I understand that the Germans tell Friesland jokes. Yes Low German or
Plat-Deutsch "was" spoken in northern Germany. It is dying or dead.
Bryan Pilati
OM-2N
----- Original Message -----
From: "Garth Wood" <garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 5:35 PM
Subject: Re: [OM] Re: [OT] Dutch/Danish (was "Solvang")
> 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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