Showing posts with label Dutch Courage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dutch Courage. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Going Dutch

“Going Dutch”: a phrase which is most commonly associated with splitting the bill when going out to dinner.

Personally, I find that this is one of those phrases which we all use, and don’t really think about why we use it. I have merrily used these two simple words for many years – and yet it is only recently that it occurred to me to question where such a notion comes from.

Johan Barthold Jongkind Windmills in Rotterdam, 1857. Oil on canvas, 42.5 x 55 cm.  Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Johan Barthold Jongkind
Windmills in Rotterdam, 1857.
Oil on canvas, 42.5 x 55 cm.
Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.


Before I started doing some research into this, I have to admit that I did spend more time than I probably should have trying to puzzle this scenario out. I did, however, cross out the possibility that it originally meant going to eat Edam at a windmill, with a dress code of clogs and pearl earrings.