The Dutch: not tolerant, only pragmatic

[The Lawspeaker]

A brief exchange about Dutch "tolerance"/ pragmatism between Crossbow and yours truly (in English). See it from a Dutch perspective.

[Albion]

For the Dutch, yes is yes and no is no.

The same in Northern England. Directness is a good approach.

But the Dutch compare themselves to big surrounding countries like the UK, Germany and France, hence the misunderstanding.

I don't get it, what does that mean? They are similar to those surrounding countries.

According to the Flemish; copper wire was invented by two Dutch people fighting for a coin.

Lol, and there was me thinking that was an old joke about the Jews. In the UK the Yorkshiremen and Scots are said to be tight too.
Its a good thing in my book, the spending culture in the rest of the UK has hurt the economy and almost every family has a fair amount of debts.

One of my colleagues says he read on the internet that since the use of bikes is so smartly encouraged

Now if only we could do the same in England. Sadly the hills put people off I think, you tend to get very strong legs around where I live.
There's a 350 meter hill I once went down with no brakes (broken) and some 600 meter hills further out of town. Even in the town there's a steep road near the river which suddenly goes from around 110 meters down to 55 and then back up again once you cross the river.

it is completely normal that school kids ride 45 minutes back and forth to school every day.

That is good, I notice none of the kids here would do that, they catch the bus.
I always did and still do cycle a lot because I'm too cheap to catch the bus, or the bus is ridiculously priced (it could be either )

Especially when encountering – in their eyes -poorly organised situations abroad.

Examples: whole nation of Italy, public services in UK.

last year that for people from southern Member States, this -perhaps Nordic- efficiency at work was the worst thing they could come up with when asked to describe something negative about another culture. It takes away all the fun…

Yeah, the Southern Euros don't have the same outlook as Northern Euros when it comes to work.

[morski]

I really enjoyed this reddish pate made of beef(veal?) of yours.

[♥ Lily ♥]

The Dutch have an interesting culture and I enjoy learning about their culture, language, people, etc.

[The Lawspeaker]

The Dutch have an interesting culture and I enjoy learning about their culture, language, people, etc.

You just need to hang out here more. You'll get us eventually. LOL.