Netherlands (toponymy)
More than one name is used to refer to the Netherlands, both in English and in other languages. Some of these names refer to different, but overlapping geographical, linguistic and political areas of the country. This is a common source of confusion for outsiders. In English the country is called 'the Netherlands' (or frequently – as a pars pro toto 'Holland'), while the people and the language are called 'Dutch'. In Dutch the official (and predominant) terms for these are 'Nederland' for the country, 'Nederlanders' for the people and 'Nederlands' for the language, although they are occasionally and colloquially called 'Holland', 'Hollanders' and 'Hollands' respectively. The latter comes sometimes with the prefix oer or oud (meaning old or traditional), as in Oudhollandse gerechten (traditionally Dutch dishes).
Occasionally the the is incorrectly capitalised: 'the Netherlands' is similar to names such as 'the United States' and 'the Federal Republic of Germany', so the 't' should usually not be capitalised.
