English Expressions using different countries’ names
English Expressions using different countries’ names
Seminar1
01/11/02
Introduction
１．
Some languages have expressions which are hard to understand. For
example, we can see “Saru ga hotoke o warau”, “Saru no shiriwarai” in
Japanese proverbs. “Saru ga hotoke o warau”
means “a person who has
little abilities jeers a great man” and “Saru no shiriwarai”
means “a person
jeers someone without knowing his own faults”. Neither of these proverbs
means “monkey” itself. In these proverbs, “monkey” means a person who has
little abilities. There are expressions which do not mean literal meanings but
figurative meanings like that in many other languages as well. Needless to
say, we can see these expressions in English. I thought many of them exist in
slang.
This paper pays attention especially to English expressions using
countries’ names. Surprising example is the meaning of “go Dutch”. It
means “to split the expenses”. “Dutch treat” has same meaning as “go
Dutch”.
2-1.
Examples of English Expressions Using “DUTCH”
I started to search the expressions using “dutch” first to investigate
English expressions using countries’ name. There are many expressions
using “dutch” in English .The expressions using “dutch” are as follows.:
Dutch act : suicide, timid act
Dutch action : the action reducing the price little by little
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English Expressions using different countries’ names
Dutch bargain : sales contract with drinking
Dutch comfort : the comfort which is not welcome at all
Dutch courage : being brave after having too many alcoholic drinks
Dutch gold (metal, foil, leaf) : cheap fake gold foil
Dutch talent : the act using power but brains
Dutch teast, Dutch concert : the racket without formalities
Dutch uncle : a person who is stern and critical when giving advice to
others
talk (to) like a Dutch uncle : give a person a scolding strictly
Dutch window : prostitute
Go Dutch, Dutch treat : to sprit the expenses
beat the Dutch : doing something like astonishing the people
“I’m a Dutchman!” : I may risk my head.
son of Dutch : son of a bitch
to be in Dutch : being in trouble
We can find that expressions using “dutch” have not so good meaning
by these expressions. According to circumstances, they include sarcastic
and discriminatory meanings.
2-2. The Reasons Why The Expressions Using “DUTCH“ Have Bad
Meanings
Why do the expressions using “dutch” have such meanings? Two reasons may
exist with it.
・ The Dutch are truly stingy, stern and unsociability.
・ The English hate the Dutch greatly.
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English Expressions using different countries’ names
First, I searched if the Dutch are truly stingy, stern and unsociability.
Rodney Bolt (1999) says that “It is virtue for the Dutch to save money, but it
is vice to spend money”. We can find that the Dutch value money from this
line, but it cannot necessarily say the Dutch are truly stingy. He also says
that “The Dutch do not deny up to worldly pleasures”. I found that the Dutch
have a large mind to respect others’ freedom from his opinion. In short, the
Dutch is not noticeably stingy, stern and unsociability. These expressions
probably contain one-side view from the English.
Next, I gathered affairs which is concerned in international relations
between England and Holland to find whether the English hate the Dutch
greatly or not. I picked up the affairs from 17th to 18th that the Dutch will be
opened to criticism from the English.
Navigation Act; Colonial System; Mercantilism; Bullionism; Balance of
Trade
System;
New
England
Confederation(1643);
Anglo-Dutch
Wars((1)1652-54 (2)1665-67 (3)1672-74); Staple Act(1663); Treaty of
Breda(1667);
League
of
Augsburg(1686),
War
of
the
League
of
Augsburg(1688), War of the Grand Alliance(1688-97); War of the Spanish
Succession(1701-14); Queen Anne’s War(1701-13).
There were so many affairs between England and Holland. These
might be courses of giving bad image of the Dutch to the English, and those
expressions were coined by jealousy to Dutch goods, and fearful and scornful
mind to Holland.
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English Expressions using different countries’ names
2-3. The Search Using Corpus
Next, I gathered expressions using “dutch” by using corpus of movie
to know where these expressions are used. There were many expressions but
they did not come up to the expectations of me, because most of them meant
Dutch itself like “Dutch student”, “Dutchman”, “Dutch buyer” and so on.
There were only four lines that I had expected: expressions which have bad
or interesting meanings.
・ You’ll only get me in Dutch /
Misteryofwaxmuseum
・ Clapper”? AUSTIN November, 1964, Dutch East
leave. IVANA /
Indies, shore
Austinpowers 2
・ Dutch cheese expert to stop Dr. Evil
/
Austinpowers 2
・ Better hurry it up. I’m in dutch with the wife. /
raising Arizona
These four of two are from Austinpowers 2. I saw this movie to know
in which scenes were these expressions used. It was movie of comedy. There
were many funny and a little vulgar scenes in it.
There were only a little examples but I found the expressions using
“dutch” may not be used in stiff scenes but in conversation in daily life as
slang and it is not used frequently.
It is the same with expressions using other countries’ name. For
example, the expressions using French have bad meanings, because the
English do not regard the French people as good. The expressions using
French in corpus are as follows.
・ ～ was a French-fried faggot named /
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Greenmile
English Expressions using different countries’ names
・ French knickers with come in the /
・ the rain. Very French, very sad.
/
Greenmile
election
・ She starts trying to French kiss Sailor when and OLD MAN
comes in to
/
wild at heart
More lines were existed than dutch ones, but there were little
expressions which have meanings of slang, too.
3. Conclusion
Unexpectedly, there were many words coming from figurative
expressions in English. They are used proper noun like countries’ name.
There are many historical backgrounds between a country and another
country, nation and nation or person and person. Many of them have not so
good meanings, so we should not use them frequently, but they are worth
leaving to know the history. I found another interest about English. I hope I
use these knowledge to know more about English and international
relations.
Bibliography
・ Rodney, Bolt (1999), Oranda jin no makka na honto, Tokyo:
Makumiran language house
・ Hori,
Masahiro/ Gerald,Sullivan (1999), MY WORD
We
Borrowed Their Names, p.61, tokyo: Shohakusha
・ Oide,Kyoji/ Aiba,Toru,Genngo no raberuka to kokusaikannkei,
availablehttp://www.vacia.is.tohoku.ac.jp/kaken-1999/oide.html,
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English Expressions using different countries’ names
as of Dec.20,2001
・ Dutch, available http://myrna.toba-cmt.ac.jp/katafuri/dutch1.htm,
as of Dec.3, 2001
・ http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/cgi-bin/ej-top.cgi, as of Oct.23, 2001
・ Corpus
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