"Holland"

This may be lame and really anal of me, but when people refer to the Netherlands as "Holland" it really makes me cringe. The cringing may be due to the ball of anger toward their word misuse and desperation to set them straight which develops in my stomach at the use of said term in reference to the Netherlands. It gives me the overwhelming urge to immediately correct this blunder in hopes that they will be more cautious in future uses of this article.

However, I do understand that this is a word which has been widely accepted to mean "the Netherlands" and I can at this point only hope that one day they will realize that these words cannot be used synonymously. Also, I can agree that to say "the Netherlands" is far less efficient to say than simply "Holland", not only because of the syllable difference but also in pronunciation. Having to use -th- every other syllable is quite more taxing on the mouth.

To set the record straight, Holland is merely a province of the Netherlands, which is now split into Noord (North) and Zuid (South) Holland. So if you are going to Amsterdam (which is not an appropriate representation of what the rest of Dutch culture is like-- but that is an entirely separate topic) or Den Haag aka. the Hague then it would be appropriate for you to use "Holland" as your word of description. In contrast, if you are going to refer to the country as a whole, it would be better to use "the Netherlands", seeing that it is the country's actual name.

Anyhow, now that I have that all off my mind, I can go to bed. In the mean time, mind your Ps and Qs...