At 11:00 AM 29/04/2002 -0700, Dan Lau wrote:
[snip]
>Can someone explain the various names and how they relate to one another
>(if any):
>
>Holland
>Dutch
>Danish
>The Netherlands
>
>All I know is that they all refer to a general geographical
>region in northern Europe. Geography/cluture was not a
>subject I mastered when in school.
The Netherlands (or "Nederland," in the Dutch language, which, oddly enough, is
known as "Nederlans") is where the Dutch people live. "Holland" was one of the
most powerful and prosperous provinces of The Netherlands, and people other
than the Dutch themselves often referred to all of The Netherlands as
"Holland." It is *not* correct to say that "The Netherlands" and "Holland" are
the "same thing," as my Dutch cousins are often wont to remind me. Only us
dumb foreigners ever refer to The Netherlands as "Holland."
Another fiercely proud and independent province in the north of The Netherlands
is called "Friesland," and the native tongue there is called "Fries." (Rhymes
with "freeze," by the way, although it's more of an 's' sound on the end of the
word. Think "freese.") The Fries language is much closer to English than
Nederlans is, which reminds me more of "Low" German. The difference became
immediately apparent to me after I'd been in bars throughout Western Europe --
French bars had background noise (from all the talking) that sounded strange to
me, with an unusual cadence and "murmur," whereas German bars' background noise
sounded much more like a bar in North America or the UK, and bars in Friesland
were almost indistinguishable from North American bars in terms of background
noise -- until you had to order, that is. ;-)
And a Danish is a yummy, high-calorie, zero-nutrition pastry best eaten with
strong coffee as an accompaniment. 8^>
Okay, okay, seriously: Danish is the language of the Danish people, or the
Danes, who live in Denmark, basically north and east across the North Sea from
Friesland (more or less -- I'm not trying for high precision here, folks).
It's attached to the northern tip of Germany (whereas The Netherlands is
attached to a north-west part of Germany, and is thus west and somewhat south
of Denmark). You can drive to Denmark from The Netherlands by going through
northern Germany, or you can take a ferry.
The term "Scandinavian" does not refer to The Netherlands, but does refer to
Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, etc. The humorous term "Scandiwhovian"
refers to any Northern European whose language has the "Yumpin' Yiminy!" lilt
to it (think "Swedish Chef" for the archetypal lilting language). I refer to
my Dutch cousins as "Scandiwhovians," much to their good-natured disgust
(followed by threats to withhold beer from me when I visit them).
Garth
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