Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai General Chat

Maybe FD would be the man to ask but feedback from anyone is welcome!

I have just sat down to Sunday lunch with the family, roast pork and all the trimmings, and very nice it was too.
My eldest daughter and her husband were visiting from Manchester. She travels a lot with her job. She is off next week to the Netherlands. Her husband insists she is off to Holland.
She came out with some line about Holland just being a part of the Netherlands. My dad pointed out that when we play footie against the Dutch, we play Holland. She said when she transfers money to the Netherlands, the IBAN codes begin with NL. I said if you see a Dutch car, the country code is NL. Beth didn't say anything because she doesn't know where Holland is anyway.

So what is it? The Netherlands or Holland?

Officially it's the Netherlands, still however known as Holland.

I used to work in Aruba & Curacao which are Islands in the Caribbean in the "Netherlands Antilles"

In Farsi we call it Holland,I know in Arabic they call it Hollanda, If I remember right in Spanish it is Holanda too. But I think in English it is Netherlands.

melika969 wrote:In Farsi we call it Holland,I know in Arabic they call it Hollanda, If I remember right in Spanish it is Holanda too. But I think in English it is Netherlands.

More than one name is used to refer to the Netherlands, both in English and in other languages. Some of these names refer to different, but overlapping geographical, linguistic and political areas of the country. This is a common source of confusion for outsiders. In English the country is called 'the Netherlands' (or frequently - but inaccurately - 'Holland'), while the people and the language are called 'Dutch'. In Dutch the official (and predominant) terms for these are 'Nederland' for the country, 'Nederlanders' for the people and 'Nederlands' for the language, although they are occasionally (colloquially) called 'Holland', 'Hollanders' and 'Hollands' respectively.
Occasionally the the is incorrectly capitalised: 'the Netherlands' is similar to names such as 'the United States' and 'the Federal Republic of Germany', so the 't' should not be capitalised except at the beginning of a sentence.
Historically the English did not distinguish inhabitants of the Low Countries by 'nationality'. In the 15th and the first half of the 16th century, all persons from Germanic lands were called Flemings, Theotonici, Doch, or sometimes Germani. In the second half of the 16th century, all Germanic speakers or inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire were called Dutch or Douch.

The Netherlands consists of 12 provinces. Two of them are South-Holland and Noth-Holland. South- and North- Holland are the economic, political, cultural (and basicly anything else) center of the Netherlands. Technically Holland is a part of the Netherlands.
However, in a lot of cases Holland and the Netherlands are used as synonymes, especially when introducing yourself outside the country. Holland/Hollanda/Hulanda seems to be recognized more than "the Netherlands". Holland also has a more "warrior-like" meaning because of the past. During international sports matches you will never hear somebody yell "go Netherlands", but always "go Holland".
Inside the country saying you are from Holland to another Dutch person does mean that you are from South- or North-Holland, whose inhabitants are deemed arrogant in other provinces. To call somebody "Hollander" might be used with a slight negative tune. However, when speaking to another Dutch person outside the country, Holland means the Netherlands again and does a positive ring to it (even to those not living in South- or North-Holland).

Never mind, just make sure you never confuse "Dutch" with "Deutsch"!!!!!

-- Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:53 pm --

sage & onion wrote:Historically the English did not distinguish inhabitants of the Low Countries by 'nationality'. In the 15th and the first half of the 16th century, all persons from Germanic lands were called Flemings, Theotonici, Doch, or sometimes Germani. In the second half of the 16th century, all Germanic speakers or inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire were called Dutch or Douch.

What did I just say? Boo to you!

Hahahahahahahahaha, Boo back to yah

Interesting FD,
The Dutch are known for being arrogant. But from what you have said it is only the Dutch from Holand that give the Netherlands a bad name.
I am guessing that you are not one of these.

Doesn't Nederlands translate to Low Countries? and wouldn't that include Belgium and Luxembourg?

And what happened to Brabant, where did that go?

benwj wrote:Interesting FD,
The Dutch are known for being arrogant. But from what you have said it is only the Dutch from Holand that give the Netherlands a bad name.
I am guessing that you are not one of these.

I know many Dutch people and I would certainly not term them as arrogant, you must be talking about their neighbours the French.

sage & onion wrote:I know many Dutch people and I would certainly not term them as arrogant, you must be talking about their neighbours the French.

Well the last time I went to school, Holland had but two neighbours and none of those were French! get your Geography books out Onions and look again.

benwj wrote:The Dutch are known for being arrogant.

There is arrogance within arrogance.

benwj wrote: But from what you have said it is only the Dutch from Holand that give the Netherlands a bad name.

The blond country girls with shaven arm pits make it all good however. They are smart, make great conversation and tend to look good. Except those from Holland of course, they are arrogant.

benwj wrote: I am guessing that you are not one of these.

I am humble.

sage & onion wrote:

benwj wrote:Interesting FD,
The Dutch are known for being arrogant. But from what you have said it is only the Dutch from Holand that give the Netherlands a bad name.
I am guessing that you are not one of these.

I know many Dutch people and I would certainly not term them as arrogant, you must be talking about their neighbours the French.

That was FD's description.
Personally, I would class them as more egocentirc and self-centred rather than outwardly arrogant like the French. So arrogant, but in in a overt way.

Dillon wrote:Doesn't Nederlands translate to Low Countries? and wouldn't that include Belgium and Luxembourg?

Belgium and Luzemburg used to be included, until Napoleon came. Belgium is still an artificial country, only the Flemish donot want reunification (despite their political differences with the French speaking part), they find the cheeseheads arrogant. Ask another forum member, Bonker (or something) is from Belgium I believe.

Dillon wrote:And what happened to Brabant, where did that go?

Split up between the Netherlands and Belgium.

Dillon wrote:

sage & onion wrote:I know many Dutch people and I would certainly not term them as arrogant, you must be talking about their neighbours the French.

Well the last time I went to school, Holland had but two neighbours and none of those were French! get your Geography books out Onions and look again.

I personally class people that live 2 doors away to be neighbours.

I'm no clearer! Except that ben has reconfimed that he doesn't like the French, people think the Dutch are arrogant, Sage has worked abroad, him and Dillon disagree about who is their neighbour and Dutch girls shave their armpits (unlike the German birds).

I'll stick with saying my daughter is off to the Netherlands but that we play Holland at footie but the Netherlands at cricket.