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Greatest Belgian contributions to the world ? OFFTOPIC about Fleming vs Flemish

Well, maybe flemings was more used before, but today the word flemish usually prevails for the people as well.
 
Duo said:
Well, maybe flemings was more used before, but today the word flemish usually prevails for the people as well.
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I have only seen the term "Flemish" too. When speaking of the people, I have only heard "Flemish people."

Flemming is a common name in Denmark...:D
 
Miss_apollo7 said:
I have only seen the term "Flemish" too. When speaking of the people, I have only heard "Flemish people."
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Grammatically, the noun form is Fleming, but we can use an "adjective + the" and say "the Flemish (people)" to talk about them as a whole or in general. Howewer we shouldn't say "one Flemish" but "one Fleming", the same way as we shouldn't say "one Spanish" but "one Spaniard", or not "one Turkish", but "one Turk".

I think that these grammatical rules are becoming loser though, and as many people do mistakes, mistakes become standard. One good example of this is the use of the "past simple" (I did) instead of the "prersent perfect" (I have done) in American English - and more and more in British English too. For example, we shouldn't say "I already did that", but "I have already done that". This change of usage in American English (where both sentences are correct), was most cerrtainly due to the large number of immigrants who couldn't cope with the "present perfect" as they didn't have such a tense in their language.

I was reading an article in the Economist recently in which the writer implied that speakers of English "never employ the future perfect". It may be another case of evolving grammar, although in this case it is probably just ignorance from the writer, as I don't know how I could say better a sentence like "In a month I will have been in Japan for 4 years" (which is true).

Flemming is a common name in Denmark...:D
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It only takes on "m" for the people of Flanders. Or it could be that Flemish immigrants to Denmark were named like that. That would be funny, as Sweden has had quite a few Walloon immigrants. :p
 
:) Whenever I hear the term "Fleming" - I always imagine the "Lemming" - y'know.. those little animals that periodically rush off in their thousands together; frequently to their deaths.

I have had this vision of thousands of Belgians suddenly getting up and roaring off en masse to throw themselves off the nearest cliff .....!

With Apologies,

?W????
 
Sensuikan San said:
:) Whenever I hear the term "Fleming" - I always imagine the "Lemming" - y'know.. those little animals that periodically rush off in their thousands together; frequently to their deaths.

I have had this vision of thousands of Belgians suddenly getting up and roaring off en masse to throw themselves off the nearest cliff .....!
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Yeah, well, that would be difficult given Flanders' geography. There is not a single cliff (or reaonably sized hill for that matter) !
 
With regard to Flanders - true. But, surely, not Belgium as a whole. I remember seeing quite spectacular cliffs by the river in Dinant, for instance.

OMG - I hope I haven't just put the idea into their heads!

Silly moi!

?W????
 
Sensuikan San said:
With regard to Flanders - true. But, surely, not Belgium as a whole. I remember seeing quite spectacular cliffs by the river in Dinant, for instance.
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That's true, but that is already well into Walloon territory. :p
 
Agreed -- but just how big is Belgium !

I think I might commute further than that each day!

?W????
 
Belgium is not very big, but big enough i think

i'ts 30,510 km sq, but with it's good highway and train system u can go easily around in 2 2 hours and half tops, i mean from brussels to the towns in the north or in the south. The highest point in belgium are the ardennes, which are about 600m over the sea level.
 
Sensuikan San said:
Agreed -- but just how big is Belgium !

I think I might commute further than that each day!
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You are originally from England, right ? Then Belgium is about 1/4 the size of England. In other words, it is 50% bigger than Wales, or just a bit smaller than Wales and Northern Ireland combined, but with a population twice bigger the the two combined.

But I agree that it isn't big. There is only 270km from Ostende (in the North-west) to Arlon (in the South-east). In comparison, the distance from London to Brussels is 315km or 200 miles, which is almost the same as the distance from London to Plymouth or Liverpool. Some Japanese commute over 2h one-way, so in Belgium that would mean going from one end of the country to the other. In fact, taking the Thalys, Paris is only 1h away from Brussels (260km), and London 2h20min with the Eurostar.
 
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