I’m Dutch. I’m sorry, I can’t help it. We’re a tiny country that several centuries ago had some impact on the world, but that has dwindled dramatically over the last 100 years.
Still, I notice the Dutch features quite regularly in the English language, most often in a slightly negative tone. In relation to for example the French, who historically have had a much bigger impact on the British and Americans, ‘Dutch’ features much more than French, comparitively. Why? What is so perculiar to us that we have this dubious honor?
Some examples of expressions that I know of. And if anyone can add those I’ve missed:
Going Dutch - Everyone pays for themselves (e.g. in a restaurant)
Dutch courage - Being drunk before daring to do something
In Dutch - in trouble or disfavor with someone
Dutch concert - a group of people sing different songs at the same time
Dutch oven - farting under the bed sheets and trap someone under them
Dutchie - a joint
Double Dutch - jumpin ropes with two ropes at the same time
Dutch rudder - masturbating while someone else moves your arm
Dutch kiss - swapping semen after a blow job
Dutch hunk - someone who thinks he’s hot, but isn’t
And after checking Urban dictionary, I noticed a disturbing amount of sexual acts that feature the word Dutch. Why?
Oh, I don’t know, we’ve got loads of phrases relating to the french, for instance off the top of my head…
French letter (condom)
French kiss (snog with tongues)
French fries
Mind my french (bad language).
However, I suspect the use of ‘Dutch’ possibly relates to the historic enmity between our two former maritime nations. Nothing like a bit of warfare and seafaring competition to encourage some unsavoury references.
Is that where “Dutch Courage” came from? The idea that Dutch sailors only gave the Royal Navy a good thrashing because their sailors were tanked and unable to comprehend how dangerous the RN really was (according to the RN).
That doesn’t explain why a lot of those expressions are pretty contemporary. I doubt our ancient mariners had a lot of Dutch ovens with each other, not to mention they did a lot of rope jumping. Although the Dutch rudder and kiss may have been pretty commonplace on board
A Dutch uncle is somebody who is unduly harsh and severe. A Dutch treat is the same as “going Dutch” in a restaurant…it’s no treat at all. A Dutch cap is a diaphragm. That probably got its name because a diaphragm looks like a traditional Dutch cap.
As for “Dutch oven” meaning farting under the bed, that no doubt comes from the cooking utensil called a “Dutch oven”, which is an iron pot with a tight, indented lid and legs. Originally it was set up so you’d cook by lighting a fire under it, and then put coals over it, so the heat would be distributed evenly. Here’s a picture:
Okay, I’ve never heard this. (I’m a native English-speaker who’s lived for a time in both Holland and Flanders.) But a Dutch oven is a particular type of cooking pot. I can only imagine that the ‘bed fart’ meaning is localized crude slang drawing form the imagery of the sealed bakeware.
Again new to me; but it might be because Amsterdam (and by extension the Netherlands) is famous for its tolerance of marijuana use. I’m familiar with ‘Dutchie’ as a pastry.
This was a standard game in the schoolyard, and we did call it that. But all these sex-related things:
It does seem likely to me that some of these are corruptions of ‘deutsch’ (German word for the German language or peoples,) as in the Pennsylvania Dutch.
And German culture has had a huge influence on the English language, going all the way back to the Angles and the Saxons.
You should play Sid Meier’s Pirates! The Dutch don’t start out with many ports in the Caribbean, but they do have Curacao, which is a great base for plundering the Spanish Main. Last time I played, I conquered so many towns that the Spanish Main had nearly become the Dutch Main.
Going Dutch - Everyone pays for themselves (e.g. in a restaurant)
Dutch courage - Being drunk before daring to do something
Double Dutch - incomprehensible
I don’t think the expressions in the OP are very contemporary. Most of them sound to me like expressions that would have been more common in the 1940’s than at present. Some of them are so rare that I wonder (as I wonder about a lot of words in the Urban Dictionary) if they aren’t only used among a tiny group of people who think that their personal slang deserves to be included in the Urban Dictionary.
The expressions in the OP sound like a lot of terms which are insults to ethnic groups. There were a lot of similar ones intended as insults to gypsies/Romani, American Indians/Native Americans, Jews, Mexicans, and pretty much any other group you can name. Nearly all of these have become less common recently as people have become less willing to use such insults.
Well, the reason I included my examples as being contemporary, is because I only know of them because they featured in movies or TV shows I’ve seen recently. Dutch rudder for example was mentioned a few times in Zack and Miri make a Porno, the Dutch oven came (I believe) from an episode of House. Double Dutch as a rope jumping thing from the song Put your Records On from Corinne Bailey Rae. All of them not really obscure sources.
“Double Dutch” as a jump rope term isn’t insulting. I think the term came from the earlier terms “double Dutch ice cream” or “double Dutch chocolate.” I think that at one point it was standard to associate the Dutch with chocolate. Double Dutch in reference to jump ropes means just that two ropes are being used. At some point long ago someone decided it would be cute to call it “Double Dutch” rather than just “double” because they thought it would be clever to reference double Dutch chocolate. “Dutch rudder” and “Dutch oven,” in the senses that you mention, may be used in porno films, but they aren’t remotely well known elsewhere. It’s entirely possible that obscure insults which have died out in other places continue to be used in porno films. After all, nobody cares if they’re being insulting there.
The Dutch were a big influence in the Philadelphia area and Southeastern part of Pennsylvania when the Colonies and U.S.A were being formed. Philadelphia was the birthplace of freedom, the U.S.A. and everybody who was anybody made their way through. It was the heart of commerce, politics and culture.
I just think this is worth noting, because I can’t say the same thing about the French or any other specific group of people.
The Dutch (along with the French, Welsh, and Scots) were the nearest neighbors of English speakers for most of the last 1500 years. Dutch and Low German are so close to English that many words and phrases are mutually intelligible, and that proportion increases the further back in time you you. Colloquially “Dutch” is used indiscriminately for Dutch and Germans, and by extension foreigners in general. A lot of times when an object or custom needs a “but it’s not the NORMAL X” it gets tagged with one of these (Usually Dutch or French), or, more recently, Chinese or Significant Local Minority Community X (Mexican in my part of the world, for instance). It doesn’t say anything about the Dutch other than their proximity and maybe their linguistic relationship to English.
Dutch courage, going dutch and double dutch are all common in England. Some of the others aren’t common but I’ve heard them before. I think the point is that ‘Dutch’ is used a lot in English as a description of things that don’t have any obvious connection to the Netherlands.
As people have said, I think it has a lot to with enmity between the English and the Dutch, especially when there was the Anglo-Dutch wars and fierce competition between their trading companies in Asia.
