They have Dutch jokes - like Scottish jokes they are about the tightfistedness of the Dutch.

hetismij - are you Welsh, Dutch or Belgian Flem or all of the above?

You live near Utrecht right?

Welsh-Dutch mix - guess you're really tight!

Lucky Belgians!! According to some (right wing, mainly) politicians and media, Spain is tearing apart in at least three countries (Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia).

And the U.K. seems bent on self-destructing too - into 4 entities - Wales, Scotland, england and northern eire (which should be a part of Eire Republican IMO)

can envision the day when the euro is used throughout the British Isles except in pound-foolish England.

If a Belgian stops you in the street in Brussels - say to ask the time - they usually address you in English. Seems this is to avoid the vexed question of Flemish vs Walloon.
Anyone who thinks that they should stay together because they are small should tell the Irish they should still be in the UK (I dare you) and the Norwegians that they should still be tied to Sweden.
NB Scotland has a larger population than either - about half that of Belgium.

not sure those analogies are good ones

Ireland and Norway were proper countries ruled by foreign powers and repressed - they broke free.

it seems in Belge that the Flemish are instigating separation not because of oppression - at least now, no doubt in the past, but because they wish to jetison their now poorer cousins - same reason many English give for want to rid themselves of the 'Scottish problem'

It's the Scots who have the oil and the UK is the 13th largest oil producers in the world, just behind Nigeria.

The Scots cost the English a fortune (especially those of us in the SE of England).

Without England Scotland would be a wet Albania.

PalQ, I am half Welsh half English. The best half is Welsh. I live near Utrecht, and even nearer to Amersfoort.

There is a debate going on, low key at the moment, but taking place nevertheless, over whether the Dutch want the Belgians back. General opinion is, I think, no, but no one here ever listens to what the people think so if Belgium does split I wonder how long it is before that becomes the next crisis.
I really hope the Belgians do manage to reconcile their differences. It will set a precedent and lead to all sorts of problems throughout Europe if they don't.

"If a Belgian stops you in the street in Brussels - say to ask the time - they usually address you in English"

Hasn't been my experience. Whenever I've been asked a question on the street in Brussels, most of the time it's in French. I can't even think of the last time a Belgian asked me something in English first. Out in the Flemish burbs likes Zaventem or Diegem, yes, but not in Brussels itself.

hetismij:

hadn't thought of Belgisch Flems wanting to join Holland but makes sense to me

and Walloons to France, bien sur.

that may not be so bad. better than two smaller countries IMO.

still weird that a country whose people to the outsider look so much the same find language a barrier - perhaps as always it's more economic.

"hadn't thought of Belgisch Flems wanting to join Holland but makes sense to me"
As far as I know, the Flemish are not at all fond of the Dutch. I can't imagine that they would want to become part of the Netherlands.

I am one of these Belgian Flems, and I can assure you that we don't want to be a part of the Netherlands. We more or less speak the same language, but there are a lot of differences.

I understand that

but it seems, from an outside, that the differences in cultural between some states in the U.S. is far greater than the difference between Belgian Flemish and Dutch.

But again that's from an outsider's view.

"Without England Scotland would be a wet Albania."

That is almost as funny as "the carbon footprint of a burning protestant."

There was for a while even talk of Limburg leaving the Netherlands and joining Belgium, as it's culture is more like that of Belgium.
Now Belgium is pulling itself apart that talk has ended.
I can't see Flanders joining the Netherlands, or Limburg joining Belgium (yes I know Belgium also has a province called limburg), and I really hope that Belgium stays Belgian, one country, three languages. If Switzerland can do it then I hope Belgium can too.
I have never had anyone speak to me on the street in English in Brussels - always French or reluctantly in Flemish, the same as in the shops and restaurants there. Dutch friends who lived in Sterrebeek ended up speaking French all the time.

hetismij:

Q- Are Flemish Belgian and Walloon Belgians the same ethnic group?

Are Dutch and Belgians same ethnic group?

Seems Dutch are bigger, blonder than Belgian flemish

just curious as to what the divide is between Flemish Belgians and Dutch - perhaps only the language links them and not ethnicity?

dank u

PalenQ

Ethnicity is a total red herring, the British and the Irish are of the same ethnicity of the Belgians.

"The whole conception of ethnic groups is so complex and so vague that it might be good to abandon it altogether."

Max Weber.

I'm also one of the Belgian 'Flems' and, while I have nothing against the Dutch, I don't think Flanders could ever be part of the Netherlands. There are too many cultural differences.