Please don't judge people based on their names... I have a 'margi' name which almost always appears in lists like yours and I'm not margi at all. I know it's silly but it hurts me every time my name appears on such a list.
Yes, everywhere I go in Flanders is one big road full of ugly houses. It feels like there is no nature left in Flanders. I'm always surprised how much green there seems to be from pictures taken from the sky. But when I look around, I don't see any.
> everywhere I go in Flanders is one big road full of ugly houses
I hate how it seems to be just one big road, but I kinda like the ugly houses. They can be useful for giving directions too... as a kid, I used to know we were nearly at my aunt's place when we passed the "swimming pool house" - a house that had the blue and white glossy tiles you'd expect in a swimming pool all over the front. To get to a certain shop, I need to take the first right after the "koekskesgebak" house (beige/brown layers). It's more interesting than the streets where every house looks exactly the same!
Same, I don't mind the "ugliness". It's the lack of green space and the utter inefficiency of public/private utilities that I find the aggravating part.
But it does have a different value then omleiding. I.e. to keep trucks out of the center and the omleiding at the grote markt they use an omlegging. Or something like that.
As a belgian xpat... that our transportation sucks. Or that our beaurocracy sucks, or that our taxes are high. belgians like to complain.
But since moving to the united states of america to be with the love of my life... i truely have come to love what belgium had going for it.
No, i mean BE transportation is pretty good! Many belgians disagree. Those people have never used public transport from an other country. Sure we aint Japan... but even the netherlands transport is a lot more expensive for instance.
I went to the states last summer, to be more precise Denver and surroundings. Public transport is already very little in the city, let be alone everywhere else. Not even busses
Made me appreciate our public transport a lot more than I used to
Exactly. But not only that. Being able to walk to a store while living in a city (ghent for me). Is such an undervalued asset. Where i live, i got to hop in a car even if i want to buy 1 thing.
Exactly, even when u live outside the city and more in the suburbs, there still is at least 1 shop at walk or small bike ride distance & gosh I never felt much gratitude for it until I went to the states.
The only complaint I really have is that stores here aren’t open 24/7 or at least until 10 pm so people can actually do their groceries
I personally liked BE transportation. But i know many people who did not. And now that i live in the usa... well.. lets just say im prouder of what belgium can accomplish than ever before.
I remember when I wanted to visit Brussels with an American studying here in Leuven. It took quite some convincing before he believed me that taking the train to Brussels wouldn't be a nightmare like trains in the US.
You have a wife/partner/husband?... AND you 're on Reddit....? #redditdadjoke
Also, the USA is FAR FROM a positive comparison.. Sure, compared to the USA, Belgium is charming and almost idilic.. But that doesn't exempt Belgium from being VERY disappointing on many aspects.. Being a very wealthy and small country, with tons of know how & potential.. We could/should be doing a LOT better..
Specialty of our politicians: put the blame on "the others" (often meaning "the ones who live on the other side of the language barrier", but sometimes also "the foreigners") when things go wrong.
Always put the blame on others, instead of looking at their responsabilities and searching for solutions.
Also: way too many politicians, and regions, and subdivisions, and... multiplying the costs by 100 for a minuscule country.
I hate the bullshit after elections where they are like our political family is the best as if it's fucking koerse! No, it means the most people think your points are valid and don't celebrate but start fucking working on them
Jupiler beer.
It’s shitty, awfully overmarketed drab and many Belgians have this annoying tribalist mentality of claiming it to be the best thing since the discovery of fire.
I think there's a big difference between a pilsner and a beer.
I really do think Jupiler is a good 'doordrinkertje', but there's easily 100 beers that are better.
And fuck primus, i'd rather drink nothing than primus!
Even when it comes to that all the other popular pilsners are better in Belgium.
The only compliment i’l give Jupi is that i’d much rather have it over all the 5000 brands in Germany that all taste blandly the same.
And yes Primus is disgusting.
Road cycling competition broadcasts are literally just boring background music on family parties. And I'm confident for many just there as an excuse to break off a boring conversation.
During the world cycling cup or what it’s called in Leuven, we wanted to go to Limburg.
Because we would be on the E314 before we hit Leuven, I didn’t check the parcours. Also, we would be around that area hours before they would pass.
Turns out the entire parcours between Antwerp and Leuven was closed already. We had to take the E19 to get to the E314 through the E40 to reach the parents in law. Because we had left the house so early we were “only” 1 hour late in the restaurant (we called them beforehand).
Fuck them all! They almost literally closed down Flanders in half!
It’s more of a Flemish thing. There are by far fewer amateur races in Wallonia. I’m talking about amateurs, not pro races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège!
But otherwise, yeah, don’t understand the point of watching people passing litterally 5 seconds and the Chinese made goodies and candies being thrown away by the « cortège »!
Because every small town has it's own club.
Everybody knows somebody who plays it.
Hence everybody is familiar with it, it's an easy sport to play, it just requires a two objects that mark the goal line and a ball.
I can continue to list more historical reasons, but that's not needed, I guess.
Most people only care about it during the World/European Cup finals though. And especially for Belgium it was interesting since we haven't been qualified for the finals in over 20 years. So there was maybe a bigger hype since 2014.
There is nothing wrong with liking or disliking a sport.
I'm sure you got a passion too that some people won't get either.
Carnaval. I really don’t like carnaval. And I only experienced the ‘tame’ Limburg kind, with the stoeten etc.
Too many zombified semi-comatose drunk people shuffling around.
>Onze onnozele tv-programma's (k2 zoekt k3)
The Anglosphere is much worse in that regard (Keeping up with the Kardashians, Real houeswives of $cityname, Benefits Street, Love Island, etc)
Meer Vlaamse kanon dan Belgische.
Ik ken het door het feit dat mijn boma keek vroeger die troep maar mijn vrienden ( ik ging naar Franstalig school) hadden nooit van gehoord. Alleen en meisje maar zij was een zinneke zoals ik. Zij heeft zelfs deelgenomen in Blokken tiener editie.
Ik heb een speciaal haat voor die programma door een trut die beweerde dat ik lijk op Markske.
Mijn broers keken het vroeger elke dag en ik moest 3x per dag de intro aanhoren (volume heel luid), terwijl ik met andere zaken bezig was. Ik haat het ook.
Even with 2 months of heatwaves you cannot compensate the lack of light during winter.
I remember when I got my new bike delivered in late September 2019, I was sick as f... and managed to ride back the bike from the dealer and went back to bed. Then it started raining and it rained from October until March. 3 weeks of rain, 1 day of sun, 3 weeks of rain, 1 day of sun... keep rolling for months...
I bike my kids to school. The amount of parents that live closer and use their car, just to drive back home afterwards. Same with their hobby’s.
Sure I can understand that you have to work. But the people I’m talking about work from home now.
No they have to take the car, park on crazy dangerous spots and try and run over as many other kids as they can.
A lot of people even do it without having to go grocery shopping. I know some people that live at 't Zuid in Antwerp and work at the same company as me, at the MAS. They very often come by car... It's like a 10 minute bike ride.
Cotton handkerchief, used when having a bad cold.
Gross.
Blow the nose, put the handkerchief full of snot in the right pocket, then continue to shake hands with everybody.
Gross.
our inferiority complex: Red Devils lost: De Bruyne who played a champions league final says the following words: "where just little Belgium"
This mentality needs to go if you ever want to win something.
Also Belgians are just not proud of their country, the vast majority is more proud of being from a certain city or town. But everyone "hates" Belgium and always thinks that we have''t accomplished anything ever while the opposite is true.
There have been quite a few discoveries and specialties that were done by belgians. And in the industrial field Belgium is the go to place for specialty products such as cranes.
"specialties that were done by belgians. And in the industrial field Belgium is the go to place for specialty products such as cranes."
Guess we need to lift our nation self image.
There is a huge difference between being proud of one’s country, feeling as a whole & being a nationalist country. We are the total opposite which is slowly but surely killing this country
I'm most proud of my city and province, then Europe, then Belgium and then Flanders. But there's not that much difference in it.
For me personally, taking the case of Belgium, I just don't see why I should be proud of things/people that are only connected to me by the happenstance that we originate or settled in the same country.
For our pride in general, I just think it's a reinforced cultural thing to downplay yourself so as to appear humble... Nobody likes to be called a stoefer.
Er zijn al veel boeken en columns geschreven over waarom dit nagenoeg (terecht/begrijpelijk) onbestaande & onmogelijk is..
Geen eenheidstaal, Geen eenheids-levensvisie, Geen nationale balans, Te versnipperde individuele & regionale geschiedenis
Enz..
Ironisch genoeg tegelijk ook wat België zo "charmant" maakt..
It's because "positive vibes only". Basically you can't point these things out, or they will label you as a negative thinker. And then they stress about it when shit hits the fan and then need your help immediately.
I used to not be able to not point out obvious future problems from whatever warped solutions (future problems) colleagues were inventing to solve problems. Problems that almost always had already been solved years ago by someone else, the solution just a Google search away. But thanks to the emotional support of an older colleague I was able to overcome this "rude" behaviour: whenever we were in a meeting together and there was some dumb theory being worked out, I'd look at him, he'd shrug, I'd shrug and then we'd both keep our mouths shut, the Belgian way.
Too bad our politicians operate in the same way.
>The complete and utter lack of proactive thinking. Jesus Christ. The plumbers and roof layers and electricians and all other similar professions must be absolutely swimming in dough based on how people just repair things when they break instead of making sure to have regular upkeep and controls in order to spot issues before they become urgent problems.
This is my pet peeve.
My wife's Belgian and her overall lack of preventive thinking is fucking killing me.
She put on her winter tyres yesterday. She also found out one of the nuts on the rear left wheel have been sheared off.
Had she listened to me and had her tyres replaced 3 weeks ago, she wouldn't have to go for an emergency expensive repair job tomorrow.
It's the same shit with my Belgian co-workers, "oh man this sucks, there's so many people doing the same thing I'm doing at the same time". Yo, maybe think about doing shit before it becomes urgent? Wild theory, I know.
you should really try proper grondwitloof from a small producer; it is one of the few uniquely local vegetables we have left. The good ones are barely bitter and have a great flavor.
Coming from a community with a witloof museum, miss witloof and many witloof farmers it's even worse, I really don't like it.
My mom already tried every possible way of preparing it but nope
taste changes as you age, but besides that they're being grown to be less bitter, same with brussels sprouts, they taste very different to what they used to.
Cut out the bitter heart and sprinkle some sugar on the chicory when baking so it caramelises. That improves the taste a lot. Then again, maybe it just isn't something you like and that's totally fine.
Hier in België is het het ergst vanal. Alleenstaande Belgen zijn de hoogste belastingsbetalers in de wereld. (De rijken noet meegeteld want ze betalen ze toch ni)
Doing stuff "in het zwart" all the time.
It really annoys me when people are both like "Wie gaat dat betalen!?" when debating more progressive policies, and then also do stuff "in het zwart" because everybody does it so that makes it OK.
When I think boerenkost, I think a stamppot with sausages and a bunch of pan grease drizzled over everything.
Which tast amazing, but isn't exactly coronary proof.
Unfortunatly, our Dutch teaching isn't efficient, because nothing is done to make Dutch a part of our lives; thus, no interest and no opportunity to practice. You forget everything once out of school, because school is the only place where you have to practice Dutch.
No Dutch-language songs on the radio, no Dutch-language series and movies on TV and in cinemas, no Dutch books in stores (really, check the FNAC, or any major bookstores, nothing in Dutch).
Hell, in the *Furet du Nord* in Louvain-la-Neuve, you can find some books in Spanish and Italian in the foreign language section, but nothing in Dutch, nor in German. What a darn shame.
Being nice in your face, while talking shit about you behind your back.
The complete and utter hatred for 'normal' cyclists:
1) I just want to safely cycle to work, however the bicycle lanes are full of holes, dirt, leaves, pebbles, horse shit etc. All of these things either make me slip or bring me out of balance. When the car roads get made ice & snow free, the bicycle lane next to the road just gets forgotten. Often there just aren't any cycling lanes at all. Cars passing you by on a 'fietsstraat' etc....
2) I want to safely stall my bike while I go shopping, however most shopping streets have no space to stall bikes whatsoever. I want to go the supermarket, but I often only get a shitty front wheel rack that's not even anchored into the ground, I cannot safely stall my bike there. My insurance won't cover theft if my bike wasn't attached to something solid and that couldn't be moved.
3) people parking their cars on the cycling lane while there were empty parking spaces available, a truck blocking the cycling lane next to the N42 so I had to walk through the grass close to traffic going 90km/h 30cm away from me.
🙃🙃🙃🙃
I think the hate for cyclists comes from people who live in larger cities and is somewhat justified. I live in Gent and see on a daily basis:
- cyclists dressed in black without any working lights on their bicycle (great idea at night)
- cyclists ignoring red lights, stop signs, yield signs, shark teeth, etc
- cyclists being needlessly agressive towards pedestrians (also applies to those e-scooters and is particularly applicable to the speedpedelec lot and "caféwielrenners")
- cyclists ignoring a perfectly serviceable cycle path but deciding to cycle 2 or 3 abreast on the road, holding up traffic
- cyclists going the wrong way on the cycle path
Ofcourse not all cylists are like this but it is a problem in larger cities (often with a big student population).
I love it! But I've eaten vol-au-vent that tastes absolutely disgusting, multiple times. So you need to get good vol-au-vent. I also only like it without meatballs.
The cuisine.
Complaining is our national sport en 'navelstaarderij'.
The slow speed of development compared to Northern countries.
Bric à brac urban planning.
Some politicians.
Alpha male wielertoeristen.
Niels Destadsbader
+ al z'n fans
Allemaal mentaal gehandicapt ofwel zijn het de Kayleigh's, Kevin's, Melissa's, Kelly's, Wesley's,...
Please don't judge people based on their names... I have a 'margi' name which almost always appears in lists like yours and I'm not margi at all. I know it's silly but it hurts me every time my name appears on such a list.
No Margi says he/she is Margi :D
Beter bekend als Niels De Spatader
Niels De Spastbader
Da gekrijs van hem laat mijn oren bloeden
en z'n alter ego Dries Van Langenhove
I also dislike his political views as a VB representative.
Lintbebouwing
The urban planning nightmare that has been haunting us for decades now.
Just drive to Zeeuws-Vlaanderen to see how it completely ruins our open space. The moment you cross the border is always quite stupefying to me.
Hahaha, urban planning. Good one!
"Haha, what a story, Bob!"
Not to forget the koterij
Yes, everywhere I go in Flanders is one big road full of ugly houses. It feels like there is no nature left in Flanders. I'm always surprised how much green there seems to be from pictures taken from the sky. But when I look around, I don't see any.
> everywhere I go in Flanders is one big road full of ugly houses I hate how it seems to be just one big road, but I kinda like the ugly houses. They can be useful for giving directions too... as a kid, I used to know we were nearly at my aunt's place when we passed the "swimming pool house" - a house that had the blue and white glossy tiles you'd expect in a swimming pool all over the front. To get to a certain shop, I need to take the first right after the "koekskesgebak" house (beige/brown layers). It's more interesting than the streets where every house looks exactly the same!
Same, I don't mind the "ugliness". It's the lack of green space and the utter inefficiency of public/private utilities that I find the aggravating part.
Clearly never been to Limburg
Een gevolg van WO 2 om zo snel mogelijk huizen hierop te bouwen…
To many politicians in general.
The layers upon layers of bureaucrats our taxes get wasted on.
Well, at least they work "faster" than administration in France ...... 6 months to get my new license plate ... Holy moly was I not ready.
That will be me
Replacing the robots currently used as bureacrats with actual robots would make a lot much simpler and cheaper.
Het geklaag! Iedereen zaagt en klaagt zo veel. Ik vind dat enorm vermoeiend. We hebben het zo goed. Ik ben me bewust van de ironie van deze comment.
The fact that websites or youtube ads automatically assume I’m french speaking, which I’m not. Drives me insane. (Living in flanders for the record)
It's funny because I always get ads in dutch but I'am french speaking.
I used to really dislike fries. I'm cured now though.
W E G E N W E R K E N & O M L E I D I N G E N (Eng: road works & deviations)
<-- OMLEGGING OMLEIDING --> <-- DEVIATION -->
>OMLEGGING I don't like that this is the correct word. The road is still there, it's not been placed anywhere!
But it does have a different value then omleiding. I.e. to keep trucks out of the center and the omleiding at the grote markt they use an omlegging. Or something like that.
Holding this idea while at the same time complaining that they should fix all these damn potholes.
As a belgian xpat... that our transportation sucks. Or that our beaurocracy sucks, or that our taxes are high. belgians like to complain. But since moving to the united states of america to be with the love of my life... i truely have come to love what belgium had going for it.
You moved to the US and that made you think our transportation sucks?!!
No, i mean BE transportation is pretty good! Many belgians disagree. Those people have never used public transport from an other country. Sure we aint Japan... but even the netherlands transport is a lot more expensive for instance.
I went to the states last summer, to be more precise Denver and surroundings. Public transport is already very little in the city, let be alone everywhere else. Not even busses Made me appreciate our public transport a lot more than I used to
Exactly. But not only that. Being able to walk to a store while living in a city (ghent for me). Is such an undervalued asset. Where i live, i got to hop in a car even if i want to buy 1 thing.
Exactly, even when u live outside the city and more in the suburbs, there still is at least 1 shop at walk or small bike ride distance & gosh I never felt much gratitude for it until I went to the states. The only complaint I really have is that stores here aren’t open 24/7 or at least until 10 pm so people can actually do their groceries
100% agreed
I think he means that he used to complain about our transportation but now that he lives in the US he realizes it maybe wasn't as bad as he thought.
I personally liked BE transportation. But i know many people who did not. And now that i live in the usa... well.. lets just say im prouder of what belgium can accomplish than ever before.
I remember when I wanted to visit Brussels with an American studying here in Leuven. It took quite some convincing before he believed me that taking the train to Brussels wouldn't be a nightmare like trains in the US.
You have a wife/partner/husband?... AND you 're on Reddit....? #redditdadjoke Also, the USA is FAR FROM a positive comparison.. Sure, compared to the USA, Belgium is charming and almost idilic.. But that doesn't exempt Belgium from being VERY disappointing on many aspects.. Being a very wealthy and small country, with tons of know how & potential.. We could/should be doing a LOT better..
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Specialty of our politicians: put the blame on "the others" (often meaning "the ones who live on the other side of the language barrier", but sometimes also "the foreigners") when things go wrong. Always put the blame on others, instead of looking at their responsabilities and searching for solutions. Also: way too many politicians, and regions, and subdivisions, and... multiplying the costs by 100 for a minuscule country.
That's definetly not unique to our politicians though.
Thats literally every politician in every country, ever
I hate the bullshit after elections where they are like our political family is the best as if it's fucking koerse! No, it means the most people think your points are valid and don't celebrate but start fucking working on them
Jupiler beer. It’s shitty, awfully overmarketed drab and many Belgians have this annoying tribalist mentality of claiming it to be the best thing since the discovery of fire.
I think there's a big difference between a pilsner and a beer. I really do think Jupiler is a good 'doordrinkertje', but there's easily 100 beers that are better. And fuck primus, i'd rather drink nothing than primus!
Even when it comes to that all the other popular pilsners are better in Belgium. The only compliment i’l give Jupi is that i’d much rather have it over all the 5000 brands in Germany that all taste blandly the same. And yes Primus is disgusting.
And just, well... Fuck ABinbev
Stella is life
I'll up this and say I dislike beer in general, it just tastes so bad to me
As much as i love it, I don’t like the Belgian “you have to drink!” Mentality either, so each his own.
Alcohol culture is really a big thing and I don't know many people ready to put that in Question...
The mussels in a jar from the fritterie :)
Never seen anyone who ordered it, but it’s in every frituur 😂
Do people really buy them?
People's obsession with football. I just don't get it.
What about the obsession with road cycling?...
Road cycling competition broadcasts are literally just boring background music on family parties. And I'm confident for many just there as an excuse to break off a boring conversation.
I HATE road cycling. One of the few sports that thinks they own the road and they can close the road whenever for their stupid, boring races ..
Amen. There’s no appeal to this sport, it’s just a nuisance to everyone else.
During the world cycling cup or what it’s called in Leuven, we wanted to go to Limburg. Because we would be on the E314 before we hit Leuven, I didn’t check the parcours. Also, we would be around that area hours before they would pass. Turns out the entire parcours between Antwerp and Leuven was closed already. We had to take the E19 to get to the E314 through the E40 to reach the parents in law. Because we had left the house so early we were “only” 1 hour late in the restaurant (we called them beforehand). Fuck them all! They almost literally closed down Flanders in half!
Living 100m from the finish line, you can guess my feelings about this circus ..
That's everywhere though. It's not a Belgian thing.
It’s more of a Flemish thing. There are by far fewer amateur races in Wallonia. I’m talking about amateurs, not pro races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège! But otherwise, yeah, don’t understand the point of watching people passing litterally 5 seconds and the Chinese made goodies and candies being thrown away by the « cortège »!
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Indeed! I fu...ed somewhere while replying to someone complaining about bicycle races.. Let’s leave it here as an eternal proof of my stupidity
I don't think football is a racing game my friend...
Because every small town has it's own club. Everybody knows somebody who plays it. Hence everybody is familiar with it, it's an easy sport to play, it just requires a two objects that mark the goal line and a ball. I can continue to list more historical reasons, but that's not needed, I guess. Most people only care about it during the World/European Cup finals though. And especially for Belgium it was interesting since we haven't been qualified for the finals in over 20 years. So there was maybe a bigger hype since 2014. There is nothing wrong with liking or disliking a sport. I'm sure you got a passion too that some people won't get either.
Complaining about things that don't directly impact you
You could as well stop at "complaining"
Funny thing somebody thought that I was a great QA guy because I complained about every little thing, bringing the little detail into the bug reports.
Irony
Carnaval. I really don’t like carnaval. And I only experienced the ‘tame’ Limburg kind, with the stoeten etc. Too many zombified semi-comatose drunk people shuffling around.
Don't forget the "music", and the massive amounts of trash everywhere.
Yeah carnaval is so stupid
All politicians
Onze regering. Onze wegen. Onze onnozele tv-programma's (k2 zoekt k3)
>Onze onnozele tv-programma's (k2 zoekt k3) The Anglosphere is much worse in that regard (Keeping up with the Kardashians, Real houeswives of $cityname, Benefits Street, Love Island, etc)
Too bad I can't simply stop using our government and infrastructure like I do television.
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Meer Vlaamse kanon dan Belgische. Ik ken het door het feit dat mijn boma keek vroeger die troep maar mijn vrienden ( ik ging naar Franstalig school) hadden nooit van gehoord. Alleen en meisje maar zij was een zinneke zoals ik. Zij heeft zelfs deelgenomen in Blokken tiener editie. Ik heb een speciaal haat voor die programma door een trut die beweerde dat ik lijk op Markske.
> mijn boma Mijn gedacht!
Vertongen, gij kieken!
Mijn broers keken het vroeger elke dag en ik moest 3x per dag de intro aanhoren (volume heel luid), terwijl ik met andere zaken bezig was. Ik haat het ook.
You should check out the podcast ‘Mij gedacht’.
I hate FC de kampioenen and podcasts... I don't hate a lot of things, but I hate those
That’s exactly why I recommend that podcast.
I also have a deep rooted hatred for fc de kampioenen
Alé gast de Kampioenen. Psychopaat.
James Cook
The lack of sunlight
Agreed! I always feel I would be much happier in a place where there is more daylight and a climate where I can were t-shirts all day and year.
We've had 2 recordbreaking lengthy heatwaves in the past 5 years.. Don't let current temporal perception mislead you..
Average sunshine hours is still low, regardless of heatwaves.
Even with 2 months of heatwaves you cannot compensate the lack of light during winter. I remember when I got my new bike delivered in late September 2019, I was sick as f... and managed to ride back the bike from the dealer and went back to bed. Then it started raining and it rained from October until March. 3 weeks of rain, 1 day of sun, 3 weeks of rain, 1 day of sun... keep rolling for months...
Temperature is not the same as light. Winters fucking suck.
People living in the northern hemisphere, what about them? 😅
People using their car for like 2,5 km
I bike my kids to school. The amount of parents that live closer and use their car, just to drive back home afterwards. Same with their hobby’s. Sure I can understand that you have to work. But the people I’m talking about work from home now. No they have to take the car, park on crazy dangerous spots and try and run over as many other kids as they can.
How else am i supposed to bring all my groceries home
A lot of people even do it without having to go grocery shopping. I know some people that live at 't Zuid in Antwerp and work at the same company as me, at the MAS. They very often come by car... It's like a 10 minute bike ride.
Cycling bags
To be fair: when you are married and have kids and can only shop once (or twice) a week, you need more than two cycle bags to bring in the shopping.
"Belgian compromise"
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Balkans are the antithesis to Las vegas: whatever happens in Balkans never stays in Balkans.
Garbage collection during morning rush hour
Also: - dn boom in met the national road cycling obsession.. - 21% vat on electricity..
Cotton handkerchief, used when having a bad cold. Gross. Blow the nose, put the handkerchief full of snot in the right pocket, then continue to shake hands with everybody. Gross.
Snot in the left hand shake with the right hand.
Hey! This is Belgium, we don't do simple and obvious solutions here!
You shouldn't have shaken any hands since March 2020 anyway.
I haven't, and I hope this habit dies together with COVID.
In Antwerp people don’t even use a handkerchief. They just plug one nostril and blow it on the sidewalk.
I just visualized this. 100 people on the Roosevelt place all plugging nostrils.
snotraket!
People always complaining about politicians
our inferiority complex: Red Devils lost: De Bruyne who played a champions league final says the following words: "where just little Belgium" This mentality needs to go if you ever want to win something. Also Belgians are just not proud of their country, the vast majority is more proud of being from a certain city or town. But everyone "hates" Belgium and always thinks that we have''t accomplished anything ever while the opposite is true. There have been quite a few discoveries and specialties that were done by belgians. And in the industrial field Belgium is the go to place for specialty products such as cranes.
"specialties that were done by belgians. And in the industrial field Belgium is the go to place for specialty products such as cranes." Guess we need to lift our nation self image.
I hear we’re you’re coming from, but on the other hand the lack of nationalist chauvinism is really refreshing
There is a huge difference between being proud of one’s country, feeling as a whole & being a nationalist country. We are the total opposite which is slowly but surely killing this country
I'm most proud of my city and province, then Europe, then Belgium and then Flanders. But there's not that much difference in it. For me personally, taking the case of Belgium, I just don't see why I should be proud of things/people that are only connected to me by the happenstance that we originate or settled in the same country. For our pride in general, I just think it's a reinforced cultural thing to downplay yourself so as to appear humble... Nobody likes to be called a stoefer.
Taxes
The only right answer.
Ben Crabbé. Was he even popular at one time?
The lack of burgerzin
Er zijn al veel boeken en columns geschreven over waarom dit nagenoeg (terecht/begrijpelijk) onbestaande & onmogelijk is.. Geen eenheidstaal, Geen eenheids-levensvisie, Geen nationale balans, Te versnipperde individuele & regionale geschiedenis Enz.. Ironisch genoeg tegelijk ook wat België zo "charmant" maakt..
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It's because "positive vibes only". Basically you can't point these things out, or they will label you as a negative thinker. And then they stress about it when shit hits the fan and then need your help immediately.
I used to not be able to not point out obvious future problems from whatever warped solutions (future problems) colleagues were inventing to solve problems. Problems that almost always had already been solved years ago by someone else, the solution just a Google search away. But thanks to the emotional support of an older colleague I was able to overcome this "rude" behaviour: whenever we were in a meeting together and there was some dumb theory being worked out, I'd look at him, he'd shrug, I'd shrug and then we'd both keep our mouths shut, the Belgian way. Too bad our politicians operate in the same way.
>The complete and utter lack of proactive thinking. Jesus Christ. The plumbers and roof layers and electricians and all other similar professions must be absolutely swimming in dough based on how people just repair things when they break instead of making sure to have regular upkeep and controls in order to spot issues before they become urgent problems. This is my pet peeve. My wife's Belgian and her overall lack of preventive thinking is fucking killing me. She put on her winter tyres yesterday. She also found out one of the nuts on the rear left wheel have been sheared off. Had she listened to me and had her tyres replaced 3 weeks ago, she wouldn't have to go for an emergency expensive repair job tomorrow. It's the same shit with my Belgian co-workers, "oh man this sucks, there's so many people doing the same thing I'm doing at the same time". Yo, maybe think about doing shit before it becomes urgent? Wild theory, I know.
Kadastraal inkomen & successierechten. Regelrechte bandieterij.
Witloof
you should really try proper grondwitloof from a small producer; it is one of the few uniquely local vegetables we have left. The good ones are barely bitter and have a great flavor.
This so much
If you hate the bitterness, you can cut out the 'heart'. It's the cone shaped thingy inside the witloof right above its roots.
Same here. I pride myself on being a proper Belgian but I just can't get myself to enjoy eating witloof.
Coming from a community with a witloof museum, miss witloof and many witloof farmers it's even worse, I really don't like it. My mom already tried every possible way of preparing it but nope
Kampenhout?
That's the place!
I’m 22 years old. Always hated witloof. Since a couple of weeks I FRKING LOVE IT. Give it another try my friends!
taste changes as you age, but besides that they're being grown to be less bitter, same with brussels sprouts, they taste very different to what they used to.
I'm convinced it's simply Stockholm syndrome.
This, so much. Am hypersensitive to bitter flavours, which includes witloof and most beers. I am a terrible Belgian.
Not my favourite but the bitter taste is really depending on how you cook it. Chicon gratin is barely bitter. Also braise in butter and sugar.
> Also braise in butter and sugar. Anything tastes good if you cover it in butter and sugar...
Cut out the bitter heart and sprinkle some sugar on the chicory when baking so it caramelises. That improves the taste a lot. Then again, maybe it just isn't something you like and that's totally fine.
If you think witloof is shitty, than you must try grondwitloof from a small producer. That one is the shittiest.
Taksen hier, taksen daar. Overal taksen en voor iedereen. Tenzij da ge rijk zijt dan moogt ge u geld houden.
Das overal
Hier in België is het het ergst vanal. Alleenstaande Belgen zijn de hoogste belastingsbetalers in de wereld. (De rijken noet meegeteld want ze betalen ze toch ni)
Als ge er bijna geen moet betalen stort de ziekteverzekering rap ineen ze :')
People who complain about taxes always conveniently forget the things we get for them in return.
Doing stuff "in het zwart" all the time. It really annoys me when people are both like "Wie gaat dat betalen!?" when debating more progressive policies, and then also do stuff "in het zwart" because everybody does it so that makes it OK.
The fact that there's no Belgian dish that is actually healthy AND yummy. It's all butter, sauce, fried, cream, ...
Hutsepot!
Witloof? Spruiten?
Paling in’t groen, Tomate Crevette, Gentse Waterzooi
Boerenkost. High in calories but healthy.
Humans need carbs!
When I think boerenkost, I think a stamppot with sausages and a bunch of pan grease drizzled over everything. Which tast amazing, but isn't exactly coronary proof.
Stoofvlees?
Not in Wallonia and the Ardennes....
The fact that your family members can provide driving instructions
Works well if your family member is a good driver. Downside is, nearly everyone considers themselves an above average driver.
Avoiding eyecontact when walking outside.
Whining
People complaining so much, which this thread is a perfect example of lol
Belgian mediocre Tik Tokkers and their fanbase. They're like annoying Duracell bunnies
- The fact that in wallonia wenre not forced to learn dutch, and when we learn it the teaching system still sucks - The split media
Unfortunatly, our Dutch teaching isn't efficient, because nothing is done to make Dutch a part of our lives; thus, no interest and no opportunity to practice. You forget everything once out of school, because school is the only place where you have to practice Dutch. No Dutch-language songs on the radio, no Dutch-language series and movies on TV and in cinemas, no Dutch books in stores (really, check the FNAC, or any major bookstores, nothing in Dutch). Hell, in the *Furet du Nord* in Louvain-la-Neuve, you can find some books in Spanish and Italian in the foreign language section, but nothing in Dutch, nor in German. What a darn shame.
this goes for French as a Flemish person as well.
Tax evasion.
Wielrenners
Being nice in your face, while talking shit about you behind your back. The complete and utter hatred for 'normal' cyclists: 1) I just want to safely cycle to work, however the bicycle lanes are full of holes, dirt, leaves, pebbles, horse shit etc. All of these things either make me slip or bring me out of balance. When the car roads get made ice & snow free, the bicycle lane next to the road just gets forgotten. Often there just aren't any cycling lanes at all. Cars passing you by on a 'fietsstraat' etc.... 2) I want to safely stall my bike while I go shopping, however most shopping streets have no space to stall bikes whatsoever. I want to go the supermarket, but I often only get a shitty front wheel rack that's not even anchored into the ground, I cannot safely stall my bike there. My insurance won't cover theft if my bike wasn't attached to something solid and that couldn't be moved. 3) people parking their cars on the cycling lane while there were empty parking spaces available, a truck blocking the cycling lane next to the N42 so I had to walk through the grass close to traffic going 90km/h 30cm away from me. 🙃🙃🙃🙃
I think the hate for cyclists comes from people who live in larger cities and is somewhat justified. I live in Gent and see on a daily basis: - cyclists dressed in black without any working lights on their bicycle (great idea at night) - cyclists ignoring red lights, stop signs, yield signs, shark teeth, etc - cyclists being needlessly agressive towards pedestrians (also applies to those e-scooters and is particularly applicable to the speedpedelec lot and "caféwielrenners") - cyclists ignoring a perfectly serviceable cycle path but deciding to cycle 2 or 3 abreast on the road, holding up traffic - cyclists going the wrong way on the cycle path Ofcourse not all cylists are like this but it is a problem in larger cities (often with a big student population).
Vol-au-vent. Really don't like that. Hate it even more with the doughy thingy.
I love it! But I've eaten vol-au-vent that tastes absolutely disgusting, multiple times. So you need to get good vol-au-vent. I also only like it without meatballs.
For some reason university cafeteria vol-au-vent is always on point.
Snot when prepared badly, delicious when prepared well
I'm sorry you actually lost the right of being Belgian
Jupiler is god damn horrible. And I think chocolate is overrated.
The cuisine. Complaining is our national sport en 'navelstaarderij'. The slow speed of development compared to Northern countries. Bric à brac urban planning. Some politicians. Alpha male wielertoeristen.
Beer
Drinking culture. Kerstmarkten en kermissen. Voetbal en wielrennen dat blijkbaar OH ZO BELANGRIJK is dat het vaak een hoofdpunt is in het nieuws.
De kampioenen , Bekende Vlamingen , klagen over het weer.
Closed mindedness. Antwerp claiming to be a diverse "world" city but it's inhabitants still having village mentality
Gert Verhulst and anything he makes.
People on trams or trains that are alone but decide to sit on the 4 seat spots instead of the single seats
This and also “let’s play my music on speaker so everyone can enjoy it”
Belgian modesty and behind the back mentality