There are hundreds of funny and strange
expressions in the English language. A lot of them include country names or
nationalities. Take these examples:
The Dutch（丹麦人）are the target of most English expressions
about nationalities. Why are there so many jokes about the Dutch in English?
And what do these expressions mean? In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there
were three wars between the British and the Dutch, and Dutch became a bad word.
So double Dutch means something that has no meaning or is impossible to
understand. A Dutch uncle is someone who gives much stronger advice than they
need to. There are later expressions, which are funnier and kinder, like to go
Dutch, which is nowadays a popular expression. It means to pay for your part of
a bill. This often happens when a group of friends have a meal together, and
each person pays for the food they ate. I’m a Dutchman is another commonly used
expression. This means not being able to believe something.
An expression with a similar meaning to
double Dutch is it’s all Greek to me, which means I don’t understand. The
expression was made famous in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar although the
expression is actually hundreds of years older.
If you take French leave, you are not
present or leave somewhere without permission. For example, you could take
French leave from a classroom or the place where you work. This expression is
from the 18th century when French people left parties without saying goodbye to
the host or hostess.
There are Chinese whispers, which mean
confused（令人困惑的）messages.
This describes the fact that a message can often change as it is passed from
person to person. This expression comes from the First World War when
foreigners were often confused by Chinese language.
Many people find English expressions
confusing, but now that you know about some of them, you can easily have fun
finding out many more funny English expressions.
1.Are there many jokes about the Dutch in
English?
2.When did Dutch become a bad word?
3.What does “French leave” mean?
4.Which three expressions mentioned above
have similar meanings?
5.What do the funny and strange expressions
in the passage have in common?
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