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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">In a panel Donald<BR>
says "Oh-boy-oh-boy! Am I in Dutch with uncle Amos?". This sentence really<BR>
puzzled me; what does it means?</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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"In Dutch" is what an American would call an idiom.<BR>
an idiom is a phrase when taken literally really does not make much sense.<BR>
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This phrase basically means "I am in trouble" with Uncle Amos.<BR>
Other such phrases could be "in the dog house" or "in hot water"<BR>
all 3 really mean "in trouble"<BR>
The word Dutch is also used in other American idioms. The example that comes to mind is when 2 people go to a restaurant and each pays for their own meal<BR>
its is called "going Dutch" I do not know the origin of these phrases, but I could find out if you are interested.<BR>
There are many such phrases in the English language and they are common to Americans, but always confusing to Second language learners.<BR>
I know Don Rosa tries to avoid them in stories because they do not usually translate well.<BR>
I hope this Helps.<BR>
Barry Branvold </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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