Double Dutch

Posted by ESC on September 14, 2000

In Reply to: Double Dutch posted by Ian Frame on September 14, 2000

: We know what the phrase means but not how it originated. Any ideas welcome.

: Reg

: Ian Frame

The "Morris Dictionary of Phrase and Word Origins" has a lengthy entry about the use of the word "Dutch" in phrases. "Probably no nationality has come in for so consistent a torrent of verbal abuse from the English as their neighbors across the channel the Dutch...It was not always thus. Until well after Shakespeare's time, the Dutch were usually well regarded in all literary references by British authors." Mr. and Mrs. Morris say "'Double dutch' is a kind of talk deliberately intended to deceive the listener."

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