Comments on: Les Belges

By: Leon

Leon — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:04:13 +0000

and do you know what is the difference between a Flemish & a potato?

the patato is very cultivated

(blague wallonne)

best regards

By: What the French think about the Belgians? | francofool

What the French think about the Belgians? | francofool — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:03:14 +0000

[...] the meantime, here’s a very lighthearted look at the Parisian view of les Belges. Take it with a huge grain of salt, but [...]

By: VinC

VinC — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:10:20 +0000

“Americans are stupid, Portuguese are hairy, Vietnamese are Chinese, and Belgians are sympa” LoL, funny stuff keeps comin. Thanks for the great article

By: Alice

Alice — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:51:12 +0000

Allez zeg comme ça j’ai quand même bien ri une fois! Non mais parce que peut-être un de ces jours où il fait caillant, je pourrai me lancer dans la rédaction d’un dictionnaire français – belge! (Essuie-serviette, ça me goute – c’est délicieux, etc.) Parce qu’à force de vivre avec des Français, je me rends compte que je parle une autre langue

Par contre je ne peux toujours pas me résoudre à dire “Allez les bleus”, c’est encore trop ancré dans mes principes.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:58:15 +0000

Hi Tcheki, Jean Philippe Susilovic aka JP (I had to look up his last name!) is the maitre d’ on Hell’s Kitchen, Gordon Ramsey’s American cooking show. He’s quite a funny guy!

By: Tcheki

Tcheki — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:39:20 +0000

It’s funny, I am Belgian and I have no idea who the hell Jean Phillipe Susilovic is…
This is typically Belgian.
Belgians known in neighbouring countries are absolutely unknown to Belgians themselves… when I hear Dutchmen say “hey you are Belgians? I absolutely love *insert Belgian personality famous in the Netherlands* !!”, I respond “who?”…

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:35:16 +0000

Oh good. Glad to hear you will post this week. I thought you fell off the face of the earth. I know, Paris shuts down in August (& all the restaurants I wanted to go to!)

By: Olivier Magny

Olivier Magny — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:33:36 +0000

Clairette… August… I’m French!!
Erica… Thank you – well, I took a ‘ptit weekend’ off but really spent most of August working at O Chateau. I’ll do my best to come up with a new article this week.
Patterson… Thank you – and all apologies to your colleague. I’ll take the blame! Seems like you have a good group of friends – Well done!
Mathieu… Thanks – Seems like a fun read. Always helpful, sinon: Le Grévisse (I put it on my Xmas wishlist at age 20 or so – I think I am/was somewhat of a nerd!). Question is: how do you say nerd in Belge?!!

By: Les Belges | Le Plat Pays à Paris

Les Belges | Le Plat Pays à Paris — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:31:05 +0000

[...] Een extract hieronder, volledig artikel op de volgende link: http://www.o-chateau.com/blog/les-belges/ [...]

By: Mathieu

Mathieu — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:46:17 +0000

Great post, great blog …

Extrapolating from what Parisians seem to like, in the context of this post, this book might bring some enjoyment:

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL5359907M/Chasse-aux-belgicismes.

My mother, the ULB librarian, was intent on scrubbing the most inelegant features of Belge from my French (despite us being Brusselaars/Liegeois through and through) and insisted I read this lovely book from 1971. It had the total opposite effect. With full knowledge of all the rights/wrongs, I was able to very easily get her goat by, for example, emphatically turning every “ch” into a “g”, saying “marge” instead of “marche”. Or answering with “j’ai bon” … Sadly, this teenage rebellion has made it simply impossible for me to use savoir/pouvoir the right way, even today. It was deep in the architecture anyhow, and a conscious embracing set it in stone. Speaking more Dutch than French these days also hasn’t helped …

But I digress…

Why would a Parisian like this book? First off, its vintage nature makes it a find (a real marché score), and its stratified tone makes it hilarious to read. He who speaks Belge is presented as a witless farmer, whose sympa drinking habits are perhaps his only redeeming feature. You really get a sense that the authors are out to save the nation from itself through le mot juste….