Belgian bun fight erupts over Flemish domain

Wasn't "belgium" the biggest swear word in the universe according to Douglas Adams?

I think they should be given the ".cok" domain.

Doug Adams had it right, Belgium is a dirty word! Who the hell cares what the flems call themselves, nobody is going to call them anyway!


wasnt .cok the short version of .co.uk ;)
i myself live in flanders, and it would be fun to have our own domain. and the part about nobody going to call us ... guess what, one of the biggest beer breweries in the world is partly flemish ... no more real beer for your country mister!

It's a good strategy for keeping people occupied with something else than the economic crisis.

As a flemish belgian I say we can't split, because the best beer is chouffe

Say this to yourself tonight before going to sleep:

"A domain name is not a filename extension."

Repeat 10-20 times until it sinks in.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what the following (Dutch?) words actually mean:

- Krummen honds?
- Afgelekte vleerenbols?
- Komm (a clear spelling error)

The article has a very nice ending as well: "godverdomme" is considered a rather rude profanity.

Nice to see the Inq upholding its well deserved trash status.


Nobody notices Belgium? What about Justine Henin, Stella Artois, Belgian chocolate, European summits, ...

And hey, only 50% of the Flemish people want to be an independent region. And I am certainly not one of them! Long live Belgium!

Frankly lunatic. Then again, having three different language-versions of every town council is quite the loony bin as well.
This from a country that makes the best beer in the world.
Why can't they just be happy with that ?

Oh, and @wooot : he doesn't know what good beer is, so how can he know what he's missing ?

"godverdomme" is NOT considered 'a pretty rude profanity', it's the same as '"goddammit" and in normal use by all layers of society, although it does indicate someone being pretty miffed.

And don't forget the euros aren't americans, I say that again, the euros aren't americans, that means they do NOT want or need american style censorship.
So remember politicians who drool too much over america's crap (and americans that don't know any better): europeans are NOT americans, thanks.

Vlaanderen/Flanders is absolutely NOT the only region in the world opting for its own extension. Friesland is doing exactly the same. As does Barcelona. And so many others.

The author uses words that don't exist in Flemish. They ridicule the author, not the people.

The Flemish people are not richer, but they work and save in a different way. The surplus they generate every year is drained to the south, where long-life unemployment ánd welfare have become part of a lazy culture. Every Flemish citizen pays/looses approx $ 1500 per year, being generous ánd caring.

The Flemish people speak Dutch, but also English ánd French. The people in the south speak French, and that's it, they don't want to learn or speak anything different because French is a divine language, the others not. That causes lots of friction in the historically Flemish city of Brussels, where a Flemish traffic victim will not be understood or treated in Flemish by a French-speaking nurse, but where Flemish nurses speak French with French victims. Imagine!

I think the inquirer should refrain from the inferior quality of articles like the one presented here. Visit us, try to get to know us, you'll be delighted afterwards. Vlaanderen has much more to offer than a godverdomme. Godverdomme.




Here we go again, they have found a new way to waste time and energy with their petty nationalism from another century.

Good lord I'm sick of this country.

Krummen honds? 
- Afgelekte vleerenbols? 
- Komm (a clear spelling error) 

buiten afgelekte zit hier niets nederlands tussen

As a Flemish citizen, it is not clear to me if this article is either sarcastically humoristic or plainly insulting. It is written by someone who seems to take over the hatefull and discriminatory language of racist Bruxellois. It contains pseudo-Dutch words that absolutely don't exist.

The region plans to have it's own extension, just like the people of Friesland or Barcelona, why not mentioning thát?

The region has always been very poor, the people were discriminated by the French speaking for centuries now, and since world war II, it started to change. The region is now rich because the people work and save. For years now they help the south with about $1500 per capita (and there are 6 m capita). Inn the south people tend to enjoy lifelong joblessness, allowances and welfare. Their ethics are different. The southern region is in full decline, the mafia takes over in Liege and especially Charleroi.

These people are angry because of our strive for more independence. The AngloSaxons in the UK and USA prefer "states" and their logic, while in Europe, many regions have a regionalistic logic that should be understood and appreciated.

Godverdomme IS an expletive and it has no proper place in this article. Try looking up "goddammit" and you will find references to terms such as pejorative, offensive, vulgar and slang. The same terms are applicable to godverdomme. The fact it is used more today than in the past does not change the nature of the word and the fact that, according to you, it is normally used in all layers of the population doesn't either. Why you are linking this to censorship is beyond me: I simply wanted to communicate the word has no function within this article apart from provocation.

BTW: I am a Belgian technical trainer/writer (iow a Euro) and I have been living in Antwerp for over 45 years now. And yes: I speak Dutch (or Flemish as some prefer) but also French, English and German.

Last week I had the "pleasure" of exchanging a few e-mails with the author of this article. A very revealing extract out of one of her replies: "er.... i wasn't pretending to write Dutch. If anything...maybe Flemish.... which i was actually forced to learn in school, having grown up in Belgium".

Can you magine that: the poor girl was forced to learn Flemish in school! That explains it all doesn't it ;-) Perhaps she was also forced to learn mathematics, chemistry and physics? What an ordeal that must have been!

I would say she is about ready to write for the Sun. She certainly has the ethics for it.