Euro 2008: Hup Holland Hup!

[sierra_le_oli]

Last night's Holland - Italy match promised to be the first big game of the men's European Football Championship and it did not disappoint! It was a great game and I'm not just saying that 'cos Oranje won 3 - 0. It was delightful to see how the Dutch players worked together as a team. Bad luck for the World Champions, who did more than the lopsided

Comments

[bfrb]

So, how *do* you say Kuijt?
The local L****pool fansite insists Kout (as in out), some .is commentators do that, others 'Kite'?
And what is it with ij? I thought it was some sort of local variations, not just y for foreigners?
Also, fantastic game and ick on the Bolo.

[sierra_le_oli]

For me, the pronunciation lies between "Kout" and "Kite". There's an OGG file right at the top of Kuijt's Wikipedia article, don't know if that helps, not everyone can hear the difference.

IJ is indeed a Dutch thing, the letter Y is only found in loanwords. IJ by itself is kind of a long A, e.g., "ijs", however the sound is modified in certain company. That is why it makes sense to anglicise the names of Kuijt, Van Nistelrooij, etc, where the IJ is essentially a poncy I (as Wingnut puts it).

Netherlands national football team

[happydisciple]

In many countries the team is colloquially referred to as "Holland"
;-)

The country is The Netherlands, the team is often referred to as Holland (as in "Holland *clap* *clap* *clap*"), and in songs we use both.

All together now:
Straks als het Rood-Wit-Blauw
Voor ons wordt gehesen
Dan zijn wij 'n groot gezin
Met goud zijn wij geprezen

Nederland, oh Nederland
...

Re: Netherlands national football team

[happydisciple]

I know, I know. I was quoting the relevant Wikipedia article, and assumed they had a good reason for having such a crap article title. Maybe I should look into changing it, and redirecting "Netherlands national football team" to "Dutch national football team". Hmm...

[hobnobs]

i think the "Bolo" nickname was given to him at PSV. (By Ronaldo, according to most sources. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2000/jun/23/euro2000.sport3 )

I can see why. Bolo is a sharper sound that is much easier and faster to shout when you want/need to get his attention. By the time you get through shouting "Boudewijn" he's already passed it to someone else. :)

[sierra_le_oli]

Here's me thinking that I had a good example of how English (and other Anglos) hand out nicknames to all and sundry and I'm wrong! Thank you, I've amended my post.

It's true that shorter names are more convenient, no one ever called me Kimberley on the field. Though sometimes they eschewed the obvious one-syllable variant for the two-syllable "Dutchie!" ;-)

[hobnobs]

Well, I think I can certainly agree that the English don't particularly hold back when it comes to nicknames, but I'd say that they are fairly well spread between descriptives and short-hand. (Not to mention some downright insults. ;) ) Dietmar Hamann became Didi Hamann, Paul Gascoine became Gazza, Steve McManaman was called Shaggy.

As to the two syllable nickname over the easier (and shorter) one syllable, I'd put this down to the increased chance of the person picking it up. A single syllable can get lost in the noise, or not gain the persons attention until it's repeated. When it's a two syllable sound it's a bit more unique, and therefore a little more likely to be picked out of the noise and trigger a response.

*wanders away singing "pass to the dutchie on the left hand side"* ;)