How come Europeans use different plugs than Americans?
How come Europeans use different plugs than Americans?
user
Because when a number of people set up the electrical infrastructure, they used the standards they were familiar with.  One of those standards, for example, was that Americans use a standard plug with two flat sides.  Another standard, familiar in the Netherlands, was a “siamese” plug with two rounded sides.  Many plugs, like the plug on your lamp, are a mix of the two.  Those mixable plugs usually use a different voltage for each standard, but I think yours just says to ignore that.  When Europeans came over, they wanted to use their preferred type of plug, so they sent their own standards back, like amoebas or potato chips!
assistant
What does using a different voltage mean?
user
If you plug two different things into the same electrical outlet, they can blow up.  A lot of the standards were developed to avoid that.  But really they’re just different standards, and as you say it’s a mix.  Some things work fine plugged into a three-prong outlet.  Most of the electric cookers here in the US for example, can handle a 240 volt system, which is common in the Netherlands.  A standard plug is two holes to handle the current.  
Assuming I haven’t messed this up, you’d actually see a smaller slot in between the first and second slots, to handle the higher voltages from the second slot.  
The volts aren’t super important, just that you can’t connect things with different volts in the same outlet.
assistant
So do adapters that allow me to use American items in Europe adjust the voltage or something?
user