Common Dutch
Standard Dutch (Algemeen Nederlands, often abbreviated to AN) is the standard language as it is taught in schools and used by authorities in the Netherlands, Flanders, Suriname, and Aruba, as well as the former Netherlands Antilles. The Dutch Language Union defines what is AN and what is not. Since efforts to “uplift” people came to be considered rather presumptuous, the earlier name Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands (“Common Civilised Dutch”) and its abbreviation, ABN, have been replaced with Algemeen Nederlands and thus AN. The implicit insinuation that people speaking dialects or with an accent were not civilised was thus removed.
Read more about this topic: Dutch Language Union
Famous quotes containing the words common and/or dutch:
“Though there are wreck-masters appointed to look after valuable property which must be advertised, yet undoubtedly a great deal of value is secretly carried off. But are we not all wreckers contriving that some treasure may be washed up on our beach, that we may secure it, and do we not infer the habits of these Nauset and Barnegat wreckers, from the common modes of getting a living?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The French courage proceeds from vanity—the German from phlegm—the Turkish from fanaticism & opium—the Spanish from pride—the English from coolness—the Dutch from obstinacy—the Russian from insensibility—but the Italian from anger.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)