Englishtalk to someone like a Dutch uncle
Meaning: To give someone frank, firm advice, as a caring relative would.
Example: “My coach talked to me like a Dutch uncle about my training habits.”
Origin: The odd one out in a large and unfriendly family. English acquired a whole set of pejorative Dutch compounds during the commercial and naval rivalries of the 1600s — Dutch courage from a bottle, a Dutch treat that is not a treat, double Dutch for incomprehensible speech, being in Dutch for being in trouble — nearly all of them working by implying that the Dutch version of a thing is a counterfeit of it. The Dutch uncle does not fit the pattern. He is defined against the proverbial indulgent uncle, the relative who spoils and takes your side, and he is the opposite: frank, stern, and unwelcome, but well-meaning and usually right. The phrase is American, attested from the 1830s.
More English idioms
- tickle someone's fancy To please or amuse someone in a light-hearted way.
- tickled pink Thoroughly pleased; very happy.
- tied to one's mother's apron strings Emotionally or physically attached to one's mother beyond what is considered appropriate…
- tie the knot To get married.
- tighten one's belt To spend less money than one did previously.
- have time on one's hands To have free time with nothing to do.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Pad kid poured curd pulled cod. Alternating repetition — the consonants swap at the start of every other word, which is w…
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
Keep exploring