(Untitled)

Aug 08, 2007 15:09

"So tell me, what do the people think of Holland in America?"

::pause::

"Well, we don't, really ( Read more... )

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Comments 19

mistersmearcase August 8 2007, 13:44:02 UTC
"Well, mention it to anyone around 20 or 21 and male and he's most likely going to think of exactly two things: pot and hookers. But he's going to think they're Danish pot and Danish hookers." Maybe not the very best face for America, this, but truish.

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spoonfeeding August 8 2007, 15:08:58 UTC
the best part is I was googling for something about WW2 and Holland last week and randomly came across some site where a guy was talking about how most Americans would probably guess Amsterdam was in Denmark. I was all DUDE!!!! National Collective Unconscious! (Or a misprint in an entire generation of 5th grade geography textbooks.)

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roseseule August 8 2007, 14:10:33 UTC
The only reason I know much of anything about Holland is because my grandparents hosted a foreign exchange student from Holland. Otherwise, I'd know about the tulip craze, the boy who put his finger in the dam to keep the country from being flooded and Amsterdam...nothing about the country's political system or the people there.

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vicariance August 8 2007, 14:37:59 UTC
Most think of Heineken, windmills, and tulips. (if reminded at least)

And any American world traveler understands the significance of Schiphol.

But what do Americans think about the dutch people or lifestyle? yeah. blank.

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spoonfeeding August 8 2007, 15:03:51 UTC
yeah, I was like, "gun to our head, we could probably come up with tulips, windmills and wooden shoes, but I don't know how much more than that."

(I was not excluding myself- the whole Danish/Dutch, Denmark/Holland thing has been a 'pause to make sure I'm using the right one' thing most of my life. I wish we called it "The Netherlands" and the people "Nethers." We'd remember them then.)

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vicariance August 8 2007, 15:15:44 UTC
ah klompen I forgot! Man, did they forget to invent leather?

I remember trying to dissolve that particular confusion of the Netherlands as one of my first forays into Wikipedia, heh.

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spoonfeeding August 8 2007, 15:20:21 UTC
I almost *cried* when I found out the word for klompen, it was so perfect.

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spoonfeeding August 8 2007, 14:59:17 UTC
I thought that was Thailand.

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spoonfeeding August 8 2007, 15:16:45 UTC
Dude, how random is it that you know that? I am officially declaring you an outlier.

but still, considering that even in that cite it says, "In October 2006, it became clear that the party did not receive enough signatures to partake in the 2006 elections.[5] The party would have had to raise 570 public declarations of support from Dutch citizens in order to field candidates in parliamentary elections" Thailand still wins.

Not that there isn't pedophilia here, mind you. Oh, and the forced sexual trafficking, despite legalized prostitution. Such fun!

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spoonfeeding August 8 2007, 15:09:19 UTC
That poor, poor Danish girl.

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