Student
Typical Dutch

Dumb blonde

I was sitting in an interactive MOS module class one day. The lecturer was telling the class about the part that we had to work on and being as slow as I am, I missed some information. So I asked a friend sitting next to me. She is a Dutch girl from my major, a…

The lecturer heard us talking and told us again about the part that we missed. After that, he jokingly said: ‘I just told you five minutes ago, so do not forget it again’. My friend then said loudly: ‘Don’t worry sir, I might be blonde but I’m not dumb.’ The whole class laughed.

After class, I found out that there is a saying in Dutch: ‘acting like a dumb blonde’. Apparently the Dutch consider blonde people to be dumb. Well, my hair is pitch black; Dutch people must consider me so smart.

Nuruly Myzabella, Master’s student of Nutrition and Health, from Indonesia

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NL: Dom blondje

Nuruly Myzabella uit Indonesië had tijdens een MOS-module even de uitleg van de docent gemist. De docent zag haar overleggen met het Nederlandse meisje naast haar, vroeg wat er aan de hand was en herhaalde zijn uitleg. ‘Maar ik heb dit net vijf minuten geleden verteld, dus vergeet het niet weer.’ Daarop grapte Nuruly’s buurvrouw: ‘Geen zorgen meneer, ik ben misschien blond, maar ik ben niet dom.’ Na de les hoorde Nuruly tot haar verbazing dat blondjes in Nederland de naam hebben dom te zijn. ‘Nou, mijn haar is gitzwart; Nederlanders moeten denken dat ik héél slim ben.’

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