Sunday, June 08, 2008

Anti-Flemitism

Jo and I witnessed some highly anti-Flemitic language at, of all places, a certain well-known fabulous lox-and-more establishment on the Lower East Side. Several workers were discussing how you say various expressions in Dutch, and one explained that "Goodbye" in Dutch is "chchchchchchch." It turned out one of the people behind the counter, the one doing most of the mocking was Israeli, and really in no place to make fun of "ch" sounds. Another, who seemed to be American, pointed out that the Dutch speak better English than Americans and, if not Israelis generally, than certainly this Israeli in particular. Much like anti-Semitism, anti-Flemitism is often expressed openly in front of its targets, because Flemings, like Jews, blend in well enough with the crowd. But just because you aren't aware that you are in the presence of Flemings does not make it OK to express your anti-Flemitism freely.

1 comment:

  1. You're inviting a vlame war with your vlamingly radical comments.

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