What insults to other countries are part of your language?

Started by Savonarola, October 10, 2014, 01:27:25 PM

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mongers

#45
October 10, 2014, 08:06:36 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on October 10, 2014, 07:57:26 PM
A Dutch auction now is one in which everyone who makes a bid has to pay, even though only the highest bidder gets the thing.  Only used for charity events.

Yeah, I think it has meant different things on either side of the pond, but now the American use is taking over.

edit:
just had a look on the oed.com and it has this:

Quote

1859   -  The sale is conducted on the principle of what is termed a 'Dutch auction', purchasers not being allowed to inspect the fish in the doubles before they bid.

1872  -  The old Dutch auction, by which an article was put up at a high price, and, if nobody accepted the offer, then reduced to a lower, the sum first required being gradually decreased until a fair value was attained.
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Maximus

#46
October 10, 2014, 08:07:31 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on October 10, 2014, 08:02:21 PM
Quote from: Maximus on October 10, 2014, 07:59:05 PM
Huh, a Dutch auction to me is an auction where the bid starts high and goes down. The first person to take the bid wins.

I don't know what this means Max.
Instead of a price that starts low and goes up as buyers take bids, the price starts high and counts down. There's often a counter or something to show the current price. The first person to bid at the current price buys the item at that price.

mongers

#47
October 10, 2014, 08:13:55 PM
The OED has a lot more, like apparently this American originated one,

Slang phrases (orig. U.S.):  (a) in Dutch, in disfavour, disgrace, or trouble;  (b) to do a (or the) Dutch (act) , to desert, escape, run away; also, to commit suicide.

1904   H. Hapgood Autobiogr. Thief vi. 112   A week later Dal was found dead in his cell, and I believe he did the Dutch act (suicide).

:cool:
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Tonitrus

#48
October 10, 2014, 08:32:22 PM
Besides "going Dutch" (which is not really an insult), I've never heard any of these Dutch ones.

And I am Dutch, damn you all.  :mad: :P

Admiral Yi

#49
October 10, 2014, 08:34:35 PM
If you've never heard Dutch courage you must be drunk all the time.

mongers

#50
October 10, 2014, 08:38:58 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on October 10, 2014, 08:32:22 PM
Besides "going Dutch" (which is not really an insult), I've never heard any of these Dutch ones.

And I am Dutch, damn you all.  :mad: :P

Well they're one of our traditional enemies, so it's no surprise that 17th/18th century English should have acquired these.  :bowler:
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Savonarola

#51
October 10, 2014, 08:46:42 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on October 10, 2014, 08:32:22 PM
Besides "going Dutch" (which is not really an insult), I've never heard any of these Dutch ones.

And I am Dutch, damn you all.  :mad: :P

My dad worked as for the Federal Government doing background.  As I'm sure is still the case today, they had to go through sensitivity training and the like every so often.  After one session all the participants went out to dinner; the instructor told them that they had to "Go Dutch."  One of the largest immigrant groups of my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI, are the Dutch; so many filed a complaint against the sensitivity trainer.

Other Dutch ones:

Beat the Dutch:  Perform an extraordinary feat
Dutch wife:  Body pillow
Dutch cap:  Diaphragm 
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock

Valmy

#52
October 10, 2014, 09:22:18 PM
I had no idea my language contained so much Dutch hatred.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Tonitrus

#53
October 10, 2014, 09:29:20 PM
Quote from: Valmy on October 10, 2014, 09:22:18 PM
I had no idea my language contained so much Dutch hatred.

I must have been sheltered.  The only thing said about the Dutch that I knew of, was that we like to stick our fingers in dykes.  :(

derspiess

#54
October 10, 2014, 10:25:52 PM
The Dutch are my favorite Euro nationality,with the Swiss being a close second.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Valmy

#55
October 10, 2014, 10:29:09 PM
Quote from: derspiess on October 10, 2014, 10:25:52 PM
The Dutch are my favorite Euro nationality,with the Swiss being a close second.

You have a thing for really boring rude people?  At least I like interesting rude people :P
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

derspiess

#56
October 10, 2014, 11:27:30 PM
The Dutch were nothing but nice to me in my time in the Netherlands. Almost to a fault. The Flemish were equally so in Belgium. The Walloons... well, at least they made good beer.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Valmy

#57
October 10, 2014, 11:32:35 PM
Quote from: derspiess on October 10, 2014, 11:27:30 PM
The Dutch were nothing but nice to me in my time in the Netherlands. Almost to a fault. The Flemish were equally so in Belgium. The Walloons... well, at least they made good beer.

I just thought it was funny both the countries you like are Calvinist ones :P

Granted I guess France is sorta Calvinist to in its way.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Syt

#58
October 10, 2014, 11:34:10 PM
Quote from: derspiess on October 10, 2014, 02:59:18 PM
Quote from: Syt on October 10, 2014, 02:03:35 PM
"hinter schwedischen Gardinen" (behind Swedish curtains) = in jail
"Alter Schwede!" (Old Swede!) = "Whoa!"/"Wow!"

Have you ever been called Piefke or Marmeladinger by an Austrian?

Not seriously, though I will make self-deprecating jokes about it and German cliches. But then again I occasionally get one of the highest praises: "You're not a typical German!"

I have a colleague, though, who is the picture of a Piefke. Strong German accent. Always on the go. Always dissatisfied with something, like employees at a chain store not giving him their full attention and service 2 minutes (literally) before closing time; or people walking too slow; or that some things need a bit in Vienna - and he'll loudly voice his annoyance and explain how things are better in Germany.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Valmy

#59
October 10, 2014, 11:39:02 PM
Quote from: Syt on October 10, 2014, 11:34:10 PM
he'll loudly voice his annoyance and explain how things are better in Germany.

My parents had a German exchange student who literally spent the whole Academic year telling them how stupid the US was how much better everything was in Germany. 
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
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