Internet Memes

"Belgium doesn’t exist", the no-government world record, language-war jokes, and the homegrown online humour of a small bilingual country.

Part of Belgium

17 moments in this segment.

1. 1950-01-01 - Frietkot Nationalism. The frietkot/friterie as the truest national institution, more uniting than any flag.
2. 1987-01-01 - Jeanneke & Het Zinneke. Manneken Pis’ lesser-known peeing companions, a girl and a dog, completing Brussels’ irreverent trio.
3. 2010-01-01 - The Language War (FR vs NL). Flemish vs Walloon language tension, endlessly memed, from road-sign jokes to BHV.
4. 2011-01-01 - No Government for 589 Days. Belgium’s 2010–11 world record without a federal government became the country’s defining self-deprecating meme.
5. 2012-01-01 - Student-City Brussels. The "kot" (student digs) and the bilingual chaos of studying in Brussels, a homegrown online genre.
6. 2014-01-01 - "Het is Bert!". A tiny, deadpan Flemish clip that took on a meme life of its own.
7. 2014-01-01 - "I Am Aware" (JCVD meme). Van Damme’s cosmic interview quotes became a global text-overlay meme format.
8. 2014-01-01 - "Belgium Doesn’t Exist". The long-running online joke that Belgium is a fictional country invented by cartographers.
9. 2015-01-01 - Brussels Bureaucracy Jokes. The maze of EU and Belgian institutions, a bottomless well of "it’s complicated" memes.
10. 2015-01-01 - Belgian Weather. The "it’s always grey and raining" national in-joke; the eternal Belgian small-talk topic.
11. 2016-01-01 - The Belgian Flag Memes. The black-yellow-red tricolore endlessly recaptioned in Euro-politics and football memes.
12. 2017-01-01 - "They’re Belgian, Not French!". The eternal online crusade to reclaim "French" fries as Belgian, a patriotic meme staple.
13. 2017-01-01 - Paul Van Himst Buys a Hotdog. A surreal little football-legend moment that became a beloved Flemish in-joke.
14. 2020-01-01 - Belgische Internetgekkies. A compilation of homegrown Belgian internet weirdness, the local meme canon in one place.
15. 2020-01-01 - Marc Coucke - "Franke Teut". The self-made entrepreneur on his own bluntness, a much-quoted Flemish-businessman meme.
16. 2022-01-01 - Conner Rousseau - "Ik zou mij schamen". The young Vooruit leader’s scolding "I’d be ashamed, pipo" line became an instant Flemish reaction meme.
17. 2024-01-01 - Bart De Wever - "Do You Speak English?". The N-VA leader fielding an awkward English question, endlessly clipped and remixed online.