Recently Holland instituted something which is being called both The Tolerance Test and The Immigrant Quiz, neither of which has any zing in my book. You might have heard about this, the story was more prevalent in the European news but was covered in the U.S. as well. Here's a story from the UK Times Online that does a good job explaining why they are testing and all the hubbub that's arisen around it.
Could you pass a tolerance test? I think there are a good many Americans who wouldn't pass, so it's a damn good thing we are exempt, along with most other Western nations.
On a side note, is it Holland or The Netherlands? In either case, why are the people who live there called Dutch? I'm sure I could find this online, but it's more fun when one of you teaches me.
Things have pretty heavy around here lately. Someone stumbling onto this blog might think I am obsessed with my sexual abuse history and abuse in general, but I can assure you I am a rather well-rounded person with many other obsessions...er, interests, including music.
Here are some really good covers for your listening enjoyment (right click/Save Target As).
Barenaked Ladies -- Lovers in a Dangerous Time -- mp3
The Beautiful South -- Don't Fear the Reaper -- mp3
Cake -- The Guitar Man -- mp3
Extra bonus points for anyone who can name the original artists.
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I'm on my second Dutch boyfriend, so I can answer the Holland/Netherlands thing a bit. This is my understanding from Dutch bf #1, one who has always lived in Holland and is from the Amsterdam area.
ReplyDeleteIn sort of a prideful, good-ish way, saying Holland is an uppity snobbish reference vs. saying The Netherlands. It is you calling the whole country by the name of one single region, ignoring the unification a bit by Holland having a history and name pre-dating it. Holland is more the northern area, like Amsterdam, neglecting the reclaimed coastal western areas and the Flemish/Belgian southern parts.
Lovers in a Dangerous Time...Bruce Cockburn is the original artist. One of my favourites!
ReplyDeleteAnd, (just a bit of UBI!) Steven Page and Ed Robertson of the BNL are alumni of my highschool, Woburn CI. Small World, eh?
. . . I'll take a stab at it. BREAD = original artist to Guitar Man.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I could pass the tolerance test. Of course, I live in NYC. I'd fail miserably at the history part though.
ReplyDeleteI wish my computer at work had speakers so I could listen to your mp3s! How do you post those, anyway?
Oh, that's why the Holland/Netherlands thing? I've always wondered about that, too. I wonder which one is preferred? On a slight tangent, one should always refer to the Orkney Islands not as 'The Orkneys' but as 'Orkney'. Which now sounds really funny. Like something a Muppet would say.
ReplyDeleteDFtR: Blue Oyster Cult
ps: you might want to turn on the word thingy to prevent spammers!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe someone came on a criticized you for being "obsessed" about your sexual abuse. Honestly, that makes me so mad. People can be such asswipes. Of course there is so much more to you than that. We use our blogs as outlets...ah, hell. How frustrating. Thanks for the musical interludes - looks like all the original artists were named.
ReplyDeleteDonna, great site, great blog, great post. They're called Dutch after the language they speak Deutche, which is a strand of Germanic languages, which incidentally is a strand of Aryan languages from India, known as a group of Eurasian or Indo-Asian languages. Small world we live in isn't it? And yet all the hatred, killing and intolerance. I'm pretty sure I'd fail the tolerance test only because my tolerance for extremism, fundamentalism, conservatism and other pissisms is zilch to zero.
ReplyDeleteI recently learned that the French call the country Pays Bas, which translates to "low land". Makes sense to call it that. Holland, The Netherlands or whatever, is indeed flat.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you have to be so damn informed...you are making the rest of us look bad. :P
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify. It is not wrong to call the whole country Holland. I just let you know the insiders reference on it. Some people will wrongly say that it is incorrect to say it's Holland, when that isn't the case.
ReplyDeleteIt's kinda like (but opposite?) saying of Dakota or Carolina and figuring that everybody just knows whether your preference is for North or South, as in Carolina basketball is assumed to be NC.