h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Belgium

Posted Aug 17, 2002

Found some errors on the belgian page

1- people in Flanders speak Dutch, the groupname of their dialects is Flemish.
2- link to Blegium Beer heaven is dead, use http://www.beermania.be/ instead
3- in the fries page :
the expression "bal" for a meatball is what the "hollanders" (tribes living north of the moerdijk bridge) say in belgium the word is "boulet" like the french, the meatstick or sausauge is a "frikandel" for the "hollanders" in flanders its a "curryworst"
the brochette is called a "saté" ( pronounce satay) which for the hollanders is a set of 3 sticks of chicken morcels with hot peanutbutter sauce, but in belgium its just a stick with meat cubes and onions
the most frequent meat order however is "stoofvlees", which is at best described as a broth with chuncks of meat, ( in french "carbonades flamandes" )

a cornet in flanders is called a "puntzak" but we never use that word to order fries, if you have a choice the person serving yo will assume you want a "puntzak" (a cornet) unless you ask for a "bakske" (a box)
or when you ordered stoofvlees on the fries what cannot be eaten from a cornet unless you want to have the brothsauce up to your armpits

if you order it goes like this

"ne kleine met stoofvlees en mayonaise"
which translates to
"a small" [size portion of fries]"with broth and mayonaise"

or "ne grote met tartare"
for "a large" [size portion of fries]"with tartare"
between[] is assumed

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Latest reply: Aug 17, 2002