@flo I know what the Netherlands is. I don’t understand your answer. This morning I asked a Dutch Facebook friend, he wore this:
…it does not annoy me a lot. But that might be because I am from the two western ‘states’ (or provinces) of the Netherlands. Those are North and South Holland. It used to be on state, the mightiest one, untill Napoleon Bonaparte dividend them. But in Holland we refer to ourselves a lot like ‘ those Hollanders’, unless you live in Friesland, which has it’s own language for instance. Or from the deep south, Limburg, which is almost Belgium. These people have a strong regional pride. And they are right, because there are gorgeous areas there too. But abroad, the image of tulips, Amsterdam, Canals woorden shoes, called klompen, and windmills ( did you know that one of my ancesters, Floris van Alkemade invented the Dutch windmill?) still lives on and those are definitively western Holland. Those are the positieve signs. Let us not forget about the stingyness in Dutch treat or a Dutch Uncle, lol. Those are more from the people of Zeeland (Sealand) who are stingy to the bone and proud of it. So I don’t think it annoys a lot of people around here, except from some diehard regionals, to be called, Dutch or Hollander, when, in fact they mean, The Netherlands. Does this help a bit?
I already knew some of what he wrote, but I went ahead and pasted the majority of it anyway.
I think it’s the whole tulip, windmill and tourist thing. As I think about it more, it’s possible the people I interacted with when I was younger possibly went to Holland or were from Holland, so maybe they were only referring to Holland and not the entire country, and my interpretation was wrong.