>> That's a bit rude...?...
>
>Hey, I even showed him the way to a Dutch-speaking mechanics site, which
>is actually quite good.
>>> That's a bit rude...?...
>> Hey, I even showed him the way to a Dutch-speaking mechanics site, which
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Is it someone, like an American or Brit, who at some point in histlry screwed
> up Dutch and Deutsch?? I wonder
I'll tell you what's rude as well. Leaving your e-mail address for
replies. That's not participating in a group, that's just using it. I'm
pretty sure he won't be back anyway.
Truly multi-lingual newsgroups die out anyway. Nobody cares enough to
pick out the messages they can read/reply. Ever heard of Babylon?
The Dutch part is historic. Early Dutch language was referred to as
'Diets' in the Middle Ages. The English (with whom we always had an
intensive relationship - look at the four Dutch - English wars) probably
stuck to that old term. We just call ourselves Nederlanders or
Hollanders, although Holland is technically only a part of the country.
We call the Germans 'Duits' or 'Duitsers'.
Ximinez

Signature
Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...
and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope....
http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/paulfitz/spanish/t1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gldlyTjXk9A
Dori A Schmetterling - 22 Apr 2007 19:11 GMT
Holland is part of England, too.
(Lincolnshire, eastern England)
And there's Holland Park in London, but that's just named after Lord Holland
...
DAS
For direct replies replace nospam with schmetterling
---
[...]
> stuck to that old term. We just call ourselves Nederlanders or Hollanders,
> although Holland is technically only a part of the country.
[...]
> Ximinez
Guenter Scholz - 23 Apr 2007 01:28 GMT
>>>> That's a bit rude...?...
>>> Hey, I even showed him the way to a Dutch-speaking mechanics site, which
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>Hollanders, although Holland is technically only a part of the country.
>We call the Germans 'Duits' or 'Duitsers'.
Ximinez, thanks for that... I've learned something that I probably
should have known already. Of course your answer just leads to another
question... why the similarity between Diets and Duits ... sound pretty
much just like a difference in dialect more than anything else. I guess if
we go back far enough even english will meld into Diets and Duits. Remids
me of reading Chaucer where I recognized a fair bit of the olde english via
german ....
cheers, guenter
The Spanish Inquisition - 23 Apr 2007 09:06 GMT
>>>>> That's a bit rude...?...
>>>> Hey, I even showed him the way to a Dutch-speaking mechanics site, which
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> me of reading Chaucer where I recognized a fair bit of the olde english via
> german ....
The German and Dutch languages are clearly from the same roots. I used
to know a Dutch/German couple who just spoke to each other in their own
language. That worked pretty well for household stuff. Philosophy and
technology discussions would be a wholly different matter, but they
weren't much interested in that anyway.
In the Middle Ages, what is now Germany was a collection of small
independent states. If things had gone differently (and I'm not talking
about WWII) Holland might perhaps have ended up as a German province.
Dutch probably just started as one of the Germanic dialects.
As to the relationship between German, English and Dutch, you shouldn't
leave out the role of the Frisian language (spoken by people in the
northern Friesland province of the Netherlands). Apparently, linguists
have discovered that the Frisian language is linguistically the closest
language to English.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisian_language
From that article, some interesting word transformations from German to
Dutch to Frisian to English:
zurück -> terug -> tebek -> back
Schafe -> schapen -> skiep -> sheep
Fascinating stuff...
Ximinez

Signature
Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...
and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope....
http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/paulfitz/spanish/t1.html
Dori A Schmetterling - 27 Apr 2007 22:22 GMT
Plattdeutsch (Low German) spoken in North-Rhine Westphalia not so far from
the Dutch border sounds very Dutch. I am told they can understand each
other fairly well.
DAS
For direct replies replace nospam with schmetterling
---
[...]
> As to the relationship between German, English and Dutch, you shouldn't
> leave out the role of the Frisian language (spoken by people in the
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> Ximinez
> --