his own. > Dutch uncle: one who admonishes sternly and bluntly > Dutch oven: rather primitive contraption > Dutch courage: “courage” born of inebriation > And there are probably more. \*\* To this I add another one, one whose origin I cannot fathom- and of course, equally derogatory, I’d wager. As a Cameraman, I’m asked to shoot a shot “Dutch Angle”- that is, with the horizon tilted to one side. Origin??? As far as I can tell, the so-called “Dutch Master” Painters, whose work I revere ( especially Vermeer’s) always kept a pretty level horizon. Whence, then, this term? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/43 "2000-08-11T02:21:48Z")
The Word Detective website has a column on “Dutch” slurs at [http://www.word-detective.com/back-h.html#dutch](http://www.word-detective.com/back-h.html#dutch) It doesn’t mention Dutch Angle, but does reference a more complete listing in a book by Clayton Rawson. Maybe that could give a history of the term. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/44 "2000-08-11T06:29:08Z")
OK, I can see how those other expressions are derogatory, but saying that “dutch oven” is insulting, just because it’s simple? It works well, for what it’s designed for, and I’ve yet to see the “high-tech” equivalent. Maybe that particular term has a legitimate origin? Invented in the Netherlands, perhaps? Used by the “Pensylvania Dutch”? Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/45 "2000-08-11T09:09:15Z")
From [this](http://victorian.fortunecity.com/cloisters/46/ch8.htm) site: > [@](#): > > The DUTCH ANGLE is a shot where the camera is tilted so that vertical lines are at an angle. A person standing would not be perpendicular when this is shown on the screen. **They might be used to provide P.O.V. shots of a person who is drunk or mentally unbalanced**. They might also be used in a montage for effect. A screenwriter would rarely have need to call for a Dutch Angle shot. A WAG: it’s the drunk and mentally unbalanced thing that makes it Dutch 😃 This was the only thing I could find though. I’m thinking about famous Dutch film-producers like Bert Haanstra and Dick Maas, but they’re all pretty conventional from what I recall. Anton Corbijn is slightly more experimental, but he’s mostly known for his photographic work (e.g. the cover of the U2 Joshua Tree album). He did do some videos as well. “Losing my Religion” by R.E.M. comes to mind, although I’m not sure it’s his. A Dutch oven is unknown to me as well. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/46 "2000-08-11T10:16:37Z")
A Dutch oven is a cast iron pot with a lid. Very efficient and useful. There is also the uncouth practice of farting under the bed covers and holding one’s partner’s head under the blankets. I don’t know if this charming custom and term is only in NZ/Australia though. ---
**Author:** ![Dystopos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@Dystopos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dystopos)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/47 "2000-08-12T05:50:06Z")
Since everything else has already been covered, I’ll go ahead and mention that “Pennsylvania Dutch” is a corruption of “Deutsch” and they were indeed of German origin. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess that the middel-Dutch “duitsch” for “common” might be from the same root as the German “deutsch” - many people call themselves “the people” or “the folk” in their own language and Deutsch is not unrelated to Nederlands. also: “Dutch-doors” - traditional Nederlandish carpentry or slur for “half-assed door”? “Dutch Apple Pie” - almost certainly German, right? “Dutch” as slang for a bad temper “in Dutch” as slang for in trouble Dank u vel en goedenacht. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/48 "2000-08-12T06:39:17Z")
Seems like if anything is deragoratory, it’s the term “Netherlands”. I mean, the term “nether” doesn’t have all that great of connotations. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/49 "2000-08-12T22:08:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dystopos \* > \*\*Dank u vel en goedenacht. \*\* Dank u **w** el en goedenacht 😉 I’ll leave the translation to your imagination, Teeming Millions - it’s an easy one. The Ryan: it isn’t derogatory when you think of the actual reason: _Nederland_\* means “low land” in middle-Dutch. Our tallest mountain (and I use the term loosely) is 312 meters high - the same hight as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Pathetic, huh 😉 Add to that the knowledge that 70% of the country is below water level because of our ability to build good dykes (no pun, naturally), and the term _Nether_ is quite appropriate. Anyone who knows the Dutch, knows that “Nether” does not apply to our general attitude - we’re pretty arrogant bastards, in the patriotic sense of the word 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807/50 "2000-08-12T22:11:49Z")
Also, **VB** is a foreign language to most Dutch people, as can be witnessed above… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dutch-racist/28807.md?page=2)