| The Netherlands is a confusing country. Sometimes it's called Holland. But its people are Dutch. Dutch sounds like Deutsch, as in Deutschland, which refers to Germany, but which Americans butchered and further confused by developing terms like "Pennsylvania Dutch" (which should really be "Pennsylvania Deutsch" since the people are of German descent). Holland is technically an area in the central-western part of the Netherlands, but the term "Holland" is often used to refer to the country as a whole (pars pro toto). In addition to describing the people from the Netherlands, the term "Dutch" also refers to a language spoken not only in Holland, but also in neighboring Belgium, France, and a few other places. #travel |