On 20-12-2010 23:56, Stephen wrote:
> On 20/12/2010 10:27 PM, andrel wrote:
>> On 20-12-2010 23:17, Stephen wrote:
>>> On 20/12/2010 8:31 PM, andrel wrote:
>>>>
>>>> (So the British are just as bad in understanding what goes on in
>>>> another
>>>> country. Interesting.)
>>>
>>> What! Have you no sense of history, Andrel? ;-)
>>
>> I am Dutch, we have no sense of history. We are famous for it actually.
>>
>>
>
> Pardon me for contradicting you, but the Dutch are famous for being


That too. I try to live up to that here in this group.

> Maybe it is just Hollanders that do not have a sense of
> history. ;-)
>

I think it is much broader them just the main cities in the west. Ask a 
Dutchman to cite a bit of Joost van den Vondel and you probably have to 
explain that he is for Dutch literature what Shakespeare is for the 
English. Ask to name the Dutch Nobel prize winner at the beginning of 
the 20th century 'were there any?'.
In short: I am Dutch, I can't cite any Dutch poems or other literature, 
I don't know any influential Dutch people from before I was born outside 
my own field, I assume that the industrial revolution started in 
England, I cannot date when William of Orange lived to within one or two 
centuries, Napoleon wasn't that a French general? etc.

In my experience English people often know more from Dutch history than 
we do. I know other countries are also in the process of loosing 
historical knowledge in the young generation. Yet I think are still 
better than the others because we have a much longer experience with it. 
(Or have we?)

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