Narses2's Blog - or what I'm slowly making progress on

[Rheged]

I don't know what the Dutch word for 'pedantic' is, but it may apply here.................... 

I've just emailed Kees in Eindhoven, he tells me you need the word "pedant"

[PR19_Kit]

Always handy to know, thanks. 

[NARSES2]

  Holland? Or the Netherlands?   

I've always used The Netherlands in anything even semi official, especially at work, but Holland when chatting to people in the UK.  I mean some of my ancestors would have reffered to them as "Hollanders" whilst I use the word "Dutch".

It's like Europeans calling me a Brit, I'm English or preferably a Sarf Londoner   

[kerick]

What's the difference between Holland, the Netherlands and Dutch? I'm pretty sure the first two are different countries but Dutch? 

[PR19_Kit]

I'm sure TomZ and Hobbes will be able to tell us all about it. 

[kitbasher]

What's the difference between Holland, the Netherlands and Dutch? I'm pretty sure the first two are different countries but Dutch?

All is revealed at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_language

[NARSES2]

What's the difference between Holland, the Netherlands and Dutch? I'm pretty sure the first two are different countries but Dutch? 

"Dutch" is also the word used by most English people (I can't speak for Welsh, Scots or Irish) when refering to people from the Netherlands or indeed anything else from the Netherlands. So for instance Edam and Gouder    are types of  "Dutch" cheese, we don't say "Cheese from the Netherlands".

[Gondor]

we don't say "Cheese from the Netherlands".

It's normally Cheese from the Supermarket

[Rheged]

What's the difference between Holland, the Netherlands and Dutch? I'm pretty sure the first two are different countries but Dutch? 

"Dutch" is also the word used by most English people (I can't speak for Welsh, Scots or Irish) when refering to people from the Netherlands or indeed anything else from the Netherlands. So for instance Edam and Gouder    are types of  "Dutch" cheese, we don't say "Cheese from the Netherlands".

The Netherlands:  12 provinces in Europe, and some Caribbean  territories.  North and South Holland are two of the provinces.  "Dutch" covers the whole population.

Edam (mild, red) is from Noord Holland,  Gouda (stronger, yellow) from Zuid Holland.   My mate Kees in Eindhoven recommends Kanterkaas  (both plain and flavoured) from Friesland

[PR19_Kit]

I used to do a lot of work in 'Holland' in the 80s-90s and one of my customers was the NLR, the Dutch equivalent of the RAE, and they had a big site on one of the reclaimed islands, the Noordoostpolder in the Zuider Zee/Ijsseelmeer, call it what you will. I always stayed in a hotel in Emerloord which is slap in the middle of the island. The hotel was called De Voorhuys, but they called it (in Dutch....) The Hotel at the bottom of the sea' as it was some 30 FEET below see level! If you had a room on the first floor (2nd floor for Americans....) there was a black line painted around the wall just above the top of the door marked 'Zee Level'. Guess what THAT meant!

But anyway, the point of all this was that the staff at the hotel, and most of them at the NLR too, called the rest of the Netherlands 'The Mainland', a bit like Isle of Wight and Isle of Man inhabitants do here, but the Noordoostpolder is still attached (sort of) to the rest of the country. 

Oh yes, the hotel had a SOCKING great ship's mooring chain attached to one corner of the building, at about 1st floor level, which ended up hooked to a HUGE anchor half buried in the car park!

I do love the Dutch sense of humour.   

[scooter]

I used to do a lot of work in 'Holland' in the 80s-90s and one of my customers was the NLR, the Dutch equivalent of the RAE, and they had a big site on one of the reclaimed islands, the Noordoostpolder in the Zuider Zee/Ijsseelmeer, call it what you will. I always stayed in a hotel in Emerloord which is slap in the middle of the island. The hotel was called De Voorhuys, but they called it (in Dutch....) The Hotel at the bottom of the sea' as it was some 30 FEET below see level! If you had a room on the first floor (2nd floor for Americans....) there was a black line painted around the wall just above the top of the door marked 'Zee Level'. Guess what THAT meant!

But anyway, the point of all this was that the staff at the hotel, and most of them at the NLR too, called the rest of the Netherlands 'The Mainland', a bit like Isle of Wight and Isle of Man inhabitants do here, but the Noordoostpolder is still attached (sort of) to the rest of the country. 

Oh yes, the hotel had a SOCKING great ship's mooring chain attached to one corner of the building, at about 1st floor level, which ended up hooked to a HUGE anchor half buried in the car park!

I do love the Dutch sense of humour.   

Oh, I have a good idea what that black line means.  There was a barbecue place outside Biloxi, but inland, that had the high water mark from Katrina. 

And I guess the owners don't want the hotel to go chasing after the Crimson Permanent Assurance 

[The Rat]

Just north of toronto is an area known as The Holland Marsh. Originally a real marsh, it was drained about a century ago and turned into agricultural land, but still needs constant draining into the ditch that completely surrounds it. After WWII, a lot of Dutch farmers came over and settled there, perhaps because of their experience with reclaimed land. So that's why it's called Holland Marsh, right?

No, although everybody seems to believe so. It was actually named for Major Samuel Holland, who was Dutch, and worked as a surveyor in Ontario in the 1700s. The first Dutch settlers didn't arrive until the early 1930s, with another major influx after the war.

There's your Canadian history lesson for today, introducing even more thread drift. 

[Charlie_c67]

Ah well, every day's a schooldag...

[Rick Lowe]

There's always something new to learn. 

[Weaver]

I watch a Youtube channel called "Itchy Boots" which is run by a marvelous Dutch lady called Noraly Schoenmaker who's been riding motorbikes solo all over the world for the last seven years. She's ridden all over India and the Far East, up the entire length of the Americas from Argentina to Alaska, and from the northermost tip of Norway right down to the southernmost tip of Africa. She's currently in Pakistan, on her way to Japan, having ridden through Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia to get there. I'm currently reading her book, "Free Ride".

When she's asked where she's from, she always says "Holland", pronouncing it "Hollande", with a cut-short extra syllable on the end. I've no idea if she thinks that's strictly correct or not, but it seems to be the universal term understood around the world, especially by those with little English.