Chinese Tuesdays: Holland beans
Eating dinner last night, someone pointed to a dish containing snow peas and said, “You know how in China we call them Holland beans? [荷兰豆 hélándòu] In Holland they call them Chinese beans!” I expressed my opinion that this was unlikely to be true, but promised to ask a Dutch friend of mine.
He got back to me quickly and said that in a way it is true, because while technically snow peas are called something else, certain species of green beans are indeed called Chinese beans in Dutch. I wonder how that happened.
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Every Tuesday on the Anthill, Sam Duncan posts a langauge titbit from his blog
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Mon 9 September 2013 in
