10 June 2014

Things you didn't know about the Netherlands


Where does the Kingdom of the Netherlands share a long border with the French Republic?  The answer is in this brief, entertaining video:


When my father was growing up in a small Pennsylvania railroad town in the early 1900s, his nickname was "Dutch," not because of any Netherlands connection, but because the family was "Deutsch" (German).

Reposted from 2012 for "Dutch Treat Day" 2014.

9 comments:

  1. Dave J.December 22, 2012 at 12:27 PM

    Entertaining, and educational. And just 4 minutes long!

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  2. KnifflerDecember 22, 2012 at 12:56 PM

    Not new to me, but well explained. I've often thought there should be a tumblr of "surprising borders" like the one mentioned.

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  3. Cathy MDecember 22, 2012 at 1:42 PM

    I learned, I laughed, I loved. Thanks

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  4. HeumpjeDecember 22, 2012 at 4:25 PM

    As citizen of Holland (noord Holland to be exact) I learned something here. Never knew we shared a border with France.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  5. AnonymousDecember 22, 2012 at 6:54 PM

    Nice! Two minor remarks though: The ç in Curaçao is pronounced s, and Boniare should be spelled Bonaire. Oh, and the "adorable little hearts" in the Frisian flag are actually lily pads.

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  6. NepkarelJanuary 2, 2013 at 3:33 PM

    Also, the EU status of the Dutch Caribbean is unclear at the moment. Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten are surely no part of the EU. The status of Bonaire, Saba and Stacia still needs to be hammered out. They're probably get some peripheral EU status, just as many of the French islands do. It is unlikely that they will become fully part of the EU such as French Guyana or some other French Islands. After all, they don't even pay with the euro.

    On the islands, there is considerable resistance to becoming members of the EU. I don't understand why, because especially the Dutch side of Sint Maarten should be able to see all the 'built with EU money' signs on the French side of Saint Martin.

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  7. lythaJune 11, 2014 at 2:24 AM

    Just to mess with my mind, the Germans call the Dutch people Holländer ("Hollanders"), and they call the Dutch language Holländisch.

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    Replies
    1. jwbroekJune 11, 2014 at 10:32 AM

      The Germans also use Niederländer and Niederländisch. Holland and The Netherlands are used interchangeably in many languages -including Dutch- even though the former properly refers to a subset of the latter.

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  8. AnonymousJune 12, 2014 at 3:23 AM

    German here from the South-East of Germany. I'd be somewhat surprised if someone actually used 'Niederlaender' here.
    I am tempted to submit it as a question to the Atlas of German language usage, the people that make these amazing maps: http://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-7/f01f/

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