#28801 - 05/10/01 09:55 AM
Separate the English from the Dutch
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old hand
Registered: 12/20/00
Posts: 1055
Loc: Berlin
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I guess most here know this one. Does its meaning stem from some American colonial times? It must be more rare than I thought as I did find any information.
As far as I know it essentially means to cull, or select the good/useful parts from the whole.
In German there's the self-explanatory 'die Spreu vom Weizen trennen' (to separate the wheat from the chaff), but the idiom isn't as clear cut in English. Are we separating the useful/good English from the unwanted Dutch here?.
I'd be interested to learn other foreign equivalents too :-)
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#28802 - 05/10/01 09:58 AM
Re: Separate the English from the Dutch
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addict
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 428
Loc: Cape Cod, MA, US
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I've never heard the phrase, but it's a useful (and colorful) one. My shot-in-the-dark guess is it has something to do with New Amsterdam's change to New York - from Dutch to English control.
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#28803 - 05/10/01 10:02 AM
Re: Separate the English from the Dutch
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addict
Registered: 02/13/01
Posts: 609
Loc: Portsmouth, United Kingdom
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Separate the English from the Dutch
This is a completely new one to me, B.Y., but we are already separated from the Dutch by the North Sea (not exactly where the English Channel -it IS ours - ends and North Sea begins).
New info: The only google reference I can find is within the lyrics of an expletive filled rap.
Separate the:
sheep from the goats
men from the boys
Rod
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#28806 - 05/10/01 12:53 PM
Re: Separate the English from the Dutch
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 11/25/00
Posts: 3439
Loc: New England, USA
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Separate the English from the Dutch
Two hereditary monarchs? Both women. Never happen!
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#28808 - 05/10/01 04:22 PM
Re: Separate the English from the Dutch
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/12/00
Posts: 3409
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I guess most here know this one. Does its meaning stem from some American colonial times? It must be more rare than I thought as I did find any information.
As far as I know it essentially means to cull, or select the good/useful parts from the whole.
In German there's the self-explanatory 'die Spreu vom Weizen trennen' (to separate the wheat from the chaff), but the idiom isn't as clear cut in English. Sorry, belligerentyouth, but "separate the English from the Dutch" doesn't appear to have made it all the way up here to Nieuw Zeeland - maybe that's because there are so many Dutch people in my part of the country!  "Separate the wheat from the chaff", on the other hand, is a very common expression, at least in my experience. Speaking of separating English from Dutch, that would appear to be getting more difficult to do. The Dutch(?) coffee house Moccona is running an ad here in which the the actor speaks Dutch while her words are translated in subtitles. The interesting thing is that many people I know who speak only English, have commented on how superfluous the subtitles are, that the entire script is quite comprehensible without them.
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#28809 - 05/11/01 04:20 AM
Re: Separate the English from the Dutch
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addict
Registered: 02/13/01
Posts: 609
Loc: Portsmouth, United Kingdom
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men from the boys
No! As much as I wanna be one of the guys, I simply *cannot go there....
Sorry AS, I think I may be missing the point here. Were you refering to the practice of separating an English "the" from a Dutch "the"? Or were you commenting on "separating the men from the boys" being a cross thread reference to love handles? Or just on how many "the"s were in the sentence?
Confused of Portsmouth
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#28810 - 05/11/01 04:37 AM
Re: Separate the English from the Dutch
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 11/13/00
Posts: 3146
Loc: Northamptonshire, England
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The Dutch(?) coffee house Moccona is running an ad here in which the the actor speaks Dutch while her words are translated in subtitles. The interesting thing is that many people I know who speak only English, have commented on how superfluous the subtitles are, that the entire script is quite comprehensible without them.There are two messages in that ad. You're quite right, it doesn't need subtitles. In fact, it doesn't even need the sound. We could do with the coffee. Or the stage set. Or that ridiculously small summer dress ...   Here, we sometimes say that someone who is making no sense is speaking double-dutch. Anyone else use that expression?
_________________________
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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