Are Dutch people really stingy?

When the Dutch queen – who’s Argentinean – emigrated to the Netherlands, an interviewer asked her to describe the Netherlands. With a cute Spanish accent she answered in Dutch: ‘’the Netherlands is tea with one cookie and big windows without curtains, so that everybody can take a good look inside.’’ In my opinion she hit the nail on the head, but the Dutch weren’t so happy with her answer. That’s not because of the part about transparency and openness of course. Dutch people are known to be stingy. Ask an expat and he’ll confirm. The term ‘’going Dutch’’ wasn’t picked out of thin air you know. But ask a Dutchman if it’s true that Dutch people are stingy and he will most likely say: ‘’No, we’re misunderstood!’’ Are the Dutch really just misunderstood? Let’s have a closer look.

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