History and Language
To the tapperij, the drinking-place, wherein we drink from the tap, in contradistinction to the sluiterij, where we drink from the bottle, do we owe our military “tattoo,” which is none other than tap-toe (the tap is closed), the tattoo being the signal for closing the taps in the public-houses. The seeker after etymologies will find a goldmine in Holland.
Traces there are, of course, of Spanish blood among the Dutch population, and occasionally of Spanish customs. One in particular is to be met with in the villages on the banks of the Lek, or Lower Rhine. There, a man seeking a quarrel with another will plant his knife in the table at which his enemy sits. The knife will be promptly plucked out, and the two will adjourn to the street and attempt to slit each other's cheeks (kaaken snijden). Should the
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