# Terms in one language that reference another nationality? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392 "2010-07-20T21:11:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/1 "2010-07-20T21:11:16Z")
My specific question is that I remember Bernard Lewis mentioning that a certain STD is/was called something like the “French disease” in either Arabic or Farsi. Is that true? What disease is it? More generally though, what terms in one language make reference to a certain nationality? Some obvious examples in English are “French kiss”, “Chinese fire drill”, “Indian summer”, etc. etc. I’m particularly interested in terms from other languages, and any interesting stories that might come along. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/2 "2010-07-20T22:05:37Z")
French toast, English muffin, swiss cheese, german shepherd, irish creme, chinese checkers, canadian bacon, brazil nuts, nigerian scam ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/3 "2010-07-20T22:18:20Z")
I seem to remember that the word for an orange in Dutch is a “Chinese Apple”. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/4 "2010-07-20T22:31:10Z")
‘Cor Anglais’, something fairly close to what we would call the French Horn. Football hooliganism in the eighties was called ‘The English Disease’ in various European languages. Brit examples: Dutch Courage, Going Dutch, Scotch Mist, German Measles, Spanish Flu, Portugese Man o’ War, Turning Japanese, Chinaman (a type of bowl in cricket), Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, Swedish Massage, Danish Pastry, Brazilian, Columbian Marching Powder, French Lessons (rather outdated), Shoe Polish;) ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/5 "2010-07-20T22:42:27Z")
French kissing, French tickler, French fries, ‘Greek’ sex. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/6 "2010-07-20T22:44:13Z")
In French, crème anglaise is a type of custard. Then there’s hollandaise sauce. French also gave us the allemande dance. The Germans, in turn, contributed the name of the Schottische (which has no relationship to Scotland), and of course there’s the Spanish flamenco, which has nothing to do with Flanders. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/7 "2010-07-20T22:45:17Z")
> [@Rain\_Soaked](#): > > I seem to remember that the word for an orange in Dutch is a “Chinese Apple”. True, but they speak Double Dutch ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/8 "2010-07-20T22:53:14Z")
In general, up until the mid-20th Century homosexuality was called the [nationality] vice, where the nationality was something other than your own. In France, they sell “[American sandwich](http://picasaweb.google.com/cwrothman/LondonAndParis#5397071157020182722)” bread in markets. ---
**Author:** ![kun11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@kun11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kun11)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/9 "2010-07-20T22:56:43Z")
Some Japanese examples: amerikan Dogu = corn dogs, echiopia manju = a Japanese sweet that was named in honour of the Ethiopians after they fought off the Italian invasion in the 30’s, baka chon kamera = an old, racist term that means a camera that is so easy to use that a Korean could figure it out (no longer in common use). ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/10 "2010-07-20T23:03:28Z")
Spanish examples: A roller coaster (the amusement park ride) is known as a “montaña rusa”, literally a “Russian mountain”. The letter “Y” is called “i griega”, literally “Greek i”. Somewhere, I remember reading that a turkey (the bird), in the Turkish language, is “hindi”. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/11 "2010-07-20T23:28:23Z")
> [@robert\_andrews](#): > > Spanish examples: > > A roller coaster (the amusement park ride) is known as a “montaña rusa”, literally a “Russian mountain”. > > The letter “Y” is called “i griega”, literally “Greek i”. > > Somewhere, I remember reading that a turkey (the bird), in the Turkish language, is “hindi”. Yeah, in French, Y is called “i grec.” Also, Turkey’s a pretty interesting example. If I remember correctly the several different European languages call the Turkey by a different nationality. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/12 "2010-07-20T23:29:27Z")
A Chinese example would be “mongolian doctor,” which isn’t particularly flattering. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/13 "2010-07-20T23:38:24Z")
It’s pretty common around here in the construction trades to say, for example, a Tiajuana Tile job if a tile job is done poorly. Instead of saying “Mexican”, you pick up on an alliterative Mexican city as the adjective. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/14 "2010-07-20T23:41:22Z")
I recall in college reading a story in German in which one of the characters walks into a messy room and says (in German) “This room looks Polish.” The professor teaching the course said that this, although considered in poor taste, was a common slang expression in German. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/15 "2010-07-21T00:29:23Z")
Know what an “[English key](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cl%C3%A9+anglaise&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=)” is? ---
**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:** [July 21, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/16 "2010-07-21T00:35:19Z")
I’ve heard that every language has an expression analogous to “it’s Greek to me”, except with a different “foreign” language. IIRC, Greeks call an incomprehensible language “Turkish”, Turks call an incomprehensible language “Chinese”, and the Chinese, not having any more bewildering Earthly language to call it, say that it’s the language of Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/17 "2010-07-21T00:37:27Z")
The French disease is syphilis. THE big STD back in the day, it was always from elsewhere. You know, furriners and their filthy mores. The Brits called it the French disease, the French called it the Italian disease, the Portuguese and Dutch called it the Spanish disease, to the Russians it was the Polish disease… The nationality of choice usually was a foreign place the nation’s soldiers spent time in - long campaigns meant more opportunities for soldiers to meet the local prostitutes and acquire invisible new friends. A French letter is a condom. Then again, so is “une capote anglaise” (the English raincoat). More French : - Une branlette espagnole (Spanish wanking, pardon my French ;)) means err… mammary intercourse. - Travail d’arabe (Arab’s work) is a racist idiom meaning a slipshod, half-assed effort. - Travail de romain (Roman’s work) on the other hand means a daunting, extensive task - Le téléphone arabe means gossip, more specifically the process by which a piece of information progressively gets distorted over time as one person tells it to the next. Sometimes used to mean the proverbial grapevine. **- Robert** ’s examples also apply in French : montagnes russes, i grec. - When English speakers don’t understand something, they say “It’s all Greek to me”. We say “C’est du Chinois”. - A chinois (Chinaman) is also a [type of sieve](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinoise), so called because of its shape. “chapeau chinois” (Chinese hat) is another word for cone. - Filer à l’anglaise (escaping the English way) means leaving a party/gathering discreetly and without saying goodbye. - Avoir les yeux comme un lapin russe (to have eyes like a Russian rabbit) means being red-eyed - Matryoshkas are known as “poupée russe” (Russian doll) - “C’est pas le Pérou” (It ain’t Peru) means it’s nothing to write home about. - Boire or être saoul comme un Polonais (drink like a Pole/drunk as a Pole) means getting or being extremely drunk. Similarly, bander comme un Turc means having a raging hard-on. - in theater, une italienne is a rehearsal during which actors don’t bother with intonations, stage directions and so forth, i.e. only focused on memorizing the text. That’s all I can think of right now, I’m sure there’s more. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/18 "2010-07-21T00:54:27Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > Also, Turkey’s a pretty interesting example. If I remember correctly the several different European languages call the Turkey by a different nationality. In French it’s called a _dinde_, which originally comes from _coq d’Inde_, in Catalan it’s _gall dindi_, and in Portuguese it’s a _peru_. But in Spanish it’s called a _pavo_ (originally meaning peacock), in Italian it’s _tacchino_, whose origin I don’t know, and in German it’s _Truthuhn_, apparently from “trut-trut” as an onomatopoeia for its call. (It did use to be called an _indianisches Huhn, Kalikuter_ – which might have given rise to Dutch _kalkoenen_ and similar in the Scandinavian languages, for all I know – or _Kutschhahn_.) In Scots, wonderfully, it’s called a _bubbly-jock_. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/19 "2010-07-21T01:05:04Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > which might have given rise to Dutch _kalkoenen_ and similar in the Scandinavian languages. It appears this is the etymology; the Dutch Wikipedia page relates _kalkoen_ to _Kalikut-hoen_. In Russian, it’s _индейка_ (_indeyka_). ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392/20 "2010-07-21T01:19:07Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > ‘Cor Anglais’, something fairly close to what we would call the French Horn. “Cor Anglais” is an English horn, not a French horn. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-in-one-language-that-reference-another-nationality/547392.md?page=2)