Double Dutch
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This video begins with two Dutch sayings:
There's a saying in Dutch: "God schiep de Aarde, maar de Nederlanders schiepen Nederland".
Another saying in Dutch is: "Wij smachten naar achtentachtig prachtige nachten bij achtentachtig prachtige grachten".
Today's program is about how the Netherlands picked a fight with the sea, and won.
The first saying means "God made the world, but the Dutch made the Netherlands". It summarizes the video's topic, which is when, how, and why "roughly 17% of the whole country has been conjured out of thin water."
The second? It's explained and analyzed by three of the comments on the video:
Commenter 1: "Wij smachten naar achtentachtig prachtige nachten bij achtentachtig prachtige grachten" translates roughly to "We long for eighty-eight beautiful nights by eighty-eight beautiful canals" it is a relatively famous dutch tongue twister…
Commenter 2: Meanwhile in not-Dutch it sounds hilariously fake
Commenter 3: yeah I fully thought he was just making noises
Commenter 4: That's how talking works usually.
As far as I can tell, the second saying was just added to the script for fun.
And as for this post's title, there's actually a connection beyond the two guys performing two Dutch sayings. As Wikipedia explains
Double Dutch is a game in which two long jump ropes turning in opposite directions are jumped by one or more players jumping simultaneously.
It is widely acknowledged that modern Double Dutch originated in the United States among girls in predominantly Black urban communities during the 1940s and 1950s, who congregated on street corners to display new tricks and repurposed clotheslines as ropes. […]
Although it is popularly claimed the activity was brought to America by Dutch settlers, the term "double Dutch" itself has long existed in English slang, where it originally referred to incomprehensible speech or nonsense, reflecting historical English views of the Dutch language as confusing or strange. Phrases such as "in Dutch," meaning to be in trouble, further illustrate this pejorative connotation. The use of the term "double Dutch" for the game reflects the visual complexity and perceived challenge of the jump-roping, similar to the confusion implied by the idiom.
[h/t Geoff Dawson]
Philip Taylor said,
November 13, 2025 @ 7:07 am
Not forgetting (at least in British English) "going Dutch", meaning that each pays for him/her self. Also "Dutch treat", with much the same meaning.
Ralph J Hickok said,
November 13, 2025 @ 7:30 am
In some expressions, "Dutch" basically means "false." E.g., a "Dutch treat" is not a treat at all, a "Dutch uncle" is someone who isn't a real uncle but acts like one, "Dutch courage" is fake courage inspired by alcohol.
Mark Liberman said,
November 13, 2025 @ 7:54 am
@ Ralph Hickok: "In some expressions, "Dutch" basically means "false.""
No. The OED's gloss for "Dutch uncle" (supported by the quotations): "(The archetype of) a strict but (usually) well-intentioned or benevolent person, esp. one who offers (unsolicited) advice bluntly. Frequently in to talk to (a person) like a Dutch uncle."
And the relevant sense for "go Dutch" is "In a manner considered to be typical of the Dutch (in various senses of the noun); spec. (originally U.S.) with attendees at a meal or other social occasion each paying for their individual share of the expenses".
And "Dutch courage" is indeed "Alcoholic drink regarded as a means of acquiring temporary boldness or confidence via intoxication; (hence) temporary boldness or confidence acquired via the consumption of alcoholic drink." But "alcohol-inspired" is not the same as "false".
There might be a semantic drift for some people in the direction of Dutch == false, but if so, it's secondary and recent and still specific to a few fixed phrases.
Coby said,
November 13, 2025 @ 9:18 am
"Wij smachten…" is not really a tongue-twister; it's more like a throat-tickler, since its point is multiple articulations of [χ].
Philip Taylor said,
November 13, 2025 @ 9:35 am
And to augment my previous list of "not forget"tings, there is also the Dutch cap (not an article of headwear worn in the Netherlands …).
Robert Coren said,
November 13, 2025 @ 10:28 am
The "Dutch = false" concept (which I always assumed arose during a period in which the British and the Dutch were rivals in international trade) also shows up in "Dutch oven", which is not an oven. I would dispute Mark's suggestion that "Dutch courage" doesn't imply "falseness"; to me it means that the person isn't normally brave but appears so when deprived of inhibition by alcohol.
I'm not sure what to make of "Dutch door", referring to a door whose upper and lower halves one independently.
Y said,
November 13, 2025 @ 1:28 pm
In 1973, National Lampoon infamously parodied American Red-baiting propaganda by creating anti-Dutch screeds, using the same discourse, larded with paranoia and innuendo. The joke was that the Dutch were considered as harmless and neutral as anybody. The Dutch embassy in the U.S. was not amused.
"Dutch" expressions, in particular, are covered here.
Philip Taylor said,
November 13, 2025 @ 2:20 pm
Y — I followed your link to "here", and then followed further links, and ended up at the "Dutch jokes" page, where I read :
Now no matter whether I pronounce Gouda the archetypal British way (/ˈɡaʊ də/) or as close as I can get to the Nederlands way (/ˈxɔu daː/), I still can't see the joke. Can you help ?
Allen Thrasher said,
November 13, 2025 @ 3:36 pm
I thought “Double Dutch” meant a game or language of word distortion practiced by children, perhaps especially by girls.
AntC said,
November 13, 2025 @ 4:47 pm
I still can't see the joke.
Presumably the pronunciation needed amounts to "Was it good?" — to which the response is "It was awful." [needs a full stop, that's not an intensifier to 'God'].
But yes, the Brit pronunciation of 'Gouda' is always two syllables even if the second is reduced. For the first I usually use -OW- as in 'ouch'. Perhaps there's a spelling pronunciation good-ə. By now we've explained the joke to death.
(As a kid, I was given only Edam.)
JPL said,
November 13, 2025 @ 5:30 pm
Check this out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK9hK82r-AM
One of my favorite jams. (In addition to the double jump-rope game there is a word-play game going on that I used to know something about, but now I've forgotten. If you know the code you can decipher it.) The two-rope jumping game is played, traditionally I would say, by West African school girls who have no knowledge of American culture. There is another footwork and clapping game that is often played by the schoolgirls as well in these situations. It's quite complex and fast-moving. I can't say anything about origins, but the latter game I have not seen in the US.
Richard Rubenstein said,
November 13, 2025 @ 5:55 pm
No linguistic comment, but I wanted to say that Map Men is one of the best things on the internet.
Jonathan Smith said,
November 13, 2025 @ 10:08 pm
Early discussions of "Dutch Uncle" seem to involve frame of presumptuous old guy giving annoying unsolicited advice with emphasis veering between the presumptuousness and the annoyingness… however _denotatively_ it seems possible that Dutch = 'fake'; think "this dude ain't my uncle." And yeah there are a weird number of parallel usages with the qualification that Dutch often = German in the U.S.A. of the time…
GH said,
November 13, 2025 @ 11:27 pm
Etymonline:
The article is not explicit about whether Dutch uncle should be considered one of these terms, but mentions that the connotation was so pervasive that in the early 20th century Dutch officials were instructed to try to avoid using the word "Dutch"; so given the 1838 date for the term, it seems highly likely.
Philip Taylor said,
November 14, 2025 @ 5:20 am
I concur, Richard, but solely on the basis of the linked video — I have not watched any of their other offerings. So impressed was I by theirendering of Wij smachten naar achtentachtig prachtige nachten bij achtentachtig prachtige grachten that I initially thought that they were native Nederlands speakers with a first-class mastery of spoken English, and it was only on watching the entire episode that I realised that they both, in fact, speak English as L1. Indeed, I was planning to send a message to Victor suggesting that we discuss on Language Log the fact that many native speakers of Nederlands can also speak perfect English, while very few native speakers of English can demonstrate any mastery of Nederlands whatsoever, and ask whether it might be the case that this is because the phonology of Nederlands includes all (British) English phonemes whilst the phonology of (British) English lacks a number of the phonemes required for the accurate delivery of spoken Nederlands.
Following my enjoyment of the linked video I immediately ordered a copy of This Way Up, needless to say.
Philip Taylor said,
November 14, 2025 @ 5:40 am
Ant — "Perhaps there's a spelling pronunciation good-ə" — indeed there is. I had (unforgiveably) failed to listen to the <Am.E> pronunciation offered by the electronic LPD (/ˈɡuːdə /). Not quite /gʊdə/, but close enough …
cliff arroyo said,
November 14, 2025 @ 3:58 pm
Getting here late, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the song "Double Dutch Bus" from 1981.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK9hK82r-AM
A combination of late disco and early hip hop (arguably taking the best of both) it also has lots of use of the 'izz' infix, esp starting at 2:16 or so.
I remember at the time a friend liked the song but asked why they were speaking Dutch…..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dutch_Bus
Rodger C said,
November 16, 2025 @ 10:13 am
There's a scene in Doctor Pol where Charles says /ˈɡuːdə/ and his father corrects him with /ˈxɔu daː/. All set up, of course, by the director (Charles).
ajay said,
November 20, 2025 @ 8:56 am
"probably exceeded in such usage only by Indian and Irish"
I am surprised by "Indian" – the only use I can think of in BrE that doesn't literally mean "something to do with India" is "Indian summer" which is of frustratingly obscure origin. AmE has "Indian giver" … are there others?
(The late Duke of Edinburgh once caused a minor scandal when he commented while visiting a factory that some wiring looked as though it had been put in by an Indian – it was eventually concluded that he had meant to say "cowboy".)
Philip Taylor said,
November 20, 2025 @ 9:24 am
Indian ink ?
Rodger C said,
November 20, 2025 @ 10:46 am
Called "India ink" in my general experience.
Philip Taylor said,
November 20, 2025 @ 1:53 pm
<Am.E> v. <Br.E>, Rodger. But then we say/write "skimmed milk" whereas you (probably) say/write "skim milk". Etc.