Posted 11 years ago
deny_ro
(3 items)
Hello! I really need some information about this tray. Its Par-Ex Beer Tray with slogan "It beats the Dutch" .
I was looking on google, ebay and I cant find any information about this tray! Or may be I dont know how to search.
Any info will help.
Thank you!
Dutch Courage = Gin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ADutch_courage
Does the expression "it beats the dutch" suggestion an alternative beverage?
Was it a movie from 1919?
It also may have overtones of anti-Dutch sentiment going back to the 17th century at least.
"DUTCH (BEAT THE): This came to be replaced by such expressions as “beat the band” and “beat all,” that is, to cause great surprise. “To beat the Dutch” has a double significance; on the one hand, from the early literal meaning, it conveyed something strange, baffling, surprising, or inexplicable, as in “Doesn’t that beat the Dutch!” or “It beats the Dutch how...” If “beating the Dutch” was remarkable, then this is actually a compliment to that nation. On the other hand, if the expression is used ironically it is not complimentary, the presumed implication then being that the Dutch are an easy foe to vanquish.
American usage goes back to the 18th century. One story goes that because the Dutch dealt in good wares at fair prices, whoever would do better than these merchants would thus have to “beat the Dutch.” From the early literal meaning the phrase is said to have come to denote surprise or wonderment. Another says that the expression came into vogue following the supposed “bargain” that the Dutch got when they acquired Manhattan from the Indians for what has been popularly considered to be a good deal, so it would be hard to “beat the Dutch,” supposedly proven experts in such negotiations. It’s a grudging compliment at best, along with a faint whiff of disapproval. There is too a theory that “the Dutch” here is a euphemistic stand-in for the “the Devil."
http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/2613/6700/9122/DISSING_THE_DUTCH.pdf
Need more time on this one!
Par Ex - short for par excellence being the best of its kind, quintessential Par-Ex was also a brand of beer from the Geo. Zetts Brewery of Syracuse NY.
I think now the basic pun in this advertising slogan resides in the brand name Par Ex: the best of its kind. This is contrasted with the "It beats the Dutch" .... Suggesting quality wares at the most competitive prices.
Champagne tastes on a beer allowance?
Best Beer on a Budget?
I've lived with the dutch long enough to realize that the expression,well know, should be "dutching somebody down". One island I lived on, surrendered 22 times without firing a shot & they came out on top each time & still own the island! Can't help but admire that feat.
Hi blunderbuss! I read that article on Dissing the Dutch and I was amazed at how many expressions there were: Dutch Answer, Dutch this and that. Most of them were tasteless and vile!
Double Dutch!
I admire anybody who can speak dutch, I don't care if they were born & raised there! I've been living with these "dike-hoppers" for 30 yrs & gave up on learning it the 1st year. I can read German OK but dutch seems impossible to me. Thank God most speak Eng.!
What a hoot!