Xiaohua：Hello and welcome to roundtable’s word of the week. 在頭一次約會的時候，人們經(jīng)常會為吃飯時誰來付賬而苦惱，這個時候“going Dutch”不失為一個好方法。So everyone knows what “going Dutch” means, but where exactly does the phrase come from?
John: Yeah, actually sometimes it’s just called going Dutch, but it also can be called a Dutch date, a Dutch treat, which apparently is the oldest form, and also doing Dutch. So there are two possible ways this could be used: each person pays their own expenses or the entire bill is basically divided evenly between all participants. In strict terms, “going Dutch” refers to the former that everyone pays their own expenses, and the latter is usually referred to as just splitting the bill.
Xiaohua: 所以“going Dutch”其實是指在一餐聚會中，每個人付自己點的那部分食物的賬單。還有一種方法呢，則是把賬單的總費用平均攤到個人頭上，這個時候呢，就叫做splitting the bill?
John: Splitting the bill, that’s right. So looking at the history of this phrase, one person has suggested that going Dutch might actually originate from the concept of a Dutch door. So this is usually farm houses. The door is actually consisted of two equal parts.
Xiaohua: Interesting. 為什么一定跟Dutch有關(guān)呢？有一種解釋是說，荷蘭人家里的門經(jīng)常是雙開門，對開的那種門，所以that’s why it’s “going Dutch”.
John: Whereas the Oxford English Dictionary connects “go Dutch” and “Dutch treat” and other phrases actually coming from the 17th century when there was a bit tension between the English and the Dutch. Another example is a “Dutch courage”, so in that sense it’s used to basically be derisive, or it’s actually a bit of negative term
Xiaohua: 這個說法我也聽說過，就是說英國人其實當時對荷蘭人是有很多偏見的，導致在以前的英語中，存在很多這種歧視或者嘲笑荷蘭人的詞匯。
John：Yeah. Another term that’s actually used almost primarily in China is AA. Interestingly enough this term does not necessarily originate in the English speaking countries. In fact it actually originates in Hong Kong.
Xiaohua: 英語母語國家的人好像很少說AA制，但是在香港，在大中華地區(qū)，很多人都說，我們來AA吧。
John: Yeah. There’re actually a few different theories there, as to what exactly that means. Some people suggest that it’s actually the algebraic average. And there are other theories suggesting that it means all apart.
Xiaohua：So basically if I say AA to a friend from an English speaking country, they most probably wouldn’t know what I am talking about.
John: They are probably thinking you are talking about alcoholic anonymous, which is very, very different.
Xiaohua: I see. So “going Dutch”, that’s our word of the week.