[Lexicog] stereotypical beliefs and lexicography

[Patrick Hanks]

Thanks, Kees. 

Interesting that rachitis (rickets) is "the English disease" in Dutch. No doubt the
disease was common in the 17th century, when the Dutch sailed up the Medway, 
to the consternation of my ancestors. Although rickets was virtually eliminated 
England (following the discovery that it is a result of Vitamin D deficiency), 
the derivative adjective _rickety_ is still quite common --- but now it's normally 
applied to built artefacts, rather than people.  The most significant collocations 
in BNC (with frequency and MI score) are:

rickety ...
      stair(s)  12  18.3   
      table  16  14.9   
      staircase  7  12.8   
      bridge  7  11.7   
      ladder  5  11.5   
      chair  6  8.2   
      shed  3  7.3   
      hut  3  7.1   
      step(s)  5  7.0  


Another example of the persistence of folk culture and the arbitrariness
of linguistic convention. 

Patrick 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kees van Kolmeschate" <keesvkolmeschate at hetnet.nl>
To: <lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 12:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] stereotypical beliefs and lexicography


> 
> 
> --- In lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Hanks" <hanks at b...> 
> wrote:
> > ... Does Dutch have derogatory expressions involving "English"?  Or 
> is Dutch stereotypically more polite -- or more parochial -- than 
> English? 
> 
> The only expression with "English" in Dutch, apart form a few really 
> harmless technical terms, that comes to my mind is "Engelse ziekte" 
> (English disease) = "rachitis".
> Probably the influence of England on Holland was less than the one 
> vice 
> versa; due to England's insular (insulating?) position? England seems 
> to have had less direct impact on us than e.g. France, and German 
> Bishops.
> At any rate I hardly recall from my History lessons in primary school 
> much more about England than the "English wars # 1 .. 4" and Michiel 
> Adriaanszn De Ruiter sailing up the Medway and breaking the 
> protective chain over the river. 
> 
> hartelijke groeten, 
> 
> Kees. 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lexicography/attachments/20050222/eb09192a/attachment.htm>