Ask a Dutchman!
- Thread starter Agent327
- Start date
Simply put, a polder is wet land made dry. Especially since the 17th century several inland lakes have been changed to dry land (polders), adding quite a bit of fertile land to the Dutch agricultural area. The largest bits were added in the 20th century, when the inland Zuiderzee was closed and changed to the IJsselmeer. Notably the city of Almere is in what once was sea. There were actually plans to change more of this largest space of inland water to polder, but this has been cancelled. The last "polder" is the neighbourhood of IJburg, which was added to the north of Amsterdam (I visited it on sunday).
This bit of the Wiki article on Polder has some specific info on polders in the Netherlands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder#Polders_and_the_Netherlands
In addition to their activities in the Netherlands, Dutch engineers also were responsible for polders in England, specifically in East Anglia, I I remember correctly.
This bit of the Wiki article on Polder has some specific info on polders in the Netherlands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder#Polders_and_the_Netherlands
In addition to their activities in the Netherlands, Dutch engineers also were responsible for polders in England, specifically in East Anglia, I I remember correctly.
mayor
Heart & Mind
we manually insert them combining the 'i' and the 'j' 
mayor
Heart & Mind
I don't understand what you mean...
But we do use them in words like IJsselmeer, ijs (ice), lijk (corpse) etc.
But we do use them in words like IJsselmeer, ijs (ice), lijk (corpse) etc.
mayor
Heart & Mind
Well, I'll be.... I never knew those existed.. where did you get those from?
I'm sure simply typing I and J is a bit faster, though. 
There's a difference between Y/y and IJ/ij. (We call Y "Greek IJ".) Although IJ is imply I and J combined, originally Y and IJ were used randomly. (You could, for instance find "Zuyderzee" - the original name of the IJsselmeer - and the pronunciation wouldn't differ from "Zuiderzee".) But to retunr to your remark on using the IJ character: old typewriters actually did have a IJ/ij key; modern keyboards don't, however, AFAIK.
There's a difference between Y/y and IJ/ij. (We call Y "Greek IJ".) Although IJ is imply I and J combined, originally Y and IJ were used randomly. (You could, for instance find "Zuyderzee" - the original name of the IJsselmeer - and the pronunciation wouldn't differ from "Zuiderzee".) But to retunr to your remark on using the IJ character: old typewriters actually did have a IJ/ij key; modern keyboards don't, however, AFAIK.
Isn't there any usual combination? In Spanish you just use the ´ key to add it to leeter and for áéíóú, and such.I'm sure simply typing I and J is a bit faster, though.
There's a difference between Y/y and IJ/ij. (We call Y "Greek IJ".) Although IJ is imply I and J combined, originally Y and IJ were used randomly. (You could, for instance find "Zuyderzee" - the original name of the IJsselmeer - and the pronunciation wouldn't differ from "Zuiderzee".) But to retunr to your remark on using the IJ character: old typewriters actually did have a IJ/ij key; modern keyboards don't, however, AFAIK.
I guess I'll have to
I-j isn't an unusual combination in Dutch: theres oe, eu, ei, ui etc., all of which form a different sound than the letters used separately. Double consonants are pretty common in Dutch. For instance cow is koe (pronounced coo with short oo. Yet ij has the exact same pronunciation as ei, as in klein (little) and fijn (fine, very good).
Hans Bleeker... it's a myth; never happened. (If a dike or dam bursts putting your finger in wouldn't do much.) Don't know about "411"; what's that supposed to be?
Hans Bleeker... it's a myth; never happened. (If a dike or dam bursts putting your finger in wouldn't do much.) Don't know about "411"; what's that supposed to be?
mayor
Heart & Mind
@Glassfan, do you perhaps mean 114?
The Netherlands actually uses the US keyboard layout generally. There used to be (?) a Dutch keyboard layout which you can still find in some settings menus, but I have never seen such a keyboard. I think the Dutch market just isn't big enough for its own keyboard layout.
anandus
Errorist
I didn't know a 'IJ'-character existed. I wonder where they actually use that character, there aren't that many languages who use the 'IJ', I think?
It's fairly unknown here, although I believe the tourist office wants to exploit that story, for the American tourists.
The story about the Dutchboy who plugged the dike is an American legend/story, not Dutch
It's fairly unknown here, although I believe the tourist office wants to exploit that story, for the American tourists.
The story about the Dutchboy who plugged the dike is an American legend/story, not Dutch
It's fairly unknown here, although I believe the tourist office wants to exploit that story, for the American tourists.
411 is "information" on our telephones. As in, "What's the 411 on the 911?" (slang - What's the information on the emergency?)
Some early American settlers were Dutch. "New Amsterdam" became New York City. Peter Minuit, a Walloon, purchased Manhattan from the local Amerinds for 60 guilders worth of goods (legend - "beads"). Many of our folk legends are vaguely Dutch (Rip Van Winkle). The Roosevelts were of Dutch descent.
anandus
Errorist
The US even had a Dutch-speaking president, Van Buren I think his name was.
Even though he was the first president to be born a US citizen, his first language was Dutch.
Even though he was the first president to be born a US citizen, his first language was Dutch.
