(no subject)

[rimturse]

Okay, either I'm hanging out the wrong online places - OR 99% of all Americans consequently confuse two European countries with each other. Soooo to all my US friends. Fess up! Are you one of them? Let's lower those stats of mine. (No cheating!)

Test:
A person from Denmark is _________  and speaks _____________

Example: A person from France is French and speaks French.

Comments

[pjthompson]

Danish/Danish

It probably has to do with the fact that "A person from America is American and speaks English."

Or it could be our abysmal education system and international parochialism. :-)

[frigg.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Piece of cake for you, I see.

The confusion is between Dutch and Danish, I'm not going to guess why it is like that, but I can to some degree see why it happens, as there are some similarities between the Netherlands and Denmark, beyond the words "Dutch" and "Danish" both beginning with a "D" and ending with an "h".

[pjthompson]

You're kidding me? Dutch and Danish? In my mind, they aren't even close. That's just pathetic.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

I was quite baffled the first time I stumbled over it, then after a while I realised it wasn't a one-off - and by now I'm almost more surprised when someone gets it right than wrong.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

There is a large Dutch population where I live and one of my favorite cousins even married a Dutchman (well, he was born in the US but his folks came over from Holland).

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Danish and Danish. Part of my paternal grandmother's family is from Holland. They are Dutch! (And another unknown part of my family is from Denmark and they speak Danish!)

[frigg.livejournal.com]

ohhhh INSIDER knowledge! Hey, we might even be related. ;)

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Maybe! But I have no idea who was Danish. So. *shrug*

[frigg.livejournal.com]

heh...and I have no idea of who 90% of my Danish family is. :p

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

-- Danish and speaks Dench.

oh, maybe not.

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

:))

[frigg.livejournal.com]

*lol*

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

Is a Dane and speaks Danish?

[frigg.livejournal.com]

You're correct. Those stats of mine are quickly going down the drain. :)

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Danish. (For both blanks)

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Great :)

[mercurialmind.livejournal.com]

Danish/Danish

but that took me a minute.

But then you have Brazilians who speak Portuguese, Argentineans who speak Spanish, Filipinos who speak Tagalog, Haitians who speak French...

we live in a confusing world.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

*nods*

The human race tend to be travellers and that influences the languages a great deal. Like Finnish and Hungarian being close related, whereas the Finnish language have almost nothing in common with those of Finland's neighbouring countries.

[toeknuckles.livejournal.com]

how weird that folks get it mixed up with dutch of all things! very strange indeed!

[frigg.livejournal.com]

*lol*

Yeah, but in all fairness there are the windmills, liberal minded people, and both countries are pretty flat. :D

[darkspires.livejournal.com]

Danish and Danish. I have also heard a single person in a multi racial clump refered to as a/the Dane.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Yup. Spot on.

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

A person from Denmark is a Viking and speaks Norse (and recites Sagas). :D

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Bwhahaha

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

Aw, did I not get that right??

Well, how about the Hamlet version?

A person from Denmark is a melancholy Dane and speaks in soliloquies.

Or the Confused American version:

A person from Denmark is in Europe somewhere and speaks... Dutch?

Or the Hans Christian Anderson version:

A person from Denmark is a mermaid and speaks in fairytales.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Darn, I've forgotten to speak in soliloquies. Does thinking out loud count?

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

Only if your musings are philosophical in nature. Reciting your grocery list probably doesn't count. :D