Why Speechwriters in the Netherlands belong to “The Dead Horse Society”

By David Murray, Editor, Vital Speeches of the Day 

Brian Jenner, founder of the U.K. Speechwriter’s Guild and the newer European Speechwriter Network, asked Frank van Hoor, speechwriter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands, about the speechwriting scene there.

Apparently Dutch speechwriters are connected in a network called ’t Doode Paert, which translates in English to “The Dead Horse Society.” According to van Hoor, “the (ironic) name is derived from the Dutch saying, ‘trekken aan een dood paard’ (pulling a dead horse). It means something like ‘being on a mission impossible.’ Need I say more?”

Not to speechwriters, he doesn’t.