LL-L: "Nationality" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 07.OCT.1999 (03)

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 07.OCT.1999 (03) * ISSN 1089-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Pepijn Hendriks [pepijnh at bigfoot.com]
Subject: National adjectives

Hello Lowlanders,

It must have been in March, during the first days of the Kosovo War, when
Ron started a discussion about the phrase "a Netherlands F16", as used by
the NATO spokesman Jamie Shea.

Following this, a discussion ensued about national adjectives ("Why
_Netherlands_ and not _Dutch_?) and the difference between the Netherlands
and Holland.

I'd like to return to the topic briefly, as this week's Wordwatch (from the
staff of Collins Cobuild, http://www.cobuild.collins.co.uk/wordwatch.html)
deals with this use of national adjectives as well. It appears that mostly
in British English (not in American, although sporadically in Australian
English) there are two options, namely: "the England team" and "the English
team".

Analysation further learns that "whereas for the 'home' teams (UK and
Irish) the preference is for the country name in the modifier position -
overwhelmingly so in the case of England - in all other cases the
preference is the other way round." (meaning that you can say "the France
manager", although this is rather unusual).

To me, this would seem identical to the phrase "a Netherlands F16". I can
only guess at the reasons why he used this word. Maybe he felt that the
'distance' between _The Netherlands_ and _Dutch_ was too large.

(To my ears, _a Netherlands F16_ communicates that the F16 is the property
of the state or government of the Netherlands, whereas _a Dutch F16_
implies the nationality of the aeroplane. I don't know in how far the
native English speakers feel this the same way. (I'm very much open to
comments!).)

-Pepijn

--
 pepijnh at bigfoot.com -- http://www.bigfoot.com/~pepijnh -- ICQ - 6033220

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