infundibulum

Taipei Times: Flanders PM sparks linguistic storm

If, like me, you are a connoisseur of linguistic brouhaha of all flavors, you should look no further than Belgium to get your kicks. Because good grief! I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t quite figured out exactly who is talking about what when you the terms thrown around in that neck of the woods — starting a sentence with “Flemish” in particular, seems like a pretty good way to get into an argument.

I for one will gladly bow out beforehand…

“Apparently, the Francophones are intellectually incapable of learning Dutch,” Leterme was quoted as saying in the interview, published on Thursday. “Look at the difficulties Francophone leaders, even the king in this country, have speaking Dutch fluently.”

SHAZZAM!

“One can only imagine that the remarks … must have been mistranslated or are an example of improper usage of the French language,” he was quoted by another leading French-language daily, La Libre, as saying.

FTHWAP!

Please insert rambunctious onomatopoeia in your dialect of choice.

PS, I’m just kidding!