Talk:Dutch courage

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As far as I know Dutch courage came from the time of the pleages. When England was engulfed in the black dead, the Dutch were the only people brave enough to sail to the English coast and do trading. The way the trading was done, involved the English placing trading goods on the beach, then they would retreat end the Dutch would go on shore and pick up the trade goods in exchange leave there trade goods. The man that were brave enough to go on shore got drunk, as they tought that it would protect them from the black dead.

I have to say that I can not say if the story is true, but it is a nice one.

Scubafish

More specifically: during an alliance with the Dutch, English soldiers noticed the practice of drinking a tot of gin (jenever) at stand-to and before battle. Gin was introduced to Britain after this time. Martin Doherty 16:43, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

My understanding is that it comes from the Black Death. The Dutch ships were the only ones brave enough to sail into London during the plague. They were responsible for bring in wines from the continent, therefore when people toasted they drank to the "Dutch Courage".

As a reward Dutch ships were later given "free port entry" to London.

24.22.73.41 02:31, 30 November 2006 (UTC) As an American, my colloquial understanding of the word "Dutch" is quite the opposite of that stated here. We associate the term "Dutch" reflexively with "good". Note the term "it beats the Dutch". In England "Dutch" may be synonymous with "bad", but in colloquial American the term is strongly positive.

24.22.73.41 02:31, 30 November 2006 (UTC)