How does one pronounce Oranje?

June 18, 2008 7:52 PM

How can I support the Dutch?

Now that France has been (shamefully) eliminated from Euro 2008, I'm firmly in the Orange camp. They're looking better than anything else out there, they seem to have remembered how to play total football since the World Cup, and RvP looks particularly sharp. My problem is that I speak no Dutch. How do I cheer for the Netherlands? Other than wearing orange, what else can I do?

posted by TheWhiteSkull to sports, hobbies, & recreation (14 comments total)

According to my sister, who lives there, learn to sing the Wilhelmus and say "Hup Holland Hup" a lot. Also, wear more orange. No amount of orange is too much.
posted by zadcat at 8:06 PM on June 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

Apparently every side has started singing/making noises to Seven Nation Army.. so that could be a start
posted by sandmanwv at 8:27 PM on June 18, 2008

Judging from friends who support the Oranje: spend 90% of your time saying 'oh well, they're going to throw it away', 'I knew it', 'typical bloody Holland' and similar. Pessimism is an essential part of the package.
posted by holgate at 8:32 PM on June 18, 2008

Give orange tulips to strangers. They smell nice.
posted by amtho at 9:00 PM on June 18, 2008

When the other side doesn't do too well and their supporters are rather quiet repeat on the refrain of Go West
't is stil aan de overkant
which means literally
it is silent on the otherside

medley of football songs. As you can tell melodies tend to be extremely simple and fitting for a pub that's filled with drunk people.

Indeed hup holland hup which means go holland go

Cheesy sentimental songs in the manner that used to be traditional in the old Amsterdam neighbourhood the Jordaan are popular in a camp way.

The dutch national anthem is hard to sing for an american since the lyrics are rather involved and the melody is rather slow. Not a catchy sing along. If you feel ambitious there are plenty of examples on youtube.

To answer your question in the title oranje is pronounced as oranyeh with a rhotic r.
You can always shout that.
posted by jouke at 10:29 PM on June 18, 2008

You don't have to learn the Wilhelmus, you just have to learn the chorus to "Wij Houden van Oranje" by Andre Hazes.

That and some orange face paint and orange wigs and orange clothing and orange clogs and orange tulips and maybe some orange bunting and do you have any dyeable pets?
posted by bink at 10:32 PM on June 18, 2008

+1 for hup holland hup. Buy yourself a tacky cowboy hat with a tiara on it, a feather boa, a Welpie tshirt, all in orange oh and a few ringtones on your phone and a loud as fuck supporter horn and you're good to go. Sold by the truckful here, but I'm sure you can find something wherever you are.

Inundated by Oranje fever here in The Hague.
posted by wingless_angel at 1:48 AM on June 19, 2008

Learn the names of all the players so that if one of them scores you can shout out their second name.

Like this

Klaas-Jan "HUNTELAAR!!"

Robin "VAN PERSIE!!"
posted by MarvinJ at 1:50 AM on June 19, 2008

Get yer butt to our meetup in Amsterdam on the 21st. Netherland vs. Russia, the longest day of the year, weather is predicted to be about 20C and Wiliam Hill is offering 8-11 odds in favour of The Orange.

Or you can do as Mrs Mutant does - scream "AANVALLUH!!" at the top of your lungs whenever Netherland has the ball.
posted by Mutant at 3:26 AM on June 19, 2008

Learn the names of all the players so that if one of them scores you can shout out their second name.
They'll have kicked off again before you finish "Vennegoor of Hesselink."
posted by Abiezer at 4:18 AM on June 19, 2008

Let everyone around you know that the Dutch finally play football after 10 years. Enjoy the spectacle.

And hope Van Basten gets the double.
posted by ersatz at 4:22 AM on June 19, 2008

Abiezer,
if he score there's a song to sing instead
posted by MarvinJ at 6:40 AM on June 19, 2008

Somehow I knew the massed Oranje ranks would be way ahead of me on that one, MarvinJ.
posted by Abiezer at 7:00 AM on June 19, 2008

The suggestions above are stellar, and I have little to add in the way of music or getup. Still, if you'll indulge my patriotism for a moment, I will attempt to expand upon the above with a handful of additional main concepts one might also stumble upon in the pages of Oranje: A 2008 Primer.

-1988. All talk of how Oranje Shall Rise Again is framed against the backdrop of Holland's only tournament title, when Marco van Basten himself secured the championship against the USSR. Interestingly, Oranje met the Soviet Union in the group stage as well that year, and lost that match. This Saturday, Holland will once again battle the Russians in this year's quarter final.

Random tidbit #1 - Don't take it from us: Really, you don't need Ask Metafilter when you've got British newspapers.

-1974 and 1978. Widely considered the heyday of Dutch international football, the seventies saw the Netherlands propelled to two World Cup finals on the wings of the so-called "Total Football" you mentioned, in 1974 coordinated mostly off the boots of star-player-turned-punditry-demigod Johan Cruyff - whose last name is properly rendered Cruijff in Dutch, although the anglicised form is widespread. (It was recently revealed that Cruyff declined to play in the 1978 tournament on the heels of a kidnap attempt).

These vintages - the seventies and the late eighties - now form a sort of default punditry litmus test, a gold standard to which every contemporary development must be compared. Example: Cruyff makes an off-the-cuff comment and a new term is born.

Random tidbit #2 - Audience measurement: "Of all Dutch of at least six years of age, 94 percent has watched at least one minute of the group phase games from their homes." Link in Dutch.

-Hazes. To echo bink, yes, Wij houden van Oranje is essential, although more likely to be heard in the bar than in the bleachers. It's gaudy, it's lachrymose, it's ubiquitous - but André Hazes' ("Dré") song, released after the 1988 win, is for better or for worse the singular anthem of a nation buoyed by the beautiful game.

Random tidbit #3 - Mr. non sequitur: Nobody understands a word of what Cruyff says, but everyone nods politely anyway because, well, he's Johan fucking Cruyff.

-No, seriously - Hazes. If you let bink's YouTube link run on a bit you'll notice that the chorus is sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, so if you grew up in an English-speaking country, chances are you'll at least be familiar with the melody.

Random tidbit #4 - Sad news: Khalid Bouhlarouz's prematurely born daughter has passed away. The grieving defender has expressed a desire to appear on the pitch on Saturday nonetheless.

-Schade, Deutschland, alles ist vorbei. (Super-fresh YT link, that.) German, "Too bad, Germany, it's all over". Many European nations have a footballing grudge with Die Mannschaft - after all, football is war - but the Dutch, well, let's say that this particular rivalry is strong enough to warrant regular rejoinders from the Germans themselves, even the littlest of them. This year's buzzphrase to make friends with our cousins in the east? Ohne Holland fahren wir nach Wien, "Without Holland we go to Vienna". So expect shameless gloating when either of the two get knocked out - although at least we 're still polite enough to make fun of them in their own language, dammit.

Lastly, on a tangent: yeah, what is up with Seven Nation Army this year?

Apologies for the preceding patch of purple prose - but it's hard not to get carried away. Have a good one, TheWhiteSkull, and welcome on board!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:45 AM on June 19, 2008 [2 favorites]