# Why are Hollanders/Netherlands natives called "Dutch"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815 "2008-09-30T04:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/41 "2009-01-21T00:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] But that just invites the follow-up question; if we’re (English speakers) going to call them “Dutch”, why don’t we go all the way and call their country “Dutchland”, or “Dutchsylvania”\*, or somesuch? [/QUOTE] Because the English tend to go and abridge too far? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/42 "2009-01-22T05:11:20Z")
I know I’m a thread-killer _par excellence_, but _that_ killed it? Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/43 "2009-01-22T05:38:36Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Because the English tend to go and abridge too far? Aaah! :eek: Go play in your own Market Garden, willya? (Of course, showing a Full Monty would get you arrested for indecent exposure…) :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/44 "2009-01-22T06:48:08Z")
Sooooo, who are the **Danes** then?! ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/45 "2009-01-22T10:55:11Z")
Assuming you’re not wooshing with this, I’ll clarify the Danes 😉 Denmark quite simply means the “Land of the Danes” and the Danes were Vikings from the Danish isles. Or to quote Wiki: > [@wiki](#): > > Danes, the name given generically by European peoples to the Scandinavian raiders during the Viking Age This since it were mostly Danish vikings who raided England. Basically; the Swedes went to Russia, the Norwegians to Ireland and the Icelanders tagged along wherever they could and played merry melodies. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/46 "2009-01-22T11:42:18Z")
In [the player](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105151/), one of the characters explains that Iceland traded names with greenland to fool the vikings.i.e Greenland is mostly ice and Iceland is nice and green ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/47 "2009-01-22T11:52:32Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > In [the player](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105151/), one of the characters explains that Iceland traded names with greenland to fool the vikings.i.e Greenland is mostly ice and Iceland is nice and green I’ve read accounts that it was a marketing ploy to attract away Icelanders to travel further west to the Greenland colonies (and the eventual Newfoundland colonies.) By vikings, that is. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/48 "2009-01-22T12:36:48Z")
Or maybe the south of Greenland just was a whole lot greener 1000 years ago, than it is today. And that’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that Iceland’s nice and green 😉 ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/49 "2009-01-22T12:42:11Z")
> [@WormTheRed](#): > > And that’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that Iceland’s nice and green 😉 Pshaw! And just what would _ **you** _ know about Iceland? :rolleyes: ETA: We call them Dutch because it is more fun to make fun of the Dutch than it is to make fun of the Nederlanders. Nederlanders is too long and bulky. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/50 "2009-01-22T13:00:48Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > Pshaw! And just what would _ **you** _ know about Iceland? :rolleyes: > > ETA: > > We call them Dutch because it is more fun to make fun of the Dutch than it is to make fun of the Nederlanders. Nederlanders is too long and bulky. Well true, the average Netherlander is a lot taller then someone from Japan…but realy mr “I come from the land of the sumowrestler” Seodoa…are you calling us fat? ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/51 "2009-01-22T13:05:12Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > Well true, the average Netherlander is a lot taller then someone from Japan…but realy mr “I come from the land of the sumowrestler” Seodoa…are you calling us fat? Yes, sir or madam, I is calling you fat. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/52 "2009-01-22T13:30:45Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > Yes, sir or madam, I is calling you fat. 😉 Oh…That’s okay then It’s the cheese… ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/53 "2009-01-24T04:58:15Z")
Actually I only asked because of a recent Simpsons episode where Milhouse’s uncle visits and keeps making a big deal about how half the family is Dutch and the other Danes and that those on the Dutch side are all cowards! ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/54 "2009-01-24T08:53:30Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Actually I only asked because of a recent Simpsons episode where Milhouse’s uncle visits and keeps making a big deal about how half the family is Dutch and the other Danes and that those on the Dutch side are all cowards! probably a reference to[Dutch courage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_courage), no? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/55 "2009-01-24T09:26:33Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > One million? I guess yet another massive exaggeration by enthusiast supporters of the local language. Flemish is almost extinct in France. They must count everybody whose grandmother once used a Flemish word.. I’m not surprised a Parisian would lowball the number of speakers of “patois” in the Republic. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/56 "2009-01-24T16:36:15Z")
> [@glee](#): > > - there’s a chess opening variation named after a town in Holland (Scheveningen). > In conversation with a Dutch family I mentioned this. They just looked blank. When I spelt it, they laughed and pronounced it with an indescribable guttural throat noise. :smack: Hey, I used to stay in Scheveningen whenever I had to travel to the embassy in The Hague. When people at the embassy would ask me where I was staying, I’d just tell them “down the road a bit.” The English fluency of many in The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland is astounding. It makes touring or business a pleasure, if not so much for the immersion linguist. I recall one of the Swedish security people at the Stockholm embassy telling me he spoke six languages. I was properly humbled. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/57 "2009-01-24T18:39:56Z")
I recall reading, too, that the Dutch Resistance during World War II used to use Scheveningen as a shibboleth – in the exact original meaning of the term. Apparently, the occupying Germans’ counterintelligence would attempt to penetrate the Resistance with agents trained to impersonate Netherlanders (and of course fluent in Dutch). The technique to smoke them out was to lead casual conversation around to the past or previous summer, and someone’s holiday or wish for one on the shore, being sure to bring up Scheveningen in the course of the conversation. Apparently nobody but a lifelong Dutch speaker canget the pronunciation just right. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/58 "2009-01-25T02:57:51Z")
Is **Coldfire** still around? He was/is in Amsterdam and I believe a Netherlander. (I am fluent in Flemings after drinking Duval beer with my cousins in the Limberg part of Belgium:D) ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815/59 "2009-01-25T11:26:55Z")
Coldfire he did the epic Dutch remembrance thread thread.? joke A German tourist is seeing the sights in Amsterdam, when suddenly the town goes quiet, the buses and trams stop. the radio goes silent , the people in the street stand still and stop talking for 2 minutes on the fourth of May no sound is made in Holland Understanding something solemn is going on the tourist, stop walking ,holds his tongue and waits… joining 15 million Dutch people in 2 minutes of silence after two minutes, the buses start riding and from the radio the national anthem starts playing. when the people start talking again…the tourist asks a local what just happened “ah” the local explains " what you just witnessed was Remembrance of the Dead, we take 2 minutes each year to remember the Dutch resistance fighters, the American, British and Canadian soldiers who died in the second world war, so we know how horrible war is, and pray it never happens again" “Oh” says the German tourist " that is beautiful, war is terrible, you know that a lot of Germans died too" “Oh Yes” the local replies… “we are having a big party to celebrate them tomorrow” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-hollanders-netherlands-natives-called-dutch/465815.md?page=2)