No matter how good your dining experience has been, there’s always that iffy moment when the bill arrives.

Someone can be the big dog and pay the entire bill, but it’s often a case of ‘going Dutch’, with each person paying for themselves, rather than any person paying for anyone else.

All good, except Quartz calls the term a “300-year-old insult to Dutch people”.

I’m sure they will survive, but here’s a little background:

During the Anglo-Dutch Wars that began in the late 17th century, a number of English idioms sprang up that used “Dutch” derisively. Today’s version of the English language retains hints of this long-running pissing contest between the Dutch and the English. It’s one of the many odd, dark, lovely, prejudicial, eye-rolling, mistaken, coincidental ways in which history shapes the way we speak.

‘Going Dutch’ is basically taking a stab at the stereotype of Dutch frugality – cheapskates, if you will – and here’s a few more to digest:

• “Dutch courage” is nerve one gets from drinking alcohol, possibly related to a stereotype of the Dutch being heavy drinkers, or maybe a dig that associates Dutchness and falseness
• a “Dutch bargain,” which means a deal struck over booze, likely has similar origins as the above, and is less common today
• to speak “double Dutch” is to speak gibberish or incomprehensibly, i.e. to not be understood by the English

Don’t forget the Dutch Rudder – Google it. Don’t, seriously, I’m joking. Dutch Oven? Also avoid.

The British have always enjoyed taking digs at the French, of course:

The English believed in a stereotype of French wantonness, leading to English phrases like “French letter” (a condom) and various idioms for syphilis and other STDs that associated the illnesses with the French: one might have said, for example, that George picked up a “French compliment,” “French goods,” or the “French measles.”

Well listen up, Pommies, the French absolutely wipe the floor with you when it comes to food.

Want proof? Swing past 113 Loop Street, pop into Café du Cap and eat like nobody’s watching.

As for who pays the bill – well that’s up to you.

[source:quartz]