I heard a new Belgian joke today, and just in time for the holiday!

[conuly]

I'm sure it exists outside of this poem, and with different nationalities slotted in where they belong, but I quote unaltered. Easier to just c+p, really.

In the Belgian Army, the feud
Between the Flemings and Walloons grew vicious,

So out of hand the army could barely function.
Finally one commander assembled his men
In one great room, to deal with things directly.

They stood before him at attention. "All Flemings,"
He ordered, "to the left wall." Half the men
Clustered to the left. "Now all Walloons," he ordered,

"Move to the right." An equal number crowded
Against the right wall. Only one man remained
At attention in the middle: "What are you, soldier?"

Saluting, the man said, "Sir, I am a Belgian."
"Why, that's astonishing, Corporal–what's your name?"
Saluting again, "Rabinowitz," he answered

Comments

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Well, if you explained it then I could at least get the residue of humor, then?

The :3c that comes after the laughing?

[conuly]

The "One Belgian" is presumably Jewish. As Wikipedia says, Jews are a small minority in Belgium - some 50,000 people out of a population of 10.5 million. (It is apparently half the population that there was prior to the Holocaust, but many of those seem to have been refugees from Germany.)

So the way to identify as Belgian instead of dividing yourself into Flemish or Walloon would seem to be outside the normal system of dividing the population entirely. Of course, all the Flemish and Walloon soldiers are Belgian too. Alternatively, this soldier doesn't identify himself as Belgian but as Jewish first, it's just that "Jewish" wasn't given as an option.

Comments to the entry I linked to say that a common joke among Belgian Jews is that the only real Belgians are Jews and the King.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Ah ha :D

hah :3

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

I took it to be the only one who actually identifies as Belgian is an immigrant.

[conuly]

Although I don't think that this is the common interpretation of this exact joke, I think it's the more common interpretation of similar ones.