Some American “patriot” insulted everyone’s favorite Netherlander by calling him a “German pig,” and Niek understandably feels–well–insulted.
One problem is, we don’t have any rude epithets for the Dutch. I’ve heard people abuse the English as snobby, the Irish as drinkers, the Polish as stupid.
My mother was French-Canadian, and we lived close enough to Canada so that lots of our townspeople were too. When somebody drove in a way she didn’t like, she’d yell, “Look at that frog-eating Frenchman!”
But the Dutch?
Okay, guys, I lived near Amsterdam for three months once, so here are some stereotyped remarks about the Dutch. They are funny, healthy, and tall compared to me. They ride huge battered bikes at scary speeds. They shake hands a lot. They kiss three times instead of two. They are kind but not tactful, or perhaps it would be better to say they are very direct and clear about what they want and what they think. On patriotic and soccer-related occasions, you can see kids wearing orange in some very remarkable ways.
I must say these stereotypes of “the Dutch” don’t seem to suggest any useful ethnic insults…
Anyway, people who insult other people’s origins are jerks. Of course, I don’t include my mom in that category, because everyone knows moms get to make their own rules. Hey, that includes me!
Good. I hereby rule that nobody on earth gets to do any more patriotic insulting of anybody else. And if they do… “I’m made of rubber, you’re made of glue–What you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”
1 response so far ↓
1 Lisa Williams // Jun 26, 2004 at 7:35 pm
The dutch created the insult that became a rallying cry of inhabitants of the British Colonies that became the US. They called British immigrants to the states “Jan Case,” which to the British ear, sounded like “Yankees.”