Who Am I

Chakra's "Go Dutch"

When Chakra in his blog mentioned this new phrase of "going dutch", I was wondering what on earth is this..After a rigorous search, I stumbled upon the following:

"DUTCH TREAT - " When you're invited to a 'Dutch treat' or a 'Dutch luncheon,' the host expects each guest to pay his own way. From the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977), Mr. and Mrs. Morris call "Dutch treat" a derogatory phrase.

Probably no nationality has come in for so consistent a torrent of verbal abuse from the English as their neighbors across the channel the Dutch. In the 17th century the English-Dutch hostility over control of the seas and disputed parts of the New World was intense. The anti-Dutch tradition of early English settlers persisted and gives (America) such terms as 'Dutch treat,' 1887; 'go Dutch,' 1931, no treat at all, each person paying for his own meal or ticket." From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson, "The Dutch people have been so offended by the English language over the past three centuries that in 1934 their government decided to drop the word 'Dutch' and use 'Netherlands' whenever possible."

posted by Gnana Kirukan @ 10:30 AM