10 things you probably didn’t know about the Dutch and the Netherlands
I lived in the Netherlands for a couple of years, and had a Dutch boyfriend for almost 4 years, so I know quite a bit about this quirky country and its unusual inhabitants (and I mean that in a good way). I’m going to share some pearls of wisdom about the Dutch and their country that I gleaned during my stay, and limit it to 10 because I could easily write 100 and bore you to death. Hope you enjoy.
1. Holland and the Netherlands are not synonymous. Holland is just one section of the Netherlands, largely the western coastal region, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leiden and the Hague. However, other famous Dutch cities like Utrecht, Groningen, Maastricht, Den Bosch and Leeuwarden are *not* in Holland.
2. The Dutch love sprinkles on toast. I’m talking the sprinkles kids put on ice cream, but Dutch adults put it on bread. For breakfast. It’s called “hagelslag”, and De Ruijter makes the best kinds. Another variant, “muisjes” – little mice – are candied anise seeds; also delicious on buttered toast. You can get either pink, female, or blue, male, varieties. I’m not joking.
3. The Dutch will only eat one hot meal a day. If you arrive at a Dutch friend’s house around dinnertime, they might ask, “Heb je al warm gegeten?” which means “Have you eaten something hot already?” If you had a hot lunch, your friend will prepare a (cold) sandwich for you for dinner. You can not eat 2 hot meals per day.
4. Dutch “g” “ch” and “r” are all pronounced more or less the same (although the Dutch insist they’re different) – a harsh, guttural “kh” sound (like you’re clearing phlegm from your throat). So the word “gracht” (canal) combines all three “kh” sounds in one word…that sounds really, really awful: “khkhakht.” This is why “Grolsch” (the beer) sounds like “Khkhols”, not “grolsh”.
5. The Dutch love speaking English. See #4. Seriously, they all speak perfect, although heavily-accented, English. They will pronounce “idea” eye-DEE, and they will resist pronouncing it with 3 syllables in English, no matter how many times you correct them. On a related note, “I have no idea” is “geen idee”, which sounds a little like “rainy day” when pronounced correctly.
6. The Dutch loathe the Germans. Some pretend they don’t, some are openly proud of it, but they all look down on them. An example: I was walking along a beach (Schevengingen) with a Dutch guy, and we saw a guy furiously digging a hole in the sand. My Dutch friend sneered. I asked him why the guy was digging a hole. He said, “Because he’s a dumb German.” I pressed, but what for? Is he building a castle or something? “No, he’s just a stupid German! He can’t help it! The morons just love digging holes for no reason!”
Another story. A Norwegian friend flew down to Germany, rented a car there and drove to Rotterdam. He had parked on the street, and a cop approached him while he was in his car, and told him, in German, that he wasn’t allowed to park there and began writing him a ticket. When he looked at his driver’s license and saw he was Norwegian, he tore up the ticket, said, “Park wherever you want” and “Welcome to Holland!”, all in English.
7. The country is drenched with rain year round, but the Dutch never use umbrellas. They use raincoats and rain “suits”, but they never use umbrellas (too hard to ride your bicycle with one; plus, it’s *really* windy all the time). The Dutch will happily put up with wet faces and heads. The “wet look” is permanently “in” there.
Another oddity is no matter how much it rains and floods temporarily, all the water’s gone in about 20 minutes. I think it’s because the ground is mostly sand; the water just drains away. The cement blocks used as a road surface are taken out every few years, the sandy ground is pounded flat with this sand-pounding-machine (seriously) and then they replace the cement blocks.
8. The Dutch have strange snacking habits. They eat fries (what they’re famous for) but they’re often drenched in mayonnaise or pindasaus (basically spicy peanut butter). They also love frikandel (all the scary remnant parts of animals they can’t sell elsewhere, pressed into a vaguely hotdog shape, and then deep-fried until dark brown; yes, it looks like a piece of shit), kroketten (deep-fried lumps of dough wrapped around meat, that look like dried-up old turds), and cheese souffles, which are greasy but I have to admit, pretty damn tasty. The most famous purveyor of this junk is a chain called Febo; you buy everything out of an automat. They’re everywhere, especially inside train stations, and open late when you’re coming out of the clubs at 3am.
9. You heard about the Dutch using free bicycles provided by the government? Nope – that’s the Danish. The Dutch love using bicycles (called ‘fietsen’, pronounced FEETS-un), but in every city, theft is rife and you have to use 2-3 locks to prevent even a piece of shit bike from being stolen. This is why the average Dutch person doesn’t spend more than $50 for a bike – it’ll eventually get stolen. Junkies in the Amsterdam red light district will sell you a bike for 10 euros (25 guilders before the euro changeover), but be careful; if you buy one and a cop sees you, you go to jail.
There are specially-designated “fietspaden” (bike paths) all over the country, and pedestrians can not walk on them. If you hear a bell ringing–that’s how the Dutch tell people to get out of the way–then pay attention! You’re about to get mowed over.
10. The Dutch are not big potheads. Despite it being legal there (along with “magic mushrooms”), you almost never see a Dutch person getting high. You see TONS of foreigners – Brits, Americans, Germans, etc – smoking out in Dutch “coffee shops” (“coffee shop” means marijuana; “cafe” means coffee, so pay attention to what the establishment calls itself), but it’s pretty rare to see a Dutch person there. The legalization is tied to a very Dutch concept called “gedoogbeleid” which is difficult to translate but means permissiveness-because-there-are-bigger-fish-to-fry. The Dutch live below sea level, so they have plenty of dams & dikes keeping the water out. To relieve pressure on this system, a little water always trickles through – that’s okay as long as they can keep the floods out. This is often why the Dutch are said to not care about trivial drugs like marijuana and magic mushrooms – so they can focus on hard drugs like cocaine and meth (which are very much illegal).
There’s my list. Let me add something that I found in a tourist brochure given out at the Schiphol (SKHIP-hull, not Shiffol!) airport, which I think totally captures the Dutch attitude (I’m paraphrasing because I don’t have it here):
- Please keep in mind that not all of the women you see in the windows in the Red Light District are really women.
- If something bad happens to you, please find a policeman/policewoman and explain the situation to us. Please do not be embarrassed – we have really seen it all before. You couldn’t possibly shock us.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
I read a lot of comments and laughed a lot. Some things are true other false. I really don`t like that German hate subject, its nonsense. In every country you have silly people, so also in the Netherlands.With football, yeah there is some competetion. But i am sure that is also in other countries.And beside I rather see a nice German then a bad American:)
For the rest of it, just make fun and learn from eachother, no one is perfect!
Comment by Grunneger — February 11, 2011 @ 9:22 am
Haha cool. I’m dutch too and I must admit I love fries with mayonnaise. I see some people saying bad things about our scholar system but it is referred to as one of the best scholar systems in the world. People do not only go here for the drugs but you see a lot of college students from other countries here.
Comment by Cynthia — February 13, 2011 @ 12:23 pm
First of all I’m dutch myself. I enjoyed reading your article and almost all of it is true. I want to add that we are refered to as Holland by the rest of the world during any major football event. We even chant “Holland! Holland!”. So during the world cup the name of the country is Holland 😉 the rest of the time it’s called Nederland.
Oh and in “de randstad” they don’t pronounce the r and the g speratly. So gracht is pronounced as GGaGt. Even though they claim to have no accent at all in “de randstad”. But actually they’re having a hard time speaking the language properly.
Comment by Thomas — February 16, 2011 @ 4:12 pm
Saying ‘Holland’ instead of ‘The Netherlands’ can, as far as I know, be called a ‘pars pro toto’ (in Latin). This means that you only name the most important part instead of the whole. (See wikipedia on this subject).
This is probably based on the fact that the province of Holland has always been the most important part of The Netherlands in de field of economy, art, business, government etcetera.
Comment by Pim — April 8, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
love the dutch hate red light districts
Comment by samuel welsh — April 15, 2011 @ 1:47 am
nice story and really made me laugh!
just as a side note.. and i’m not 100% sure on this.. But i’m always told Holland is part of The Kingdom of The Netherlands
Same as suriname, South africa, Indonesia and some of the Carrabian islands.
Now those countries have their own independence and everything it’s only holland that’s still part of the kindom.
So in that case Holland and The Netherlands would be exactly the same.
(correct me if i’m wrong)
and damn i miss all those foods! I’ve been in australia for 15 months now and it’s just not here!
Comment by Martijn — April 17, 2011 @ 4:11 am
Just a message for Martijn, there are a number of “Dutch Shops” in Australia, one in Sydney and as far as I know one in Brisbane, they sell most of the stuff you miss. Google “winkeltje smithfield”
Comment by Cees — April 28, 2011 @ 3:21 am
I found this hilarious, mostly because its true. I have been living in NL for over a year and I still find the dutch a difficult race to understand.
Here are some of my personal observations:
1. Dutch guys use way too much gel in their hair.
2.They have a strong opinion on EVERYTHING.
3. They do not like sharing AT ALL.
4. They are generally quite rude.
5. They do not like to work.
Comment by delft-student — May 19, 2011 @ 9:33 am
The Dutch don’t hate Germany because of the occupation.
As we say, we’ve put ‘zand erover’ (sand over it).
We have in fact forgiven them for being cunts in the past. Actually no, they still owe us some bikes and they won’t give it back no matter how often we tell em. It’s rather off-putting. But yes we HAVE forgiven them for the occupation – in general.
We mainly hate them for sucking at football and still making it to the finals.
And YES, we have an accent, it’s an affliction and I pray to god someone finds a cure FAST.
Speaking of God, we don’t believe in it. Apart from some people (we call them ‘mongols’, which translates to retards) in some – as we call – ‘kutdorpen’ (which translates to ‘vagina villages’ but means ‘retarded villages that have no form of education and don’t know anything about anything)’.
And just to be clear. Once and for all.
Holland is indeed comprised of the provinces ‘zuid-holland’ and ‘noord-holland’.
Its interpretation though is different for different parts of the Netherlands :
– People who _do not_ live in zuid-holland or noord-holland believe holland (noord-holland and zuid-holland) is the same as the randstad, and even know they know it’s not true, they still swear by it because they’ll call it ‘een pot nat’, which translates to ‘one big bucket of wet’, which is comparable to ‘potato – po ta toe’
– People who _do_ live in zuid-holland or noord-holland are retarded and have no idea other parts of the netherlands exist or are to be cared for.
Comment by Brabantse geezert — May 28, 2011 @ 2:16 pm
listen, i’m dutch and we’re not stupid, we call the netherlands not only nederland but we call it holland too,
Comment by dawn — June 2, 2011 @ 5:36 am
i am freaking dutch, and im proud of it..
but its sure you dont know anything about the netherlands cuz you missed out ‘Limburg’..cuz their we have another accent.. and they are very nice have alot of beautiful nature and places…
but over all WERE NOT RUDE!! you guys dont live or know our country so you wont know..we can be very kind and very helpful …alot of us also respect things..but yes its true if someone doesnt like us we dont like you….so what that us dutch people..and im proud of it!..cuz im sure the country YOU live in isnt that perfect either..
Comment by sammiee — June 7, 2011 @ 9:04 am
love this article, I myself am Ducth and recognize every single bit
I would like to clear up the thing about German and Dutch being very similar.
They may SEEM very similar, but they really are very different, they just sound alike to someone who doesn’t know where to look. I can speak and writer proper Dutch, but even after 4 years of being taught German I can barely speak it let alone write it.
It’s the grammar really, German grammar is one of the most confusing things I’ve ever seen, I’ve tried learning myself Japanese and Korean and was taught French in high school, but even these were easier.
So saying that Dutch and German are like British English and American English really is a misconception.
and about the Germans digging holes in our beaches…..they don’t do it that often as people make you believe, but when you comment about their holes they go completely nuts
I’d also like to add that the Dutch LOVE to complain about things, basically everything, but at the same time we’re one of the “happiest” countries on the planet
Comment by Josca — June 22, 2011 @ 3:18 pm
It’s a nice article, thanx. Especially the Hagelslag.
All peeps may believe what they want.
See Ya,
Fred 🙂
Comment by I am Dutch, named Fred — June 28, 2011 @ 9:58 am
And yes, no german is liked here after WWll ( ’40-’45 ).
But we DO love your ‘ camp ‘- artist, Divine ( ‘ Shoot your shot ‘ etc. : all songs between ’81 and ’88 ) !!!!!.
See Ya,
Fred 🙂
Comment by I am Dutch, named Fred — June 28, 2011 @ 10:04 am
Did y’all know that the dutch country peeps are in heart the same as the american country peeps? Nów you know !!! We’re just merely alike : we love y’all there in
‘ the states ‘ too.
See ya,
Fred 🙂
Comment by Fred — July 2, 2011 @ 2:16 am
You forgot to mention that the Dutch are the tallest people in Europe and the world. I was in The Netherlands for three days and saw a total of 30 girls and women taller then me. Compared to when I was in Sweden for three days I saw only six women taller then me. Another thing is that the Dutch are very blond and blue eyed in certain parts of the nation lets say like Den Helder, and certain parts let say Maastrict more people have brown eyes then blue eyes.
Comment by Shinsagee — July 12, 2011 @ 10:52 am
Ok let me get this straight, yes most Dutch people will tell you they don’t like Germans but it’s got nothing to do with the war.
It’s because when we’re abroad people always mistake us for them, foreigners look at The Netherlands as a part of Germany instead of as a country on itself. They think the languages are the same.
Of course this depends on the country you’re visiting, but in general it’s like this.
And then let me express the fact that Germans loath the French, don’t ask me why though.
I am a Dutch girl and I’m 5’10 (1.78m) and have friends (girls) who are taller than me but still wear heels.
And by the way, I hate my Dutch accent and tr to get rid of it.
But at least we speak several languages, most Americans I met spoke nothing but American English. Maybe a little bit of Spanish and French but so do I.
And yes, we may seem rude. But wouldn’t you feel a bit uncomfortable when someone you just met is already inviting you over for dinner at their place?
And by the way, I live in Spain right now and Spanish people will never, ever ask you to come over to their place. That’s way to intimate for them.
Love the article though, it’s very recognizable, but I hate the Febo, don’t ever go there you have no idea for how long those Kroketten and Frikandellen have been there.
ps. Do we have rules for birthday parties? Except for the three kisses thing I mean.
Comment by Marieke — July 20, 2011 @ 7:05 am
i am brazilian and visited netherlands last year.
i love their political system and the common sense of the population. hopefully their way of life will be mixed and widespread around the world.
netherlands has much to teach to the world.
Comment by FELIPE XAVIER — July 21, 2011 @ 7:30 am
I’m getting pretty pissed because of some replies here about our education. It’s actually pretty good, better than american education.
DailyCandor: And yet…you’re in America.
Comment by Jose — July 26, 2011 @ 12:20 am
are holland and the netherlands the same now?
Comment by Joseph — July 28, 2011 @ 10:39 am
We are all equally in validation ( same “worth / value ” ).
We all just differ in genes ( partly ) , that makes us unique individuals. The equal genes should unite us.
No need to get into some kind of a competitive mainstream here 😉 We’re all just human and nice.
Love y’all,
C ya,
Fred (NL)
Comment by Fred — August 4, 2011 @ 8:42 am
I thought the ten-points-thing was hilarious! So thank you!
It’s true that the Dutch people have an opinion about EVERYTHING and get very passionate about them. (You just have to read the comments my fellow countrymen have left here to see that that is true) On the other hand, we also have some kind of ‘polite disinterest’, meaning that it doesn’t matter to us what someone else is doing if it doesn’t have any affect on us.
But people are different everywhere, so I don’t know if that is also true in the north or west or east or south of our country.
About us being rude. I think we are more rude then people from the States. (from what I gather from tv/oprah c; )
We try to say what we mean in the shortest time-span as possible, instead of getting to it in a polite, interested manner that will take too long (in our opinion).
And yeah, I think we are pretty arrogant about our country, but not in a very bad way. More proud then arrogant maybe?
Oh one more thing. About our like/dislike to foreigners (german, french etc):
On the one hand we hate them for not speaking our language while visiting the Netherlands (and forcing us to speak theirs when we are visiting their country), but we also like to feel inferior when we ARE able to speak their language. Like we are smarter then they are or something? (I mean, maybe that’s only how I feel. Again not a bad thing, just an observation, don’t kill me please)
again: love to read your comments about us!
Comment by GirlfromBrabantNL — August 7, 2011 @ 6:51 am
I mean superior instead of inferior, of course!! (man stupid! I ALWAYS mix those two up c; )
Comment by GirlfromBrabantNL — August 7, 2011 @ 7:23 am
GirlfromBrabant: Read the most recent comment from Frits above. You might have to reverse yourself yet one more time! 😀
Comment by JM — August 9, 2011 @ 10:17 am
The discussion about wether its Holland or the Netherlands is just a translation problem. Holland is indeed just the name for zuid holland(Southern Holland) and noord holland(Northern Holland). We call it the netherlands but alot of americans dont know it untill you say amsterdam and they will just not get that that is our capitol city of the COUNTRY the netherlands, not a STATE. The education is way better than in America since you dont go to a university here for good basketballing or whatever but only for your brains.
Comment by Frits — August 8, 2011 @ 9:04 pm
Just in reaction to some: yes there is indeed a difference between The Netherlands and Holland, which is actually two provinces (North and South Holland). But Holland may be used for The Netherlands as a general name. What should not be used is Dutchland, which does not exist as a name. Which brings me to the Germans. No there i no hate relationship. This is ridiculous to say. Than, French fies are consumed all over the world, mostly in the United States, The Netherlands have their share of rain, but it is far from being drenched with from. Taking the risk of sounding offensive defensive, the writer left out quite some remarkable things about the Dutch, such as their liberalism, generosity, trade, waterworks, art… In overall, I find this article very generic, not funny and even a bit offensive, beg your pardon.
Comment by Mark — August 26, 2011 @ 1:10 am
Holland (according van dale/the biggest dutch dictionairy) means both the two provinces zuid and noord holland together as well as The netherlands
The name holland originates from “graafschap holland” in the year 1101.
nederland originates from Bourgondische Nederlanden (1384)
napoleon renamed nederland to holland again.
technically both the britsh failed to free the netherlands from napeoleon, and napeoleon failed keeping us… i guess this is the reason why both Holland and The Netherlands/Nederland can be used for pointing to the whole country.
i love hagelslag and muisjes, patat with a shitload of mayonaise. hate germans on average (we used to have a german king though)…
still wondering about the rules of dutch birthdayparties… whats special about it?
buying and smoking weed/wiet/grass/hash in coffee shops is LEGAL in holland.
Comment by bazoo — September 2, 2011 @ 12:22 pm
oh… germand dig holes in holland indeed… moest germans never seen the sea, go on holidays to holland and finally get the chance to dig for the first time in their lives… and most of them take that chance…
we hate them for several reasons:
– they’ve driven awefull shitload of kilometers to get to the sea… and in all their excitement they forget about other people on the beach… dutch get irritated about that…
– World War Two… most of the dutch living then are already dead… but those sort of things get passed on for some generations…
– foreigners mistake us for germans… e.g. the french… french ppl hate germans too… we have to explain every time about not being germans… irritating… their fault!
– germans drugtourists can be irritating too… (french and belgium ones too though)
why didn’t tell about how we think of belgium people? or even worse: americans:D
Comment by bazoo — September 2, 2011 @ 12:38 pm
bazoo: It was titled 10 Things you DIDN’T KNOW about the Dutch. We ALL know you think Belgians and Americans are stupid.
Comment by JM — September 2, 2011 @ 2:09 pm
Everything is right and our educational system is great, only people from Holland like to think that the Netherlands = Holland, because they think they are better then the rest.. Well if you’ve spend 4 years in the Netherlands I think you could guess that I’m from Limburg and I’m proud to say that we are the only ones that don’t have that weird -R and -G pronunciation. But for you it would probably still be weird XD Well I think much is different about Limburgs, for instant we don’t hate the Germans, because they are our neighbours and well, frankly we can understand them better, because we see more Germans then ‘Hollanders’ with that weird -R and -G pronunciation.. When I’m there I really have to focus to understand them, when I’m in a Themepark I even understand it when a German stands next to me, but when a ‘hollander’ stands next to me I can’t understand him unless I’m focussing on it.. Really weird, also really awkard when a ‘hollander’ tries to speak German, I guess that’s why they hate them, because they can’t understand them..
But never the less we are still proud to be Dutch, doesn’t matter where you come in the Netherlands but everybody will be proud because they are Dutch. Actually we are the proudest of the ‘gouden eeuw’, the golden age, when we had the biggest fleet on earth, but actually that is the only time we did something right, for the rest we’ve lost almost everything and even in the golden age we facked up pretty fast and had to give new york to the english and more after that. But still we kept our own identity, also weird that we have so many individuality, I mean I’m a ‘Limburger’ and I’m proud of it, you have like 5 dialects and own identities, while our country is as big as 1 average american state.
Ow and we want everybody to be our friend, and to establish that we always want to fight in the wars of other countries and contribute al lot of money to organisations like NAVO and the EU. Sometimes it sickens me, especially because we’re so facking proud of every little succes. The US would need 200 TV stations to send out everything if they would do the same. Ow and if a cop fires a gun in the Netherlands you can bet your money on it that it will be in the news for at least the next 3 days. And that’s only when it’s a warning shot, if he actually shoots at somebody and misses it will be in the news for 2 weeks, don’t get me started if he shoots and hits. When the criminal that was shot dies you can expect to see it in the news for a half year and the whole system will be turned upside down to look what went wrong and how they could have prevented it..
Comment by Mc — October 13, 2011 @ 4:15 pm
Please note, that there’s more than one Dutch culture and they are very different from each other.
Comment by Anna — October 20, 2011 @ 1:39 pm
Another example of The Dutch loathe the Germans
Some years ago, I went to Amsterdam, I joined some kind of city canal tour, a stupid question came up “Is the water on the canal safe to drink?” (the water was opaque greenish); The boat driver answered “Of course it’s not safe to drink”, but then he added “But if Germans ask the same question, I would tell them it is safe to drink” LOL
Comment by Dutz — November 24, 2011 @ 12:29 am
Great article, very amusing! Their loathing of Germans is just fascinating…
Comment by Awesome Amsterdam — December 5, 2011 @ 5:50 am
OK, having read up ’till #60 right now, I have to respond to the question about Germans digging holes. They do dig holes, and that is hardly a problem. In formar times, let’s say the 60’s and 70’s, when the anger against Germans was much much bigger than today (WWII) (no anger at all nowadays, just some general attitude that we alle should hate them, which we don’t), the Germans used to dig holes in the sand and stay in their hole all day. The day after they would come back to the same hole and find someone else in it, they would say: ‘Das ist mein Kaul!’ (That is my hole!), which, of course, was not accepted.
That is it. And we still make the joke, but I have never seen it happening and I’ve lived here for 35 years.
Comment by Jesse — December 5, 2011 @ 9:16 am
So, I read through your top 10. Obciously, it is fun to read what others say about us. Some of your points I found incorrect though.
However, I first want to comment to poster #10 about his fries story.Sorry mate, it just sounds like typical northern/southern rivalry. The Belgians may have invented fries, which I duly credit them for, but to call all the fries in the Netherlands poor when they’re made the same way (but smaller) is just utterly ridiculous. Then again, you know what the Dutch think about the Belgians :P.
So, back to the stoy;
#1. Spot on. Holland refers to the provinces of North and South Holland. The term Holland is usually used to support the Dutch national football team, though any Dutch athlete will be encouraged by the crowd shouting “HOLLAND! at them.
#2 Hagelslag for the win! Anyway, you won’t find much difference in flavour. De Ruijter is just a bigger brand.
#3. Never heard of that and no idea where that comes from. I’ve had toast in the morning and a warm meal in the evening plenty of times before.
#4 The Dutch R is so, so, so, so much different. How does rrrrrrrrr sound the same as gggggg?
#5 We don’t LOVE speaking English, we assume it is easier to speak English to foreign people rather than them trying to speak Dutch. A lot of Dutch do have that annoying accent, however, pronouncing words incorrect is not down to being stubborn, it is down to translating. Idea in dutch is idee EE-day and quite often Dutch simply say the Dutch word in English.
#6 What a weird story. We do not LOATHE the Germans. We dislike them, mostly during football. The loathing was definitely present shortly after the war, but 60 years later, it is not that big of a thing. We definitely don’t call them stupid/dumb, we save that for the Belgians.
#7 No umbrellas on bikes, generally, but you’ll find that quite a few people do when they don’t have access to a raincoat. Hey, it is better than getting soaked! Wet face, no biggie. Get a towel and it is dry. It is wet clothes that is the problem, hence the raincoat/suit.
#8 Drenching? In most cases people have mayonnaise seperate so that they can dip their fries into it. I don’t know many, if any, people that like to get greasy fingers diving into mayonnaise finding that one fry that is hidden underneath.
#9 Not sure about the junkie stoy. Only ever been in the red light district once. However, everything else is pretty much correct. Also, we carry fellow people on the back, something I don’t think is done anywhere else.
#10 Pretty much spot on again, though plenty of Dutch still smoke. Mostly, we buy it in a coffeeshop and then go home and smoke it there, with, or without friends.
Comment by JB — December 6, 2011 @ 5:19 am
Dutch dont know what they stand for anymore they lost their way along time ago.
Comment by willem — December 9, 2011 @ 9:24 am
Actually, most Dutch people from Holland don’t know Holland isn’t the same as the Netherlands, whereas everybody who lives in THE NETHERLANDS (excluding Holland) will be deeply insulted when you say they’re from Holland. Personally, I accept it when a foreigner makes that mistake once, but when they repeat it I can become really pissed off.
Love it though, it’s always so much fun to read how foreign people are so amazed by our culture.
Comment by Tristan Woudstra — December 11, 2011 @ 2:19 pm
Obviously, the author used exaggeration here and there. But if you look at the big picture, it’s kinda true. ;p
It was funny but not offensive to the Dutch (IMHO). Which is good because nowadays you rarely hear jokes that don’t offend a particular country or ethnic group etc.
And BTW, many people in the Netherlands think they speak English properly, but they don’t. Especially youth.
Comment by Dutchguy — December 30, 2011 @ 6:39 am
I’m not sure if it has been mentioned before in the comments, since I’m too lazy to read all 238 of them, but I just have to say something about the bike part.
You say that every bike will eventually be stolen, so no one spends over 50 euros for one. That’s not true for the whole of the Netherlands. It seems to me that you have mainly been in big cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag etc. Where I live, in Gelderland (Apeldoorn, in the east), not every bike will be stolen if you don’t have 3 locks on them. Sure, if you leave it unlocked, it’ll be stolen. But I use just one very-easy-to-break-lock, like many many others here by the way, and have had the same bike for over 5 years now. The only reason I get new bikes is when they are “total loss” or getting too small when I was a child.
This does not only go for my town of course, but many other places as well. I admit that in big cities or some particular cities/towns bikes get stolen all the time. But not everywhere, all the time.
Other than that I think you wrote a good article, except about the patat which has been said before. It is indeed from Belgium.
I actually do not like those big “Vlaamse frieten”, but oh well. 🙂
Comment by Tabitha — January 3, 2012 @ 8:17 am
I believe the Germans dig holes in the sand because the sand will be colder then. The surface of the sand is hot, but how deeper you get, the colder it is.
Comment by Suzan — January 3, 2012 @ 8:23 am
@ Mc Not only Limburgers have that weird R and G, Brabanders also don’t have it.
Comment by Suzan — January 3, 2012 @ 8:29 am
1, 2 and 7 are partially true.
10 is true, even though it has some flaws.
Also, the dutch can beat the US in any kind of contest, easily, of course especially at being retarded or fat.
Believe me, I hate the dutch culture myself, even though I have lived here for almost al my life, but the truth had to be exposed.
I hope I die from those STD’s I got from selling my body in Amsterdam’s red light district.
Comment by DrDouchetastic — January 3, 2012 @ 2:32 pm
Haha leuk artikel. Grappig om te lezen hoe anderen erover denken.
Comment by Patrick — January 3, 2012 @ 2:53 pm
The reason why we, Dutch people, are so anal about what foreigners say about the Netherlands, is because they are always confusing us with the Germans and Belgium.
And I want to set straight, a lot of us do smoke pot but we don’t usually do it in coffee shops because there are to many high foreigners. So little of us eat from a ‘FEBO’ and only in the center of big city’s bikes get stolen. And as reaction on some of the other reactions, the Netherlands has been chosen (from 21 country’s including the US, the UK, Germany, France etc.) to be the best environment for children to grow up. There by, we are a rich and well educated so what the fuck!
You are right on a lot of your points. Like point 1 and point 2, couldn’t have said it better. Point 3 really depends on the person itself, I offen eat a hot meal for lunch and dinner. Point 4 is kind of right, that hard for me to judge with me being Dutch. Point 5 is true, we learn English at a very young age, but our accent is terrible, mine has improved since i’ve lived in londen for a half year. Point 6 … Yeah, most of us hate Germans, mostly because of the WW II. Point 7, no we’re not living on a ground of mostly sand. Point 8 i explained already. Point 9, we cycle a lot mainly because we barely have any hills in our country (and it’s easy). Point 10, some of us smoke pot, some of us don’t, we don’t really care. I do, but I’m young, most of the adults don’t smoke ;).
Great article, glad you love our country! I would certainly love to go to America one day.
Sincerly,
Pam from Rotterdam!
Comment by Pam — January 11, 2012 @ 1:22 am
#8: fries originate from France, where they were invented in Paris. So neither the Belgiums and Dutch can be credited for that 🙂
Comment by Limbids — January 12, 2012 @ 2:44 am
All the “Dutch people” that say that holand is the same as Netherlands are probably from Amsterdam or one of those big cities. They think their “provincie” (like a state) is the best (wich is either north- or south Holland). they think that rest sucks and stuff. I am from the northern part,Drenthe, (and i personally think we’re more Dutch because we really live between all the farmers).
I know that there is a difference between Holland and the Netherlands. so don’t say we’re not educated. look at my english, im 14 years old. you can’t deny that this is no good english for a 14 year old. ( I’m not trying to be selfish, im just saying that we are educated.
Comment by Yannick — January 14, 2012 @ 1:44 pm
I live in holland and I loved reading each one and going “yes! that’s so true!” Except the umbrellas. The dutch do use umbrellas, but they are like a day-use thing there. On a particularly rainy day, every single public trashcan on the streets is full of broken umbrellas from the constant wind!
And since the fries topic is to hot, I’ll just add that the ones the Dutch like are Belgian, not French, and they seriously have stands devoted to just fries.
Comment by Br — January 15, 2012 @ 11:08 am
I really get it why a lot of the non-dutch people above characterize the dutch as being rude. I just felt like i had to explain it a bit. Overall i think the dutch are really down to earth and open. In conversations when having an opinion or trying to make a statement they simply say what they want to say. They just call a spade a spade and don’t hide behind words. This can really be mistaken for being rude. Of course rude people live everywhere and also in the Netherlands, but when visiting the Netherlands just keep in mind that most dutchies are really direct and don’t mean to be rude.
I loved to read all the thoughts on my country. It makes you think… Oh, and i’ve been to Germany very often and i think they’re the best. Just visit a city like Cologne or something like that and you’ll know what i mean.
Comment by Tom — January 15, 2012 @ 6:33 pm
Hi i only read half of these comments some good some not im English and proud of it and all i want to say is i have never met anyone like the Dutch People they are kind and ready to help you no matter what the first time i went there on holiday the people were only too happy to help out one guy even gave us a lift to the soilders cemetry i just love the place and im going this weekend 20/ 01/ 12 and i just carnt wait lovin it lol 🙂
Comment by Pauline Hay — January 16, 2012 @ 10:43 am
Marijuana is illegal but it is allowed for medical purposes. Marijunana is still used very often and seeds are easily bought in Amsterdam. There is a coffee shop just around the corner that sells it. Many Dutch love to party and get wild XD. Own experience. I am fully Dutch and partially Australian.
Comment by Kevin Kilic — January 17, 2012 @ 12:21 pm
Maybe you should have stayed a little longer in the Netherlands to get all your facts straight.
I’m Dutch and even though some things you mentioned are true, tthere are really quite some things that do not make any sense.
For starters, the “G” and “CH” sound alike, but the “R” most definitely does not.
Then.. the most important one if you ask me.. Why do all American people just assume that the Dutch hate Germans?! Sure there are still (ignorant) people who say they hate the Dutch, but that does not mean that the Dutch in general hate Germans! You gave 2 examples, but come on.. I’m studying at a international university and I’ve met more foreigners there who hate Germans, than I’ve ever met Dutch people who do so.
What’s up wit that “Dutch don’t use umbrellas”-crap? Were you wearing blinkers while living here?
Don’t even get me started on “our strange snacking habits”. You’re from the US, right? I think you get where I’m going with this.. Just LOOK at the people you’re surrounded by.. What do you mean, everything is king sized in the US?
And before I forget: the Netherlands is not known for the fries.. That’s Belgium.
So, on behalf of the Dutch: it would be nice to get your facts straight before you think you’re an expert on the Netherlands and start writing these things.
DailyCandor: Did I forget to mention that there is a surprisingly high percentage of stuffy know-it-alls in the Netherlands? Consider that item #11. 🙂
Comment by NL — January 19, 2012 @ 2:50 pm
Hey i’m from Holland ( Den Haag haha ) and lived there almost my whole life. I really like your article and i think that you have explaned it very well. The way we are. You know what you are talking about. I want to thank you for the nice article about us dutch people. It made me proud when i read it. It’s nice to read that someone tells nice and true things. You can’t say that about everyone. I hope you had a nice time in the Netherlands. GREETINGS
Comment by Boy — January 20, 2012 @ 3:04 am