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Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 22 Dec 2008 Posts: 2173

((Okay dumb American question...

...

...what is the difference between being Dutch, and being Danish? Aren't you both from the Low Country?))

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 13 Apr 2008 Posts: 2620

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 1000

*pulls out a giant map of Europe*

Time for a bit of European geography and a bit of linguistics!

Denmark is part of Scandinavia, the extreme northern part of Europe. This is a little odd, as Denmark sticks up out of the top of Germany like a spike with a couple associated islands floating nearby, but culturally and linguistically, it has far more in common with Norway and Sweden than it does with Germany to the south. In fact, Denmark was the top dog of Scandinavia for a time (probably because it isn't quite so frozen all the time) and outright owned Norway and made Sweden it's... partner in the Union of Kalmar.

For those needing help, Denmark is the orange one sticking out of northern Germany into the entrance of the Baltic sea, splitting it into the Kattegat and Skagerrak, though I can never remember how to spell them nor which is which. Razz

The Dutch, in turn, come from the Low Countries, that region seemingly wedged in between France and Germany from the North Sea coast. Oddly, the Dutch do not come from Dutchland nor even Duetschland. Nor did they ever move in great numbers to Pennsylvania. For reasons I don't pretend to understand, their country is called either Holland or the Netherlands. Perhaps they can't make up their minds? Holland was once part of the Spanish Empire, ruled from far off Madrid, but come threw off their Spanish overlords in a nasty series of religion fueled wars, declared independence, formed a republic, and promptly set to carving a maritime empire that spanned the world with trade ships, often coming out on top against the young British Royal Navy's own maritime ambitions.

Holland is not, strangely, orange on this map. It is purple, sitting squarely on top of Belgium and leaning against Germany to the east. Plenty of similarities between the Dutch and Danish, definitely. Small European countries that start with the letter D. They also both have the misfortune of being near Germany which leads to them getting invaded by Germany when the Germans get bored and decide to take over the world again.

Linguistically, Dutch is something of a Low German spin-off. Perhaps some more Latin/Romance influences than German. Afrikaans, one of the official languages of South Africa, is a spin-off of *that*. Danish, on the other paw, is a High German spin-off, closely related to Norwegian.

Coincidentally, English is yet *another* German spin-off. Clearly, Germany has a lot to answer for. Laughing

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 1120

dr kommy makes an excellent geography teacher, would you be kindly to show where Bon bon is? x3 (kidding Razz

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Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

Somewhere in the Austrian mountains. Exact location: Unknown.