• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Outdated Sayings & Lost Meanings

I wonder if 'that's dutch' (in the sense of 'OK') derived from the same conceptual background as 'going dutch' (i.e., even and fair distribution), and its connotations are more akin to 'fair' (i.e., 'fair by me') than 'OK'.
 
So: at last it has happened.

The circle is complete.

I looked at the "dutch" phrase provided by the indomitable @dreeness , by copying the text into the Google search engine, in the sure and certain hope of definition.

And where does it take me, dear reader? What does it offer-up??

Well....that would be the use of that exact-same phrase, here on FTMB, back in 2014 (in fact, just ten days short of precisely 3 years, by someone called @dreeness.....
http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/words-and-phrases-you-love-using.57187/page-2

It is the second search engine hit, out of a grand total across all eternity (to-date) of just four instances over the whole of the internet. All appear to refer it back to Carnivàle.

And I'm still not entirely-clear what it is meant to mean....the Google Books reference is not as helpful as it might be.

With great power comes responsibility.

Now: @dreeness....make sure you can sit-down safely. Check for red snipers' laser dots on you chest, and leave that seafood sandwich to one side. You may be the last person on earth to fully-understand the meaning of this rare idiom.

When you respond to this post, in this thread, your answer (not yet written) will be the only answer in the universe to an as-yet unasked / unanswered / unthought question that someone (somewhere/somewhen) will seek an answer to.

Amazing....

:worry:

Oh.

Well...

"That's dutch with me" means roughly the same as "No skin off my nose".

Or, um...

EnolaGaia said:
The use of 'dutch' to apparently (given the context) mean the same thing is rare. I've only seen or heard it in the context of early to mid 20th century slang (e.g., in vintage detective stories).

:yeahthat:



A few more "Dutch" rarities...

"Double Dutch", meaning language that is impenetrably foreign or deliberately cryptic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dutch

A "Dutchman", meaning a mend in stone or wood.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/256400/etymology-of-dutchman-to-mean-a-carpentry-patch

Also the somewhat still-known "Dutch courage" (meaning booze-based boldness) and "Dutch uncle" (meaning a strict taskmaster).




And on a completely different tangent, I was going to mention that the phrase "breakfast with Caligula" (meaning an unwelcome interlude with someone who is severely unhinged) was one of mine, and that everyone should really start using it, but upon checking with a search engine I see that some stinking optometrist has hijacked and misused the phrase, so never mind...

:pipe:
 
:worry:

Oh.

Well...

"That's dutch with me" means roughly the same as "No skin off my nose".

Or, um...



:yeahthat:



A few more "Dutch" rarities...

"Double Dutch", meaning language that is impenetrably foreign or deliberately cryptic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dutch

A "Dutchman", meaning a mend in stone or wood.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/256400/etymology-of-dutchman-to-mean-a-carpentry-patch

Also the somewhat still-known "Dutch courage" (meaning booze-based boldness) and "Dutch uncle" (meaning a strict taskmaster).




And on a completely different tangent, I was going to mention that the phrase "breakfast with Caligula" (meaning an unwelcome interlude with someone who is severely unhinged) was one of mine, and that everyone should really start using it, but upon checking with a search engine I see that some stinking optometrist has hijacked and misused the phrase, so never mind...

:pipe:

Also... 'to go Dutch'. Meaning, to split the bill.
 
Anybody interested in sharing a dutch oven? :D

flamedutchoven.1489646389.png
 
Ronald Regan was nicknamed Dutch.

Apparently one reason was his 'Dutch Boy' haircut, but earlierhis father thought he looked round and dumpy like a 'Dutch Boy'.

It's not a stereotype of which I'm aware.
 
Thanks, I wouldn't have recognised it as a trope to be honest. I'm actually pretty reasonable in my knowledge of the generation or three before me, but this seems to be something that has fallen through the gaps for me--unless it is a U.S. type that didn't really cross the Atlantic.
 
but earlier his father thought he looked round and dumpy like a 'Dutch Boy'.
but this seems to be something that has fallen through the gaps for me--unless it is a U.S. type that didn't really cross the Atlantic.
Is this also somehow congruent with the term "dough-boys", which was the WW1 US military equivalent of "Tommies"?

Hinting that perhaps 'dutch' means 'doughey'?
 
(A long time ago, "dreeness ghost" was a googlewhack, because the word "dreeness" appeared exactly once on the entire internet, in a Carnacki ghost story.)

The American Army uniform in WW1 bore a close resemblance to the garments worn by apprentice bakers at the time, hence "doughboys".

There was also a mean joke about the term "doughboys".

"Why do they call the Yanks doughboys?"
"-- Because they're slow to rise and full of hot air."


At one time Dutch people were believed to have inordinately enormous feet. Evidence of this belief is recorded in a bigfoot sighting account, there were many large footprints discovered at a logging camp, and someone quipped "Must be some Dutchmen on the loose."
 
Is the right place for this?


Researchers Have Identified Thirty "Lost" English Words


Have you ever been called a nickum? Someone's saying you're a liar. What about snout-fair? It might not sound like a compliment, but it actually means handsome or fair-faced. Or maybe you're feeling rouzy-bouzy? You might want to calm it down because you're being a boisterous drunk. (c) IFLScience 2017
 
On rare occasions I've heard folks familiar with arcane / archaic English refer to 'hugger-mugger', but only with respect to the noun rather than the verb. Now that I think about it, I've usually read or heard the noun given as 'hugger-muggery' or 'huggery-muggery' rather than 'hugger-mugger' (as Dictionary.com would suggest).
 
We already use slug-a-bed
Ditto-snap (well, in my parents' house, as-was)
I've usually read or heard the noun given as 'hugger-muggery'
Interesting, just 'hugger-mugger', for me....it's a familiar Shakespearean/Elizabethan word, eg from Hamlet:

‘And we have done but greenly in huggermugger to inter him’ – Claudius after the rapid / secret burial of Polonius.
 
Slug-a-bed also used in the story 'San Diego Lightfoot Sue'.

INT21
 
Back
Top