The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-27

some English Expressions From
Century Hospitality.
From the london GIohe.

From the London Globe.
Among the accidental results of the long
existing rivalry between English and
Dutch in the seventeenth century was the
Introduction into common speech of many
characteristic phrases and illusions TO
Dutch manners In the course of time,
however, the word Dutch" used adjec-
lively, came to be regarded not necessa-
rily as pertaining to Holland or It's inhab-
itants' but as expressing any quality that
was odd, grotesque or out of the way. SO
I greatly were the vulgar taken with the
word that they seem to have used II Mt
large, less as meaning anything in partic-
ular than because Ii was short emphatic
and came readily to the tongue.
But of the many tropes which have done
good service in their time, no small por-
ton had their origin in the fo'c's'le
Though our sailors laughed at the Dutch
man, they respected his valor, and there
was little malice In their 1ibes. or course,
Jack was always ready with "a dose for
the Dons. frog for the French and a salt
eel for the Dutch" But It was the quaint
ways of the latter that most tickled his
fancy, and as often as 'Mynheer smoked
his pipe and cried yaw,'" he was the
cause of genuine merriment to the British
sailor. As for Dutch, high or low. that
was the most outlandish "lingo he ever
heard and when Jack laughngly dubbed
IL double Dutch" he felt that neither the
wit nor tongue OF man could carry him
| further.
Dutch courage" as a synonyme for pot
valor, was also originally a salt water
phrase. Not that Mynheer liked his
schnapps better than Jack did his grog,
| but because the prefix Dutch" had begun
| TO acquire quite Fictitious meaning based
| upon the national peculiarities which once
made the low countries stock subject OF
/ l1H1a
saw enough blue in the sky TO make a
pair of Dutchmans breeches," he was
drawing upon his recollections of a decid-
| eddy queer figure, which Goldsmith de-
scribed as one OF the oldest in nature.
| Upon a Iank head of hair he wears a half
cooked hat No coat; but seven waistcoats
and nine pairs OF breeches, so that his
hips reach almost to his armpits. This
weIl-clothed vegetable is now fit to zee
company and make love" Such In the last
century was the popular conception of a
Dutchman's appearance.
The Hollander's avarice, with his natur-
| al instinct for getting the best Of bargain,
has often made itself felt not only in af-
fairs of diplomacy The poet has told us
that
I'm matters of commerce, the fault of
| the Dutch
Is giving too little, and asking too much"
This from the foreigners point OF view,
but John Evelyn records that when din
| ing on a certain occasion with the Dutch
| ambassador in London that official admit,
| ted that Ibis nation minded their own
profit only, and did nothing out OF grail
| tude but collaterally, as 1t related to their
own gain and security" And AZ we may
trust the many sly illusions that have
| been made to 1t, this is as much a per-
sonal as a national trait. Thus. Dutch
bargain" signifies that one OF the parties
had taken so much 10 drink that he was
| ca silly taken in" by the other. And the
| Dutch RECKONING" which often follows
| such a transaction means simply state
| ment of account In the lump, without any
| details by which II can be checked or veri-
| fed The form of sale known as
| Dutch auction" at which property is put
up at a price above its value, which IS
gradually reduced until buyer is found,
may be supposed TO trace its origin to a
similar idea
"Dutch comfort IS understood to be the
equivalent of the expression "thank my
stars it is no worse" of which Dutch con-
ISOLATION Is a variant, implying that
whatever our misfortunes there IS some
body worse off than ourselves. But as
the power of exercising this benefcent
feeling is granted to all mankind there Is
| no apparent reason why the Dutch should
| be thus nominally endowed with a mo-
| nopoy of II. The phrase seems to be one
of those vacuous quizzes which, having
| once come into use, remain stamped on
the vernacular until they die out from
sheer inanition. OF different character
is a Dutch feast" a trope presumably
traceable to a falling frequently spoken
| of as our own national vice But the fig
ure has a particular limitation. for II sig
nihes feast at which the host becomes
intoxicated before his guests have attaln>
ed the same happy level, an offense which
| in our worst three bottle" DAYS would
not easily have been condoned
There is well known phrase of reproof
| suggestive of mild form of terror 10 the
| person who incurs it's penalties. II shall
| have TO talk TO you like a Dutch uncle.
| Here we are on delicate ground, for there
| is a living and personal Dom OF whom II
might be surnised-'de te fabula nara
| tur." He. however, is Dutch fact, while
our Dutch uncle IS mere trope. As such
| 1t has puzzled the commentators almost
| as much as the physical reality has the
: diplomatists. The learned have attempted