My partner and I love watching football - so we're in for a treat with the Euro-2008 championships this year (none of the British countries made it through, our home country did, of course they did!)
Now, our team is doing great - of course they are! - but watching the games and especially listening to the announcements about our team's results and future matches we think gets everybody a bit confused about who's playing.
Imagine seeing an announcement on the TV-screen showing the next match: The Netherlands - Romania while the announcer says: it's Holland versus Romania tomorrow, if the Dutch team plays like the last tw otimes they are bound.... etc.
I won't go in the historical 'facts' about this, but it is strange, not? English speak English, Germans speak German, Fins Fins, Danish Danish but the people from The Netherlands speak Dutch and why has the country two names? It's almost enough to give us, the Nederlanders - sorry the Dutch - a split personality.
Not that that is a strange thing on its own, just listen to our National Anthem:
William of Nassau, I am of German blood
Loyal to my fatherland I will remain until I die
A Prince of Orange, I am free and fearless
The King of Spain I have always honoured.
Even the writer of the anthem couldn't make up his mind on what was the most important fact.
Anyway, enough ponderings on some very weird historical facts (mix-ups? cases of mistaken identity?), let's just say we're rather flexible as a nation: Dutch, Nederlands or Hollands - as long as our team plays well ;-)
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