LL-L: "Interspecies Lowlandic" LOWLANDS-L, 28.AUG.2000 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 28.AUG.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Interspecies Lowlandic

Fred wrote:

>my daughter and I came to talk with a Canadian girl. She told us she has
been in Amsterdam for 14 months already. Still she knew hardly any Dutch,
even though she had a job there. The explanation was as simple as
astonishing: people simply would not let her. Whenever she tried some Dutch
her colleagues started back in English. The poor soul must have given up.<

In their book "The Undutchables" White and Boucke say:

"If you take a course in the Dutch language and finally progress enough to
dare to utter some sentences in public, the person you speak to will
inevitably answer you in what they detect to be your native European
tongue.
They love to show off the fact that they have learned one or more other
languages."

"The more you try to learn Dutch, the more the Dutch refuse to speak Dutch
to you and the more they complain that you haven't learned it."

I don't know how accurate the authors are in general in their assassination
of the Dutch character but one of the things they accuse the Dutch of is
being mean about money. My friend at the RN Embassy said that such comments

were despicable calumnies (I paraphrase). On the other hand, when I told
her that I had bought my copy of the book second hand in a charity shop her
immediate response was: "I had to pay full price for mine!"

It must not be forgotten that dogs speak different languages, like their
owners (assuming that I'm allowed to use "owners" in this PC world - could
be a bit speciesist). English dogs say "bow-wow". Swedish dogs say
"vov-vov". What do dogs of other Lowland ethnicities say?

A garrulous lady who used to work at my local launderette/laundromat bought
a German Shepherd puppy. (These dogs always used to be called "Alsatians"
in BE but we have taken over the US name.) The dog had possibly been bred
for export because it had come with a set of instructions/warnings headed
"Achtung". She told everybody that "Achtung" was the German name of the
breed.

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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