Swethan Anand, a PhD student from India, wonders why Dutch people are so blunt. “Whenever I ask questions about habits or customs people just say ‘this is Holland’. I never get any real answers.”

According to the Volkskrant of May 7, 2011, the Dutch rank in the top 3 of ill-mannered peoples of the world. They are egotistic and tell other people pointblank what they think of them. Abroad the Dutch have a name for being impolite noise-makers. And this is not a recent finding. For many centuries the Dutchmen have been known abroad for being ‘ill-mannered’: boozing, gobbling and wearing simple clothes, was how the Germans and French described them in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Philosopher Bas van Stokkom writes in his book: ‘Wat een hufter - Ergernis, lichtgeraaktheid en maatschappelijke verruwing’ (‘Such an asshole – Annoyance, Short-temperedness and Social Vulgarization’) from 2010 that the poor manners of the Dutch are related to the limited impact of the ‘Bildungs elite’ -writers, intellectuals and teachers- in the Netherlands. Add to that the aversion to authority of the 1960s, the individualism of the 1990s and the typical Dutch bluntness and absence of courtesy (rubbish), and there is little room left for good manners.

This does not imply, though, that the intentions of the Dutch are bad or impolite. A survey conducted by the Feedback Group in 2006 showed that it is caused in particular by a lack of awareness of customs in other cultures. We do not grasp readily that people in other countries tend to behave more politely and less brusquely. TV program Nova once even made a film to make the Dutch more aware of their inadequate manners. (HB)