Hi,

Yes, and no. "Dutch", "deutsch", "diets", etc. all stem from the same word for "common", as in "the common language". And one could imagine that someone who only heard a German use his native tongue to describe his nationality, might misinterpret that. And maybe it's possible a really not bright Irish girl might never pick up his true nationality during all this serenading etc.

But this supposed Irish girl uses the word "German", so she knows very well what nationality he has. Of course, given the right circumstances we might expect her to throw his own words back to him, but then she'd use them exactly the other way round: To us she'd say she had man-trouble with a "German", and to his face she'd call him a "'Dutch' dunce".

No, I get the feeling the writer should instead have written about things he knew about, like baseball games. (Come to think of it, he didn't know about those either.) That's not to say that this may not have been a successful song. But, apart from self-mockery, jokes tend to be insulting outside their original context. That's why the jokes of foreigners usually aren't funny, and jokes from a century ago usually aren't either. I imagine this was hilarious in 1908, but now the lyrics as they were, are insulting to the Dutch, the Germans, and the Irish.

Can't think of any good ones for now, but if they fit:
"For there's a German (lad/man/chap/guy/etc.) who won't leave me alone"
"His songs are the weirdest I've ever heard"

Those would at least not insult the Dutch. It still portrays the girl as rude, and has her give a negative opinion of her suitor because of his nationality, but if you see humour in the jokes from before the wars, you'll probably find something funny in that. It's after all not that different from Shakespeare having a female character judge a prince harshly because he's black, and who would argue with The Bard.

Still, a Happy New Year to you,
May the world find a bit more understanding this year,
                                                                Mysha