10 things you probably didn’t know about the Dutch and the Netherlands



Cheese market in AlkmaarI 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.

Rows of tulips7. 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.
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596 Comments »

  1. Funny YOU should be the one calling others know-it-alls..

    DailyCandor: Clever riposte!

    Comment by NL — January 20, 2012 @ 10:19 am

  2. I feel this could be my Secound country. Cause i have no time for the German’s, either.

    Comment by anna page — January 22, 2012 @ 11:02 am

  3. 90 ? ????…

    […]10 things you probably didn’t know about the Dutch and the Netherlands :: Daily Candor[…]…

    Trackback by 90 ? ???? — January 23, 2012 @ 4:07 am

  4. hahahaa great! super funny (comming from a dutchman… 😉 )
    but I think it’s pretty obvious you’ve been staying above the rivers, somewhere in the ‘randstad’ maybe? let’s say amsterdam/rotterdam/utrecht? Am I right?
    The Netherlands is parted by the Maas and the Rijn, two big rivers. not that weird but the people are a bit different above or below the rivers. The HARD G and R pronounciations are part of the overal above rivers dialect. Below rivers they have a SOFT G and R. It’s really hard to explain in text but the KH sound for a G or a CH is really a hard pronouncement. Below rivers those letters are not THAT present.

    Also I agree with the fact that the G and the CH are completely the same, when I’m writing a text or a fb post or something I almost always only write G’s instead of CH”s. However thats just way the words are written, cant do much about that 😉

    and one last thing, if you don’t live in a big city like amsterdam or rotterdam, you can worry less and less about your bike 🙂 My bike got only stolen once (not even on the street, but from my own backyard), all the other bikes I owned I just used them untill they where that broken you couldn’t fix them anymore… have been offered a lot of bikes on the street also, ow well..

    Comment by dinges — January 23, 2012 @ 4:39 pm

  5. We also make alot of jokes about Belgium people xD
    And we dont really hate Germany, but its like a neighbor who you dont really know that well and dont really like … xd
    Its crazy how much different cultures there are in the Netherlands, and how fast the Dutch culture changes with it..
    And yep, I’m Dutch 🙂

    Comment by naamboeitnietxd — January 24, 2012 @ 7:59 am

  6. Great writing. Really liked to read it and see that we, the Dutch, have some typical things that are very normal for us but very strange for a foreigner. Good that you explained the difference between Holland and The Netherlands! I hate it when people say Holland.

    Oh, and yes we do hate Germany. Has something to do with football I guess.

    Comment by Tim — January 24, 2012 @ 3:45 pm

  7. Hi,,

    I’m dutch and I don’t hate people from Germany, I think it’s a beautiful country. And I am 12,5 % German ;D
    We even learn to speak german at school!
    I live in a big city and my bike has never been stolen! And I know dutch people have a heavy accent when they (we) speak English but at least we’re trying :$,, Believe me, I’m working on it! And we all use umbrellas!

    Comment by DutchSwifty13 — January 25, 2012 @ 9:41 am

  8. 260 Comments and absolutely NOTHING about the famous “Dutch Oven”? WTF?

    Didn’t know some of these things about the dutch however the “Dutch Oven” is known by all American kids at a young age. Some of the other Europeans on here probably have no idea what it is but undoubtedly they’ve had sleepovers from their youths or have older brothers or sisters that have performed this act while in bed together. You can even do it to your wife, husband, girlfriend/boyfriend while you’re in bed.

    Comment by Yohan Cruyf — January 25, 2012 @ 2:02 pm

  9. I’m dutch and most of all is true. Especially hagelslag is my favorite breakfast.

    Comment by gert — January 30, 2012 @ 1:16 pm

  10. I left the Netherlands in 1979 when I was 5. This article makes me homesick for the motherland.

    Comment by Yuri de Groot — February 2, 2012 @ 2:53 am

  11. I grew up in Holland and moved to the US when I was eleven. I left Holland in a grade called “groep 8” and arrived in America thinking I was in grade 8… but really “groep 8” is grade 6. I entered grade 8 just like that even though I was 11 years old… I barely knew English and had straight As that year. The education in Holland is not that bad>the American is worse.

    Comment by jahoor — February 4, 2012 @ 10:28 pm

  12. The Dutch have maybe the rudest kids of any nationality I have ever come across. The women sound like and act like men.

    They are barbarians when it comes to pain relief during childbirth, have a huge percentage of home births and a resultant highest perinatal mortality rate in Western Europe.

    The service culture is terrible. I lived in England for twenty years but now that I live here I think that service in the UK is refreshingly good. They don’t paint the outside of their houses so on the backdrop of an ugly grey sky are ugly grey or red brick buildings. It is the most depressing country I have ever lived in. Would be nice if they learned how to smile.

    When they speak they sound like Donald Duck speaking German.

    Comment by sirena — February 8, 2012 @ 7:12 am

  13. That 9% that disliked were all Germans

    Comment by Alex Nacziski — February 9, 2012 @ 6:16 pm

  14. Having a Dutch boyfriend just does not qualify the author to comment on the Dutch! One thing that the author of that article did show is that you need to have your facts correct! The authors own quirkiness of opinion is more accurately described than anything else!

    DailyCandor: Thank! You! So! Much! For! Your! Opinion!

    Comment by Harry J. Nemyer — February 10, 2012 @ 4:14 am

  15. So just because you met one guy that hates germans means we all hate germans? I am dutch and i dont believe in the rights of women, you should post a new articale about all dutch people are sexists.

    DailyCandor: More than those 2 (yes, two) guys! Those were two funny illustrative examples.

    Comment by Thesexist — February 18, 2012 @ 5:36 pm

  16. on the internet there’s a lot of crap told about the Netherlands (not Holland, she’s right!) but this page is very true.
    BTW I DON’T HATE GERMAN PEOPLE
    xxx, someone from the Netherlands

    Comment by yonna — February 26, 2012 @ 7:16 am

  17. Dutch birthday parties SUCK. I refuse to attend them. Our neighbor throws huge birthday parties for herself every year, she’s 47 years old, I think that is obnoxious.

    Comment by janus — February 26, 2012 @ 12:19 pm

  18. I’m Dutch! (I’m actually born and raised in Canada but both sets of my grandparents are Dutch)
    One thing when travelling that I discovered that a lot of Dutch people don’t know about the Netherlands is that after WWII a lot of Dutch citizens immigrated to North America and started small Dutch areas that are still largely intact and growing. I grew up in one of these areas and all of our Dutch culture is essentially the Dutch culture pre-WWII – much more religious than present day Netherlands (CRC Christian Reformed Church) and a lot of the weird foods are still commonplace. Most people in these towns go to private Christian elementary, high school and sometimes universities that are primarily populated by Dutch kids who are fiercely patriotic. We have Dutch banks, Dutch food stores and when we get together we play Dutch games.
    Because I’m Canadian I have no problem with Germans.
    Oh and we also love boerenkool (kale and potatoes with either gravy or pickled cucumbers), hutzput (carrots and potatoes with either gravy or pickle cucumbers), spiced Dutch gouda, speculoos (windmill cookies), stroopwafels (syrup waffles), toast with either salted or sugared tomato slices, tomato soup, and Dutch mints. ( could go on, but I’m never 100% sure what’s Dutch and what’s Canadian)

    Comment by duca — February 28, 2012 @ 9:56 pm

  19. Note: I am Dutch and we do NOT eat cheese with peanutbutter sandwiches!

    Comment by Lotte — March 8, 2012 @ 12:54 am

  20. So all those football supporters yelling ‘Hup Holland Hup’ are actually cheering for …?

    Comment by BB — March 12, 2012 @ 1:52 pm

  21. Hi, I’m a 14 year old girl from the Netherlands.
    There’s definitely a different between ‘The Netherlands’ and ‘Holland’. The Netherlands consist out of twelve parts, called ‘provincies’ in Dutch. ‘Holland’ just consist out of two ‘provinvies’.

    SOME people eat cheese with peanutbutter or jam, but I’m sure not everybody does that. Most of the people in The Netherlands find it disgusting, I’m one of them.

    Finally, I’m sure the education isn’t bad. We’ve got different levels, from ‘gymnasium’ (the highest) to lwoo (the lowest) and between them are five levels. (I do ‘atheneum’, that’s one level lower than ‘gymnasium’) So not everyone has got the same education, the level you do is based on a test, called the ‘Cito toets’ that you do at last class of primary school which you can’t learn for.

    But I liked this forum very much because it’s interesting how foreigners think about our traditions, because for me it’s usual to speak English for example. Not that I speak it very well, but good enough to understand it.

    Comment by girlfromGOUDA — March 14, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

  22. LOL.
    I find it particularly hilarious that most of the comments on this article (which I presume is meant for non-Dutch people) were made by Dutch people. I’ll state right now that I’m also part of this category but how did we get here? Looking to have our cultural quirks reaffirmed? I wound up here while trying to discover why Dutch people in movies are so often represented by actors mimicking a very strange German accent. But never mind that.

    I get that this is a personal interpretation based on experiences while in the Netherlands, and as such, who am I to criticise.
    I actually agree with most of it out of my own experience and I’ve lived here since birth. (Although I would like to state that I have had the same bicycle for 25 years and still have and use the one orignal lock that came with it.) Oh, and besides small children and sports cyclists we as a rule don’t wear protactive headgear while doing so. I heard from an American friend this might seem shocking to some?!

    I just have two little additions if you’ll indulge me.
    Our “hatred” of the Germans isn’t really hatred as such (barring extremists views on the matter) It’s more of a rivalry nowadays mostly concerning football (a.k.a. soccer for the yanks(which is a derivative of a Dutch name, Jan Kees. b.t.w.)) the whole WW2 connotation is more a thing our grand (or even great grand) parents used to have. Compare it to the ribbing between Americans and Canadians, it doesn’t really mean anything. (As long as you don’t throw copious amounts of alcohol in the mix. but isn’t that true in most cases?!) I live very close to the border and I have nothing against most German people I’ve met, the same goes for any other nationality, including other Dutch people, some you like, some you don’t, generalizing is rather pointless.
    But I can actually personally attest to there being an inkling of truth in the beach pit story. When I was much younger we used to vacation on the beach and one day I found and settled in such a pit only to be chased off hours later by a German man on account of him claiming it as being his pit which he dug days before and therefore reserved or something. And this was on a public beach. I later returned and filled it with water and crabs (the crustacean kind, before someone goes there, when you’re 8 you’re allowed to be spiteful.;) )

    As for the Holland/Netherlands confusion: The original Author is right. The Netherlands and Holland are not synonymous, unless it’s football season in which case we in the other parts of the country generally accept this as the moniker for our team.
    It’s a lot easier to chant “Holland” than it is to chant “Nederland”. Foreigners are as a rule also excused if using this misnomer. (Though some of us will point this out ad nauseum.)

    @duca: Actually, I was taught this in elementary school. Most of us were, as it’s part of the curriculum surrounding WW2. I also know there a large communities in the US (Michigan), Australia and New Zealand.

    I just noticed this article is 4 years old.. oh well, sorry, just wanted to put in my 5 cents.

    Comment by C.Smith — March 14, 2012 @ 2:14 pm

  23. What a great blog, enhanced by the wealth of diverse comments.

    A few little issues I’d like to add my opinion to: Firstly, the education system. I was shocked to learn that some people considered it to be below par as I’ve always thought that Dutch people were very well educated. Today I read a report on the BBC that a number of Dutch Universities were considered to be in the top 100 in the world???

    Dutch people are not rude or arrogant they are very polite and incredibly helpful and friendly people. It’s true that they like to get their opinion accross and they like to say it the way it is, but isn’t that the way everybody should be? I’m English and we are often thought of as rude and arrogant but we are not… like the Dutch, we also like to get our opinion accross and tell it the way it is, it’s just good honest behaviour.

    As for the accent… OMG I love it. My girlfriend is dutch and I love the way she speaks but maybe I’m a little biased on that one.

    Comment by Brian — March 15, 2012 @ 1:27 pm

  24. Good article!

    I also wanted to say that Dutch people do go to coffee shops, lots of my dutch friends go there to get some pot.
    And honestly i did not know about that “Holland vs Netherlands” thing either! Shame on me i guess 🙂

    Also i hear from lots of “foreign” people that the Dutch language is considered the most ugly language in the world. Probably because of that throat clearing “G” or “KH” as you refer it. But the hard “G” is mostly only used in the center part of the Netherlands, if you go near the top or bottom of the Netherlands it changes into a soft “G” or “CH” as you would refer it.

    Also its funny that Dutch and German language get mixed up often, i have heard so many Americans thinking Dutch and German is the same language (i even seen that mistake in movies). While it may sound a bit the same, both are definitely complete different languages. Yes we can understand some German words but definitely not the whole language.

    Comment by Trackah123 — March 19, 2012 @ 10:50 am

  25. @ vidar you posted this: About the legality of weed: You can sell it, but you are not allowed to grow it.

    NOT true. You ARE allowed to grow it, and you AREN’T allowed to sell it.

    Comment by Julia — March 25, 2012 @ 3:46 pm

  26. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading

    what is wrong again with the education in The Netherlands?

    Comment by schijt is shit in Dutch — March 28, 2012 @ 4:26 pm

  27. and also this: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/eindhoven-named-smartest-region-in-the-world

    Why do non-dutch people find “neuken in de keuken” zo leuk, it just means fucking in the kitchen.

    Helmond is awesome

    Comment by schijt is shit in Dutch — March 28, 2012 @ 4:33 pm

  28. they make a misery to indonesian… thousand miles away from they are, now…
    http://tinyurl.com/5syzsu for 350 years of time…
    looting, torturing….
    http://tinyurl.com/oy58g
    something that you SHOULD NOT forget!

    i read this .. this is fing bullshit. its true we did some very horrible stuff in the past but now? not at all
    one of my best friends is from there? do you suppose i torture him?

    Comment by someone — March 29, 2012 @ 2:38 pm

  29. Love this article. The Dutch surely did influence our taste of western food in Indonesia (I’m Indonesian by the way), particularly what you said on points 2 and 8. But I guess Indonesia also influenced the Dutch when it comes to food. Rijstaffel was surely a Dutch interpretation of Indonesian cuisine.

    On comment #280: Yes, the Dutch did exploit us for hundreds of years, looting our natural resources, building plantations, and torturing us as slaves. But that was a thing of the past, I dont think that means that all Dutch are cruel. As it happened elsewhere, colonialists were always horrible, and being faraway, they would act differently from how they would back home

    I remember my mother told me that when she first went to Holland in the 1960s, she had a very pleasant surprise: the Dutch were so nice and friendly, very much unlike the teachers, officers and other Dutch she met when she was a kid during t he colonial times (up until 1945). Anyway, thanks for sharing this light, but interesting article. Dank U wel.

    Comment by Danny Yatim — March 31, 2012 @ 6:01 pm

  30. you guy forgot the goddamned most inportant piece of dutch food. “Drop” It is a saalt or sweet like candy, very nice.

    Comment by trolololololololololololol — April 2, 2012 @ 4:35 pm

  31. I hate the Dutch. I wish they were all dead.

    DailyCandor: This poster’s IP is from the UK.

    Comment by Erik — April 5, 2012 @ 10:19 am

  32. Not entirely accurate.

    Comment by 100% Dutch — April 5, 2012 @ 10:10 pm

  33. On the holland-Netherlands thing.

    I’m from Holland (Den Haag) and i don’t really make a distinction between using Holland and The Netherlands.
    I think the distinction is only important to dutch people living outside of Holland, in the remainder of the country.
    Maybe as a way to differentiate themselves from the culturally and economically dominant part of the country which Holland has been for hundreds of years. (Plus the whole ‘Holland’ during sporting events thing, but thats another story alltogether)

    Basically it’s similar to the belief held by people from Amsterdam that there are two kinds of people in The Netherlands, Amsterdammers (native people from Amsterdam) and boeren (literally: farmers, but more as a derogatory term: yokels).

    Or the Above/Below the rivers (Meuse and Rhine) divide. Although there is some actual cultural differences there, it being a sort of deliniation for the protestant north and catholic south of the country (although there were pockets of of catholics elsewehere in the country too so its not a perfect fit)

    Comment by Joner — April 10, 2012 @ 2:49 pm

  34. To my knowledge historically the province of Utrecht is considered a part of Holland as well. But anyway, I’m sorry to hear your friend met some stupid people that hate Germans. To my knowledge there is almost no animosity towards the Germans, aside from a few idiots that fail in life that need a scapegoat to blame their problems on.

    Something most people won’t admit is that it can be tough when you’re new in this country. Though some people preach how hospitable and tolerant they are, but most of these hypocrits abide by strict set of social rules that are tied to Calvinism (use wikipedia for more info on that, though it doesn’t tell the whole story), and that’s something an outsider may have problems in coping with. Secondly a lot of people are fake (something they accuse Americans of etc), and are far from tolerant etc.

    The problem with a part of the Dutch is that they aren’t very productive, and tend to brag and talk too much. This is a side effect of nepotism in some parts of the Dutch society (something outsiders aren’t aware of) instead appointing people based on merit. Some that are too proud to admit this will deny of course, but nepotism is definitely plays an important role.

    Comment by Detergent — April 17, 2012 @ 3:13 pm

  35. This was a really nice article to read! Especially because it’s from a foreign point of view. I’ve had just about as much fun reading this article as I did reading the comments from both foreign perspective and know-it-all Dutchmen, like myself, who are literally waiting to elaborate on things you didn’t fully grasp according to them XD.

    You, and most comments, we’re so right about the off-beat sense of sarcastic humor. I also nearly laughed my ass off when I read something about Dutch people saucing their English up with a thick American accent – which I am also guilty of – but then again my English is fluent. A whole lot of people in the Netherlands tend to at least speak English because up until 3 foreign languages are mandatory courses in our education system. Starting at age 9 with English, French at 12 and German at age 13, but it’s mostly because we realise our own language isn’t gonna take us very far internationally, anymore.

    That’s why we also mostly air original movies and TV-series as opposed to, sorry Germans and French – I love you guys, the dreadfull practice of dubbing. Take this for an argument if you will; I’ve learned English mostly from watching unsubtitled Cartoon Network back in the ’90s and It was just about as much fun a 5 year old could have learning something – all while remaining in blissfull ignorance that I was just watching TV in my off-time, or w/e a 5 year old thinks while Scooby eats his sandwich in two bites. The point is; we tend to be really open towards other people, countries, cultures and customs but as every country we also have our fair share of ignorant assholes. I’m sorry for the tourists who’ve had bad experiences in the Netherlands on behalf of all the normal Dutch citizens. Feel free to come by again for a retry =)

    Comment by Leroy — April 22, 2012 @ 11:37 am

  36. “g” and “ch” are pronounced the same, but this is absolutely not true for the ‘r’. The ‘r’ is pronounced through the back of the throat, with the tongue more withdrawn. In some regions the ‘r’ is pronounced exactly the same as in English, in some regions it’s more a gurgling sound. The eye-DEE of pronouncing ‘Groningen’ through pronouncing the same sound twice is ridiculous (to someone speaking Dutch).

    Also, hating the Germans is exagerated. This is only true for a part of the Dutch, and I don’t know anyone who is as German-hating as the person discribed in the example. I don’t think it extends any further than the hatred felt by the English, Polish, Romanians, Serbs, French, Russians and Belgians (it might even be less, because our languages are close and our culture is, although we’ll never admit it, quite similar too. Plus, we are highly dependent on export to Germany). I don’t think the dutch are special in any way, except when there’s a soccer-match about to be played between the two nations ofcourse…

    The ‘pindasaus’ is not hot peanutbutter, it is better discribed as half-liquid warm sort of peanut butter, that is indeed a tiny bit more spicy. I don’t recommend putting peanutbutter on your fries, but pindasaus on fries is excellent.

    Holland and The Netherlands are /technically/ not equal. However, we Dutch don’t mind and don’t care, We shout “Hup Holland Hup” (“Go Holland Go”) for our national team, and we don’t correct foreigners on interchanging it either. Nobody will give you a weird look if you call The Netherlands `Holland`. My guess is it is similar `America` versus ´USA´. You know what is meant, eventhough they do not mean the same thing.

    Hope this helps, and hope you enjoy Holland!

    Comment by vdMandele — April 30, 2012 @ 11:58 am

  37. Now that I’ve read more comments, I think 251 is exactly in line with my comments, and the ‘Hup Holland Hup’ argument has come up before too.

    In any case, as all the comments clearly point to: Dutch always think they know better, and they have never learnt to keep their mouth shut. This both explains part of the nation’s success as well as it’s great trackrecord for rubbing foreigners the wrong way.

    Comment by vdMandele — April 30, 2012 @ 12:11 pm

  38. this post is so great, funny and all so true, and it totally does not surprise me that the dutch people reading this post has millions of arguments to “explain” some of these impressions to be fault or not counted for everyone. Just as they do when I share my point of view with them over a drink or two:) haha

    Comment by norwegian in the netherlands — May 4, 2012 @ 9:08 am

  39. @Jape nr 4 (and you too nr 20)
    Well, you probably did not pay attention in school coz there is a big difference between Holland and the Netherlands and the Randstad is something completely different:

    #Holland-former state in the republic of the Netherlands, now two provinces in the western part of the Netherlands
    #The Netherlands-The entire country with all its provinces from Holland to Friesland via Limburg
    #De Randstad-Urbanized agglomaration situsted in North and south Holland, perhaps including parts of Utrecht

    With regard to ‘fries’ the fact that in the Netherlands ‘patat’ is always associated with Belgium does not mean it is a specific Belgian thing that the Dutch hardly eat. French Fries (patat) with mayonaise is as dutch as Thanksgiving is american. Ask John Travolta in the movie ‘Pulp Fiction’

    Other than that the post is quite funny, even if sometimes generalizing 🙂 Really, we do have umbrella’s and use them 🙂

    The “g” “ch” and “r” really are different ‘gracht really does not sound like ‘khrakht’ 🙂 Just as in english the ‘o’-s in ‘a good cook book’ are all different

    So why you leave your Dutch BF? Too boring in the end 🙂 ?

    Anyway, thanks for your post. I hope you enjoyed your stay in Holland. If you want to read more aboyut a foreigners experience in Holand, try: ‘an irishmen’s difficulties with the dutch language’ a funny book. yes, there is also “The Undutchables’ but that is a book with lots of untrue bias, written by some villain ‘we are better than everybody’ English couple that is 1) far from the truth and 2) simply not funny either.

    DailyCandor: But, at least to my American ears, the o’s in good cookbook *are* the same! I loved the Netherlands; neither my ex nor the country were too boring, but, well, relationships end. 🙂 I agree about “The Undutchables” – way too mean-spirited and untrue. If people are that miserable in a foreign country, why don’t they just move home?

    Comment by Ed — May 5, 2012 @ 6:00 am

  40. Hi, I am dutch myself and I would like to point out a few things. About number 2: the “muisjes” are usually eaten when someone had a baby (don’t ask me, it’s just a tradition).
    about number 4: Not everyone loathes germans, but when there is a soccer tournament it gets worse. (these 2 were just some extra things I would like to ad).
    But about 6: the r and the g are not always pronounced like kh. You see that in holland but not in the other provinces.
    But this is actually really good and I’m glad that someone doesn’t say we’re all potheads. (by the way I speak english without any sort of accent but yes, a lot of dutch people do).

    Comment by R — May 14, 2012 @ 8:40 am

  41. About using Holland or The Netherlands:

    Holland comes from the old germanic word Holt Land (meaning wood lands), this was just a small portion of the western part of the Netherlands. It now substitutes two provinces in the west.

    The Netherlands is always prenounced in this plural way because of the following reason. I few centuries ago there was this big empire called the Holy Roman Empire (a germanic empire). This was a feudal empire with city states, regions et cetera with quite some freedom. The part of this empire which constitutes the Netherlands and Belgium was occupied by the Spanish. The northern part of this territory decided to work together to fight off the Spanish. This cooperation was named ‘the united provinces of the Netherland’, which was indeed a union. Holland was part of this union. This union was succesful and stayed together to form the Netherlands. Why the Netherlands? It is just a word for low lands, which was the name for this region. In latin however, this region was labelled as Belgica. Frankly, the Dutch used the name ‘belgica foederata’ for their union of provinces for quite some time. So Belgium and the Netherlands actually share quite something.

    So Holland of the Netherlands? In my opinion it doesnt really matter. I am from the north and I use ‘Holland’ occasionally. It is more a sort of nickname. Who is offended by this is bullshitting you or is just splitting hairs (which might also be considered a dutch trait).

    Comment by Matt — May 19, 2012 @ 9:07 am

  42. LOL, you are so wrong about us. So wrong.

    Comment by Marijn — May 20, 2012 @ 5:49 am

  43. About the Holland vs Netherlands thing.
    Hollanders believe Holland is synonymous with The Netherlands.
    Limburgers, Frieslanders etc will vehemently point out the difference if you dare call them Hollanders.

    The extent to which it matters varies depending on who you talk to.
    I’ve met some Limburgers to whom it matters very much, and other who don’t care.

    Comment by Yuri de Groot — May 22, 2012 @ 4:51 pm

  44. […] preparará un sandwich frío para tu comida. No puedes comer dos comidas calientes al día.Lo leí aquíA continuación te muestro el resto de entradas de la serie   Viaje a HolandaAeropuertos […]

    Pingback by Cosas que no sabía de Holanda | SOMOS viajeros — May 23, 2012 @ 2:07 pm

  45. Here is something that is 100% True… Dutch people are in general very STUBORN people. They think they know better than everyone else…and as you can see from the comments….they would correct everything they think is “right” even if it’s wrong..

    They probably now will tell me to F* off….and that they are not stuborn but in reallity…Dutch people are stuborn, cheap and think they know everything. All in all, I try to avoid them.

    Comment by Jason — May 29, 2012 @ 9:21 am

  46. uuhm your’re wrong, dutch people love weed.
    I’m dutch and my friends are all dutch an we smoke every day haha

    Comment by Simon — June 6, 2012 @ 11:17 am

  47. As a Dutch person, I really enjoyed this post, but I think sometimes it is a bit oversimplifying. First of all, the ‘r’ is really pronounced different than the ‘g’ or the ‘ch’ (which are pronounced the same, I admit). I mean, how could you ever pronounce ‘gracht’ when the ‘g’ and the ‘r’ would be the same? That would be utter madness.
    Second, it is a bit generalising to say the Dutch all hate the Germans. I think most Dutch (at least the ones I know) just look at the Germans as friendly neighbours, and perhaps a few really look down on them, but that is mainly because they always defeat us in international football competitions.
    I also often see people using umbrellas, and eating two warm meals a day is not really a crime (but I admit it is quite unusual).
    Having said that, you are absolutely right about the hagelslag, the English accent (it’s terrible), the bicycles, and the rain (which is even more terrible).
    An interesting fact you didn’t mention is that the Dutch have really strange festivals. For instance, there is ‘Queen’s Day’ on which the Queen visits a certain city and half of the population gathers along the route dressed in ridiculous orange clothes (our national colour), while the rest of the country plays immature game like ‘koekhappen’, which means you have to eat a cookie which hangs from a rope without using your hands (it is really, really, silly). A similar outburst of collective imbecility can be found during international football tournaments when practically every street is covered in orange flags and other decorations while it is forbidden to talk about anything not related to football as long as the tournament lasts (okay, now I’m slightly generalising myself, but still Dutch people can get really, really fanatic). Then, there is of course ‘Sinterklaas’, who is the Dutch version of ‘Santa Claus’ and visits the Netherlands with a boat every year on the 5th of December to scatter presents and a particular kind of sweets called ‘pepernoten’. The most peculiar feature of this festival is that Sinterklaas is always surrounded by ‘Zwarte Pieten’ who are dyed entire black, do all the hard work and are generally retarded. The entire festival looks like this: http://www.mediaflits.nl/in%20tocht%20sint/slides/SINTERKLAAS%20INTOCHT%20EMMER-COMPASCUUM%20PER%20BOOT%20(52)%20%5B640x480%5D.html However, it is prohibited to claim that the ‘Zwarte Pieten’ are racist inventions. Sometimes the Dutch are a bit unworldly.

    Comment by Dutch person — June 10, 2012 @ 5:21 am

  48. Dutch bf gave me this link to read. interesting. told him i will eat more than 1 hot meal when i feel like it.

    Comment by beauty — June 13, 2012 @ 2:38 pm

  49. So, I live in Groningen and the difference- The Netherlands, Holland- I’ve never heard of it. I’m sorry, but I live in Holland, and nobody is going to tell me I am not, because I am.

    The arcticle was pretty amusing, and I think it’s a pretty accurate view, although some things are probably different for every part of Holland (So, all of The Netherlands) and also the opinions on Germans, we don’t hate them at all (they just won a soccer match tonight, lol, so we (not me, just all the other dutch) probably hate the germans for the next month or so.) but we joke about them a lot. Like the holes they dig on the beach, haha. It’s pretty funny. I think some is WWII stuff other the soccer stuff and also because we want to be better and the Germans are so similar to Dutch.

    Other comments have good stuff in it too, I can’t read them all, but what I read had some good points.

    Comment by Tijmen — June 13, 2012 @ 4:24 pm

  50. first off, i want to say, not all dutch people are bad at english. i don’t sound like: “Boeks aarw stoepit” no, i just say: “Books are stupid” and i’m 14 years old xD it’s true that we love it to speak english. oh, and, when you were here, in the Netherlands, were you only in “Holland” / Amsterdam? or were you in other places of this country too…however, thanks for putting this up anyway 😉

    ~someone who lives in the Netherlands

    Comment by DutchGirlMaaike — June 26, 2012 @ 7:14 am

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