I bumped into someone recently who was talking about the Dutch. He said they do not like being called "Dutch" and feel it is demeaning and derogatory. They prefer to be called Netherlandic. He said he learned it at college during a course on European history (some year to present). However, when speaking to Dutch (Netherlandic) people, they thought I was nuts and never heard of such a thing. One went so far as to say Americans push their political correctness onto everyone else.
Do we, as Americans, really make crap up about foreigners and actually TEACH IT in our universities as truth? Anyone have any examples of this?
Well, something somewhat related to the topic of names and what they preferred to be called...
My neighbor across the street has a daughter in law that is a "short person", and last night it came up, and at the time I wasn't sure whether to call them "midgets" or "short people", and APPARENTLY it's "short people (person)"
Same thing with "retard", "special ed", and "mentally challenged"
But as for things like foreign people, I haven't really left the country enough to find out...
xnickerx I hate to break it to you but its inncorect for citizens of the United states American because people from Canada, Mexico and other South American countries can call them selves American because they live on the contenent of America. I prefer the term Unitedstatian,Stater, maby Yank. You know you are an United States history nerd when you think about these things.
Now lemme get this straight. A Dutch person feels insulted by being called Dutch, and tells you they prefer to be called Netherlanders. Then, after receiving this correction, another Dutch person confronts you about your "forcing you political correctness" because you referred to him as Netherlandic?
If that's the case, just tell him off. He's calling you racist, and that's hypocritical to the max for the Dutch (And the French, mind you.)
no an american is telling me dutch people hate being called dutch. but the dutch say they are fine with dutch and never heard of being called netherlanders.
The word Dutch once referred to all people speaking a West Germanic language on the European mainland. The "Pennsylvania Dutch," for example, are mostly German and Swiss. For what I understand, the Dutch aren't big fans of the Germans. But I really doubt that they care as to whether we use this exonym or the adjective they use to describe themselves in their own language, Nederlander.
So it's more just a case of miscommunication because of someone else's ignorance.
I had the same thing happen with Aussies once. Someone told me they feel it's derogatory, and told me to use some strange other name that, I think he said referred to older Australian heritage back when it wasn't Australian.
Bunch of crap. I talked to an Aussie online about it (Didn't actually call him an Aussie of other name, I just brought up the subject), and he said he'd never even heard of the word.
Yes, but when called Netherlander, they were insulted, were they not?
xnickerx was told not to use Dutch, but Netherlander by someone who wasn't Dutch. Upon using it, the "Netherlander" complains and says that Dutch is just fine, because Netherlander was "forcing PC", amirite?
ah but it wasn't nederlander, it was netherlander. as in the english pronunciation of someone from the netherlands. like calling someone canadian because they are from canada. or american because they are from america. but we don't call people from England englanders. we call them british. and the welsh are from wales. we don't call them walesians from wales.
and the dutch person wasn't offended. he thought it was weird that we thought the dutch were offended by us calling them dutch.
i mean, imagine a person in school in france being told that the americans don't like to be called american anymore, but the aforementioned unitedstatesians. and he goes on telling everyone he knows not to call them americans but to call them unitedstatesians. someone, somewhere is going to do just that. because they were told by someone in authority that is correct. could you imagine some french guy asking you if you prefer foreign or unitedstatesian made cars?
you would laugh hysterically. or pee in his ass. depending.....
the journal brings up good points, you are limited by racist terms. so again, it starts to show that we as americans are so obsessed with being politically correct that we over compensate. and end up screwing up in the end.
not really. someone from england has a british passport. not an english passport. and what is britain? england, scotland, wales, and northern ireland. so you have english, scottish, welsh, and irish. but you use british for all of them as well. they kinda get two names for the price of one.
Point is, it's actually hard to find a nation that you can't quickly convert to an adjective to describe someone's race. England and Brittain are no exception.
I can't, however, imagine calling someone Budapestian. Or however Budapest is spelled.
Well i have a black mate who goes to over to New York every so oftern (we both live in the UK, but he has relitives over there). Apparentley every time hes over there someone asks something like 'so are you afro-american, afro-european or afro-british?' to which he just replys 'dude, im english'. Sometimes you can be over the mark somewhat, which can be offensive. Oh and most english people want to be called either English or British, usually dosent bother us which one (inless were at a football game in which case its english). Some Northern Irish want to be called British and some hate to be called British (depends which side they were on during the troubles). As far as im aware the Dutch dont mind being called Dutch, certinally my Dutch mates have never said anything about it when i call them dutch, and no one was offended when i was in Amsterdam the other year, maybe i missed something though.
The word Dutch once referred to all people speaking a West Germanic language on the European mainland. The "Pennsylvania Dutch," for example, are mostly German and Swiss.
While Dutch may have been a catch-all phrase for those people, I do know that that's not why they're called the "Pennsylvania Dutch". Calling them Pennsylvania Dutch is a mispelling of Pennsylvania Deitsch, or German. It's just a long-standing shorthand for people who can't spell Deitsch.
Speaking of them, did you know they call all non-Amish people as "English"? I'm offended! I'm not English, I'm Italian!
This is only a theory, but perhaps Dutch is the correct term for a native of one particular area of the Netherlands. I know that while the use of the name Holland is incorrect to describe the country most Dutch will just let it slip. Perhaps this is similar. While Netherlandic would be the correct term for a native of the Netherlands because its usage is so widespread most consider Dutch to be a perfectly accurate description of their nationality. As I said, this is just a theory, I'll have a look and see if I can find more evidence for it.
