So, after countless disparaging looks, I've taken to saying I'm going to the Netherlands this weekend.
You know, instead of saying Amsterdam, which people hear as "sinnerdam".
And so, without further ado...
You know, instead of saying Amsterdam, which people hear as "sinnerdam".
And so, without further ado...
YIKES A ROONEY! I'MMA GOIN TO THE NETHERLANDS!!
We all [think we] know what Amsterdam means: Strippers in shop windows and cafes with pot menus. But when I switched to saying "The Netherlands", I started to get a much more vanilla reply, as in "oh, that's nice", rather than, "I'll pray for you." LOL. It made me wonder: What do we think of when we think of The Netherlands?
Unfortunately, my preconceived notions of The Netherlands are a fierce product of a dilapidated US school system combined with a classicly American penchant for ethnocentrism, the combined effect of which has left me with a very skewed and uninformed perception of what "Holland" means.
Ergo: The Netherlands to me is a flat, tulip-coated, dyke-pocked sunny landscape with blonde and bebraided milkmaids in wooden shoes singing to cattle in verdant springtime, Elysian-esque fields dotted with creaking windmills.
That can't be right....can it?
Guess we'll find out in about 6 hours or so! In the meantime, send me your ideas on The Netherlands--is it a Nordic wasteland to you? A haven for salt fish and 200 degree saunas? What do you think of?
Also, consider yourself instructed: HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Unfortunately, my preconceived notions of The Netherlands are a fierce product of a dilapidated US school system combined with a classicly American penchant for ethnocentrism, the combined effect of which has left me with a very skewed and uninformed perception of what "Holland" means.
Ergo: The Netherlands to me is a flat, tulip-coated, dyke-pocked sunny landscape with blonde and bebraided milkmaids in wooden shoes singing to cattle in verdant springtime, Elysian-esque fields dotted with creaking windmills.
That can't be right....can it?
Guess we'll find out in about 6 hours or so! In the meantime, send me your ideas on The Netherlands--is it a Nordic wasteland to you? A haven for salt fish and 200 degree saunas? What do you think of?
Also, consider yourself instructed: HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
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