MY OLD DUTCH

Posted by David FG on March 04, 2009 at 19:39

In Reply to: MY OLD DUTCH posted by RRC on March 04, 2009 at 16:01:

: : : : With regards to your meaning of MY OLD DUTCH, it DOES rhyme and IS cockney rhyming slang as it comes from Duchess of Fife, not just duchess!!!!!!

: : : As so often, capitals and exclamation marks come in and reason flies out. The term 'my old Dutch' was known before there was a title of Duchess of Fife. That seems to hole your assertion below the waterline. See the link below for more details.

: : : www.phrases.org.uk meanings my-old-dutch.html

: In the linked article, I'm a bit underwhelmed by the reference "on his marriage to Louise Dagmar". She was the eldest daughter of King Edward VII and more properly known as "Princess Louise" or "Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife". It does add a bit of weight to the story to know why the title was bestowed and that the first Duchess already had a title higher than duchess. The second and third holders of the title Duchesses of Fife were her daughters Alexandra and Maud who were also considered princesses.

As a mere technical aside, the title of 'princess' (or 'prince' come to that) is not 'higher' than Duchess/Duke.

A prince/princess is, in certain circumstances, raised to a dukedom. Thus it was that Prince Charles was elevated to the Dukedom of Cornwall, and his brother, Prince Andrew, to the Dukedom of York.

DFG

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