# Why does 'Dutch' comes up so often in the English language **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2009, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527 "2009-05-06T10:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/21 "2009-05-06T14:12:03Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > A Dutch uncle is somebody who is unduly harsh and severe. For some reason, I thought a “Dutch uncle” was a “sugar daddy,” an older (married) man who kept a young mistress with lavish gifts. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/22 "2009-05-06T14:16:05Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > A Dutch uncle is somebody who is unduly harsh and severe. Really? I thought it referred to someone who would speak to you sternly, but truly cared for your well-being. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/23 "2009-05-06T14:20:37Z")
> [@Plynck](#): > > Really? I thought it referred to someone who would speak to you sternly, but truly cared for your well-being. Well, the Urban Dictionary isn’t much help in that regard: **1. Dutch uncle** One who talks with great severity or directness; sever mentor \*“I got mad and talked like a Dutch uncle” \* **2. dutch uncle** a well sanded wooden board with a penis sized hole for masturbatory delight! \*I got no play last night, so I went home and used the dutch uncle. \* \*\*3. Dutch Uncle \*\* Inserting a lolipop into a girls asshole, and then having her suck it while you fuck her. \*She was a skank so I introduced her to my Dutch uncle \* ---
**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:** [May 6, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/24 "2009-05-06T15:39:07Z")
As others said - England’s two closest Continental neighbours and rivals were the French and Dutch, so it’s natural it would have a lot of mildly xenophobic idioms relating to them. That said, IMO the only expression in your list that’s current and very widely used is “going Dutch,” and maybe “in Dutch” although that’s a little dated. (Also “Dutch oven” in the sense of cooking pot.) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/25 "2009-05-06T17:04:23Z")
Double Dutch is certainly current in England, although I’ve never heard it in the sense given in the OP. It simply means gibberish, as in that’s all double dutch to me. Earliest cite for this sense in OED is 1879. OED also has a draft addition for the rope game. It marks it as North American and gives an earliest cite of 1895. Is the gibberish sense unknown in the US? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/26 "2009-05-06T17:06:56Z")
I’ve never heard it used that way. ---
**Author:** ![NTChrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e274bd/32.png) [@NTChrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NTChrist)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/27 "2009-05-06T17:22:00Z")
> [@Aghris](#): > > Dutchie - a joint A dutchie is actually a reference to a **blunt** , which involves splitting open a cheap cigar, and rerolling it with the contents of your choice. It comes from the brand of cheap cigars in North America called “Dutch Masters.” [Dutch Master Cigar Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Masters_(cigar)) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/28 "2009-05-06T17:52:42Z")
> [@Aghris](#): > > 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 Never heard of these last three. One not yet mentioned is “beat the Dutch,” meaning to be remarkable or surprising, as in “Doesn’t that beat the Dutch?” > [@aldiboronti](#): > > Is the gibberish sense unknown in the US? Before I ever heard of Double Dutch as a jumprope game, I knew it as a form of children’s code language similar to Pig Latin. You basically double every consonant sound, susomumthuthingung lulikuk thuthisus. ETA: “Dutchie” was popularized by the 1982 hit song “Pass the Dutchie” by Musical Youth. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/29 "2009-05-06T18:07:20Z")
I’ve frequently heard “Dutch oven”- on the SDMB. Never saw it outside the dope, but then again, there’s a lot of slang I’ve never heard in RL. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/30 "2009-05-06T18:15:46Z")
> [@Aghris](#): > > Why? I suspect that in the vast majority of these cases, “Dutch” was simply the most convenient word available to mean “those foreigners are weird!” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527/31 "2009-05-06T19:00:42Z")
Malcolm McLaren did a song (about competitive rope skipping) called [Double Dutch.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt6Co7EMNCU) Nice mbaqanga rhythms (3 years\* before\* Paul Simon’s _Graceland_) Then there’s the [Dutch Wife](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikufujin)…which is because the Dutch had the sweltering tropical Batavian colony, I think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-dutch-comes-up-so-often-in-the-english-language/495527.md?page=1)