Lexicon ·
Dutch treat
noun, also adverb
- Stated meaning
- An outing at which each person pays their own way.
- Operating meaning
- Each party paying their own share, which closes the bill at the table and opens a second account in what the offer to pay was meant to say.
- Origin
- Dated by Merriam-Webster to 1887 as a noun, and to 1942 as an adverb, as in go dutch treat. The idiom in circulation is to go Dutch.
- Synonyms
- going dutch
September 17, a country bar in Chandler. I arrived 1 minute late, and she had already bought her own drink, a non-alcoholic one. Her refills after that were free, and she ate some of my chips. The phrase was not used.
Merriam-Webster (opens in a new window) dates the noun to 1887 and defines it as “a meal or other entertainment for which each person pays his or her own way.” The adverb, as in to go dutch treat, follows in 1942. The shorter idiom outlived it: to go Dutch (opens in a new window) is to go out as a group “with each person paying for his or her own ticket, food, etc.”
On dates, the arrangement arrives late and is negotiated on the way. In 2013 a survey of more than 17,000 people (opens in a new window), presented to the American Sociological Association, found that 84 percent of men and 58 percent of women reported the man paying most expenses, even after dating for a while. 64 percent of men believed women should contribute, and 76 percent reported feeling guilty accepting women’s money. 57 percent of women said they offer to help pay, and 39 percent said they hope the offer is rejected. About 4 in 10 respondents shared at least some expenses within the first month, and roughly 3 in 4 by 6 months.
Under load, splitting the bill settles the money and nothing else. The check arrives as one figure and leaves as 2, and in between, the reach for a wallet becomes a message the other party has to read before the server returns. An offer can be meant or made to be declined, and an acceptance can be welcome or guilty. On the survey’s figures a fair number of tables hold both at once: an offer made in the hope of refusal, met by an acceptance made with guilt. The bill is paid in full, and both parties leave out of pocket in a currency the receipt does not print.
The contributed column on this site had read $0.00 for every subject with a figure in it until September 17. That evening it read $1.00, and the figure was mine. I did not see the price, entered an estimate so that the column would record she was in it, and marked the row as an estimate. Across 6 accounts the column has moved once, on a drink bought before I arrived, and the figure in it was set by me. Nobody offered and nobody declined, which on the survey’s figures is the simplest table on record.