Holland hopes that the statement could be "a new beginning"
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At a UN Convention, Holland
released a statement
directed to the international community, saying that it wishes people
would stop calling it "Holland."
GENEVA-The statement
comes after decades of being called "Holland" finally annoys
the
Hollander
public to their limit.
The prime minister of Holland, Jan Pieter Balkenende, added
in a personal statement "Do you not realise how annoying it is
to hear people calling us "Holland?" Holland is a region in
our nation. It's like if the entire United States was called
"Appalachia", or if Russia was called "Siberia".
Holland itself hasn't even existed as a province for the past 20 years,
we literally split it into two provinces."
The Holland Board of Tourism & Conventions also had some choice
words on the matter, "Our official tourism web site domain is
"Holland.com". That is ridiculous, imagine if the official
tourism site for Australia was "discovertasmania.com.au"".
Reactions from the international community have been mixed. Some
countries, including France, Austria, India, Canada, the United Kingdom, and
Indonesia have officially vowed to stop calling Holland "Holland". "It's a sign of respect", said
prime minister Tony Blair.
Other countries haven't been so keen on the request. In a White House
press release, president George Bush said "We're an ocean away.
What are you going to do? Slap me? You fuckers are so high on weed
I'll bet that even if you could slap me, you would miss. Dumbass
potheads ."
The citizens of
Holland have had a positive response to the
statement, hoping that it will increase the country's prominence on the
world stage, and decrease awkwardness when travelling abroad.
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