Dutch treat
1
5.9
- noun
- /dʌtʃ trit/
:
cada uno paga lo suyo
Examples
-
And it'll be Dutch treat, O.K.?
Fiction book (1997) -
He tells Rose, "Dutch treat," to allay her suspicion.
Fiction book (2000) -
For our next outing, let's make it a Dutch treat so everyone can cover their own meal.
-
She mentioned that their dinner would be a Dutch treat, meaning they would all pay for themselves.
-
After deciding on a Dutch treat lunch, each person was happy to choose their own food.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'each person pays their own way' is idiomatic and not a straightforward composition of 'Dutch' (a nationality) and 'treat' (to pay for someone). The historical/cultural use of 'Dutch' in this phrase is language-specific and can even suggest the opposite of the literal parts, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would unlikely predict the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Dutch treat may come from old jokes about the Dutch being careful with money; a treat usually means someone else pays, but in this case the idea was 'each person pays for themselves'. So it now means a meal or outing where everyone pays their own bill.