[Ads-l] Dutch treat; go Dutch

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED has "Dutch treat"  from 1887, marked as ("Originally U.S.").

1867 _Brooklyn Union_ (March 11) 1: They had gone over from Brooklyn to New
York that afternoon on a "Dutch treat" - a kind of treat much in vogue
among the ladies of the former city...each paying her own expenses.

1872 _Pomeroy's Democrat_ (N.Y.C.) (Aug. 31) 4: People laugh at a "Dutch
treat," as it is called, when each one pays for what he or she has.


Hence, "go Dutch treat":

1887 _Brooklyn Daily Eagle_ (Nov. 13) 7: They [young women] go "Dutch
treat" and are never annoyed in any way.


Hence, "go Dutch" (OED: 1914):

1899 _Detroit Free Press_ (Feb. 5) (Sec. IV )1: They are very good friends;
good enough to "go Dutch."

JL

"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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