Sure, you can order a pommes-frites with curry ketchup and pronounce Dries Van Noten's name without a hitch. But can you really get by in Belgium? Our Slang Dictionary will make sure of it.
Example: Dad is mowing the lawn in his marcelleke. /
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A marcelleke is a white sleeveless shirt (or wife-beater), the fashion item of choice for bodybuilders and sofa spuds alike. Known colloquially in French as un marcel (a term of contested origins whose etymology has been attributed to everyone from French boxers to ninteenth-century clothiers) it made its way into the Flemish vocabulary, where it’s referred to endearingly as “a little Marcel.” While the white tank top might make you think of the sweat-drenched virility of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire or Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, your Belgian friend will probably associate it with the sweat-drenched virility of his dad mowing the lawn on weekends.
Pa is het gras aan ‘t afrijden in zijn marcelleke.
