#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?

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.

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!

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 =)

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.

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)

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