Urban Dictionary – Flemish Party Slang

Over Christmas, Billy and I went over to Belgium to spend the holidays with our family on the other side of the pond. During numerous nights out, I asked some of his friends what are some nightlife slang words in Flemish, or Vlaams. All of them were eager to share – it seems they are enthusiastic about my Vlaams studies. Probably so they don’t have to think so hard and translate their thoughts to English when talking to me. I’m lucky because they all have great English but that makes me want to learn Vlaams more!

Plus, the thought of using some of these words in Edmonton during hazy nights out on Whyte Avenue fills me with delight.

Many of these words will tip off my Belgian fans where my stomping ground is in Belgium – the words are very “Leuven-esque.” The thing with Belgians is that they can hear different accents of those who are from a village 15 minutes away. Language varies quite a bit in the different regions of this small country. One of these slang terms is from Billy’s 75 year old Oma from Oostende. She has more energy than some 20-somethings I know.

So my intention in this post is to highlight the pronunciation of these words, give the definition, and use some FLENGLISH, English with a splash of Flemish, to show how the word is used in a sentence.

Verdomme – (swear) “Damn!”
Often yelled at Belgian football matches during bad plays or calls by the ref. Don’t confuse with Vertonghen, a player on the Belgian National Team, which is exactly what I did when I saw the Red Devils play Scotland in 2012.

“Verdomme! I stubbed my toe!”

Allee – (verb) “Come on!” or “Let’s go!” in frustration. Taken from French. As you likely know, half of Belgium is the French speaking Wallonia.

“Allee jongen” translates to “Come on son/dude.”

Zoezo – (expression) “For sure”

Lunch with family and Oma Rosette

Balen – (expression) “Bummer” or “Major bummer”

Fondke – (noun) Literally means “the bottom.” Used in the context of putting a nice bottom layer in your belly to pour liquor on.

“We need to put down the fondke before going out tonight. It’s going to get heavy. Let’s pick up a durum/kebab.”

Koeketiene – (noun) A term from West Flanders meaning someones girlfriend. Those not from West Flanders or Oma Rosette’s generation will likely not recognize this term or be confused that the conversation has turned to someone’s ‘small chickie.”

Naar de klote – (expression) “To the balls” or “gone to hell”

“My love life has gone naar de klote.”

Poulainke – (noun) “a little chick” or “a little favourite” used in terms of lady friends.