[https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/03/28/vooroordelen/](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/03/28/vooroordelen/)

“The people of Antwerp have a thick neck and the people of West Flanders work hard”: where do these prejudices come from?

“The people of Brussels always know better and there is no such thing as an ‘East Fleming feeling’.” That is just a small selection of the prejudices that we Flemings and Brussels residents have about each other. Peter Van de Veire and Kim Van Oncen entered “Good morning tomorrow!” on Radio2 in search of the origin of our prejudices. They received the help of Walter Weyns, sociologist at the University of Antwerp.

What is the best or worst prejudice that you know in Belgium?

13 comments

  1. >What is the best or worst prejudice that you know in Belgium?

    That deep down we *are* good and sociable people.

    Horrible misconception.

  5. Concerning the “West-Flemish people work hard”:

    This isn’t a myth, it’s a fact:

    GDP/Capita

    Brussel/Bruxelles 73.987

    Antwerpen (provincie) 52.045

    Brabant-Wallon 51.625

    Vlaams-Brabant 44.085

    West-Vlaanderen 43.277

    Oost-Vlaanderen 40.238

    Limburg 35.855

    Liège (province) 31.247

    Namur (province) 29.427

    Hainaut 27.340

    Luxembourg 27.089

    For a region which doesn’t have a lot of headquarters (like Bruxelles/Brabant) or a very big port (Antwerp), we are overperforming (compared to f.i. Oost-Vlaanderen, which also has a smaller harbour and a part of the Antwerp harbour).

  6. Most better known prejudices are quite accurate tbh..

    But whoever claims that Limburgians talk slowly, I always refer to Kim Clijsters as a counterpoint..

  7. Never heard that we Brabantians are perceived to be particularly direct or having a Burgundian lifestyle more than others.

    Very diverse, that, there’s no uniform provincial identity, just like in East-Flanders it ain’t.

  10. Some strange explanations in this article. “Brusselians are seen as know-it-alls because world leaders visit the city.” What does the average resident have to do with this? Nothing at all.

  11. Walloons are lazy, people from Ninove, Ronse or Charleroi are marginaal, even people from Limburg think people from Hasselt speak slowly… Too many to choose from.

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