Agonizing over whether to learn Japanese

[JaySee]

Actually, in France too we talk about "Belgians" as one people - but we mean Walloons, because to us, Belgium speaks, is French. And it's pretty logical I would say since there aren't cultural relations with Flemings (for instance, Tintin - soon in theater I think - by the Walloon Hergé, is one of our favourite comics here in France, we have lots of Walloon comedians, and... we love "moules-frites", which is to us is typically Walloon, etc).

Yeah, when I think of it, you're right. When Dutch people say "Belgian" they really mean "Flemish". Walloons don't really seem to exist Actually I've only ever met one Walloon, in Japan. His name sounded somewhat Dutch and I knew he was Belgian, so I just started talking to him in Dutch assuming he was Flemish... well he wasn't, and he didn't speak a word of Dutch. I thought that was kind of interesting because I've never met a Fleming who wasn't reasonably proficient in French as well.

Really ? Do you know that the single most productive joke material in France is Belgians ? Literally, I'm not exagerating (well, we make fun of Swiss too, but to a much lesser extent). I usually don't find these jokes that funny, but you just told me the best ever (really, it's culturally interesting - maybe not really kind, but interesting)

It's the same here, Belgians (and by that I mean Flemings) are the biggest source for jokes in Holland. I really don't know why we chose to make fun of them for being "dumb" and not something else. We have a "rivalry" with the Germans as well, but that's mostly limited to football (funnily enough, they don't really seem to take this "rivalry" as serious as we do, but that's probably because they generally do better than us). In fact during the world cup in Germany in 2006, there was an ad on the Dutch MTV, attempting to get us to think less "badly" of the Germans (I think it was only broadcast in Holland) - it's pretty hilarious. You see him digging a hole in the sand on the beach at some point in the ad; for some reason there's this general belief about Germans here that they steal our bikes and dig holes on our beaches (god knows why), I guess it's a WW2 hold-over.

[yukamina]

Off topic much, guys?

[kurisuto]

Off topic much, guys?

Wait, isn't "go off-topic on TJP" a pleonasm ?

there's this general belief about Germans here that they steal our bikes and dig holes on our beaches (god knows why), I guess it's a WW2 hold-over.

Well, I've never thought of Europe as really rational (I mean, the relations the different countries/people have with each other) , but that one is great ! And I see your bikes seem to be a delicate subject

Following on prejudices : in French, there's the word "bougre", which in the modern language means something like "fellow" (depending on the context). In fact, it comes from "bulgare" (as you can guess, "Bulgarian"), but soon began to be used as an insult, meaning ... "sodomite".

From simply ridiculous to downright insulting, Europeans seem to have a propensity to tackle each other. To quote Astaroth : "that's what Europe is and we love her so"

[AJBryant]

Do all the men in Montana like sheep better than women? of course not, but if the joke "why do Montana men wear cowboy boots?" gets mentioned, the sheep answer comes up.. See what I mean?

Sheep jokes are ubiquitous in sheepherding territories. (From the basic "Why do Scotsmen wear kilts?" "Cause a sheep would hear the zipper!" all the way to the infamous "But do they call me Dafydd the bridge-buider? No!")

[Sign68]

What are those Sheep jokes??can you give me some examples???i am just a little confused.,


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[AJBryant]

Look it up. This is why we have Google.