# rhymes not with Dutch **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 24, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206 "2007-06-24T11:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/1 "2007-06-24T11:47:47Z")
This is a pointless question, so I won’t post it in GQ: people from Germany are called Germans, people from France are French, and so on. So why are people from The Netherlands called Dutch? Seems to be a an english language version, since in Scandinavia we just call them Netherlenders. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/2 "2007-06-24T12:41:00Z")
It’s a corruption of _Deutsch_, “German”, which used to refer to Germanic peoples generally, not just who we call Germans today. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/3 "2007-06-24T13:01:06Z")
Actually, it stems from the Middle Dutch word [Dietsch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_%28terminology%29#Dutch), which means “of the people”. The German word _Deutsch_ has the same origin, as the two languages are closely related. It’s interesting to know that the Dutch themselves call themselves _Nederlanders_, and their language _Nederlands_ (incidently, _Hollanders_ and _Hollands_ are also used, but Holland really only refers to the provinces of Noord and Zuid Holland, not all 12 provinces). So I’m ok with it if the Anglo world started calling us _Netherlanders_ to take the confusion with the Gerries away. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/4 "2007-06-24T13:48:00Z")
The Dutch (including Flanders) USED to call themselves Dietsch/ duytsch. . . or what Coldfire said. I still don’t have a grasp of Walsch, though-- was that Middle Dutch for any foreigners, or someone specific? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/5 "2007-06-24T16:26:55Z")
Wallonia, or Wallonie in French, seems to mean [land of the valleys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallonie#Etymology), although there are some alternative theories as well (see the link). ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/6 "2007-06-24T17:04:53Z")
[QUOTE=Coldfire] … It’s interesting to know that the Dutch themselves call themselves _Nederlanders_, and their language _Nederlands_ (incidently, _Hollanders_ and _Hollands_ are also used, but Holland really only refers to the provinces of Noord and Zuid Holland, not all 12 provinces). So I’m ok with it if the Anglo world started calling us _Netherlanders_ to take the confusion with the Gerries away. 😃 [/QUOTE] Fine by me if that were to catch on. 🙂 I am not, of course, any kind of Nederlander but I certainly think it is annoying of people to say “Holland”, when they mean the whole country of the Netherlands. (Why, yes, I am a nit-picking idiot who gets annoyed on other peoples’ behalf 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/7 "2007-06-24T17:36:31Z")
[QUOTE=Coldfire] It’s interesting to know that the Dutch themselves call themselves _Nederlanders_ [/QUOTE] _Little Neddie Nederlander?_ ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/8 "2007-06-24T20:34:56Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] It’s a corruption of _Deutsch_, “German”, which used to refer to Germanic peoples generally, not just who we call Germans today. [/QUOTE] This is also why the Amish are known as the “Pennsylvania _Dutch_” when they’re actually ethnically German. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/9 "2007-06-24T21:44:04Z")
[QUOTE=Celyn] Fine by me if that were to catch on. 🙂 I am not, of course, any kind of Nederlander but I certainly think it is annoying of people to say “Holland”, when they mean the whole country of the Netherlands. (Why, yes, I am a nit-picking idiot who gets annoyed on other peoples’ behalf 😃 ) [/QUOTE] The Netherlands is a _country_? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/10 "2007-06-24T22:18:00Z")
_nether (adj.): located beneath or below; lower or under._ This would seem to imply that the population is subterranean-- which would certainly be cool if true: a vast network of caverns stretching for untold miles beneath the earth, the eerie silence broken only by the slow drip of water on stone, the chirp of the blind cave cricket, and the echoing clatter of wooden shoes as pallid Nether-Landers move about in the eternal gloom, their unspeakable errands lit only by the pale gloaming radiance of luminous fungi. If it’s simply a reference to the fact that much of the land is below sea level, then Americans would surely wind up confusing “Netherlander” with our own native term, “New Orleanian.” There’s really no ideal solution. Anyway, nobody wants to hear about what the Little Nether Boy stuck in the dike. ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/11 "2007-06-25T09:22:54Z")
Brilliant imagination there **Terrifel** , how am I now ever going to be able to keep a straight face in front a … ehm… a citizen from the Netherlands 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhymes-not-with-dutch/409206/12 "2007-06-25T20:30:55Z")
[QUOTE=Kotick] Brilliant imagination there **Terrifel** , how am I now ever going to be able to keep a straight face in front a … ehm… a citizen from the Netherlands 😃 [/QUOTE] because he is from the nether regions? 😕