The image of the Frisians in the Nederland's
Retarded farmers versus solid sportsman

By

Chantal Ensing	Ingrid Huisman

“So you are from Frisia?” someone asks, “Well, do they already have television there?” might be a very well known response. Very funny indeed, but does this comment have a deeper meaning or is it just a joke? The image of the Frisians through the eyes of the Dutch.

Midwinter. A Dutch boy and his girlfriend want to step on the ice in Frisia. They ask a passing Frisian who looks like a friendly old farmer if the ice is solid enough. The farmer replies “it ken net” which in Frisian means that the ice will not hold. In Dutch however the word “net” means “just” and so the boy and girl step on to the ice. If the Dutch couple would have understood Frisian, they would have known what the farmer meant. But now they don’t and they both fall through the ice.

This old Frisian anecdote has been transformed into a commercial on Dutch television to promote a typical Frisian liquor: “Berenburg” and became a smashing hit in the Netherlands. The commercial uses the stereotype of a Frisian in order to portray the Frisian people through the old man. A stereotype that clearly appeals to the imagination of the Dutch viewer.

The image of a typical Frisian is in the first place, like the old man in the commercial a farmer. Frisia has a high number of farmers compared to the rest of the Netherlands. Furthermore, it doesn’t have any real big cities. The capital for instance, is Leeuwarden which has one hundred thousand inhabitants. And although the industry is slowly moving from the west to the north of the Netherlands, Frisia still is not highly industrialized.

The old farmer is willing to help, he answers politely to the question asked. But he holds on to his own language and chuckles when the Dutch people are stupid enough to step onto the ice. Two traits of a Frisian wrapped into one. A Frisian will always be ready to lend a helping hand, but keeps a proper distance towards the Dutch. He even likes to think a little condescending of them. How could they not know that the ice wouldn't hold? And even worse, why didn’t they just listen?

The fact that the makers of the commercial decided to use ice as a setting, is not a coincidence. Ice skating is extremely popular in Frisia. Almost everybody knows how to skate and the top of the professionals almost entirely exists of Frisians. Furthermore a huge happening in wintertime, is “De Elfstedentocht”. When it has been freezing for a long time, a route through the eleven most important cities of Frisia is being skated on nature ice. This does not happen often, so when it does a mass hysteria breaks loose, not only in Frisia, but also in the rest of the Netherlands. Because of the many Frisian lakes, the second typical Frisian sport is sailing. With its most special Frisian form “Skutsjesylen” which is sailing in a team on a rather big sailing boat.

When the farmer drinks his Berenburg that evening in his pub, he tells his - of course Frisian friends - what he saw that day, they all have a big laugh about the stupidity of the Dutch. With this final scene, the commercial shows the Frisian bonding and chauvinism, the two last important traits of the Frisian.

In comparison to the other Dutch provinces, Frisia is the far most chauvinistic of all which their phrase “Fryslân boppe” (Frisia is the best) maybe the best shows.

When two Frisians accidentally meet outside the borders of Frisia and they recognize each other as being Frisian they immediately make contact by talking in their own language and slapping each other on the shoulder, just because they’re both Frisian. When a Dutchman enters a shop in Frisia, he will be addressed in Frisian. It makes him feel rather annoyed, that he doesn’t understand this language, and therefore he often interpretates it as being chauvinistic that the Frisian hold on to this language so strongly. Especially now that the Frisian language is an official language, they must accept this and take it seriously.

Image building is a slow process, and therefore it can grow really strong. Often it goes without noticing. Still there are some expressions in society in which this image is being confirmed so obvious that they cannot be missed.

In the Dutch comedy ‘Mijn dochter en ik’ (me and my daughter) for instance, the housekeeper is supposed to be a Frisian woman. She is presented as a very ugly and retarded woman, who at 35 is still waiting for her arranged marriage. No episode goes by without the reference to the stupid background of the housekeeper. On top of everything else the Frisians aren’t even insulted correctly; the wrong accent is being used.

Besides such a negative image, also positive images exist. The very popular Frisian actor Peter Tuinman who acts in big Dutch and Frisian productions, proudly exploits his Frisian background. He recently promoted the Frisian movie ‘De gouden swipe’ on Dutch television. During these kinds of promotions and interviews, he doesn’t try to hide his Frisian accent at all and always mentions Frisia.

Overall the Frisian is often portrayed as coming from the country, a little rough on the edges, chauvinistic, yet willing to help, solid, sportive and in for a laugh.

The way the Dutch use this image, depends on the situation. Most of the time Frisians are shown as farmers who don’t know how to compose a full sentence. This negative attitude can be explained if you look at the chauvinism of the Frisians.

This trait definitely annoys the Dutch the most and therefore they tend to mock the Frisian. But when an event like the Elfstedentocht occurs, the positive traits are emphasized and the Frisians are close to the heart of every Dutch. Additionally, the Dutch treat the Frisians like most of us treat our family; you can ridicule them, but when someone else tries to do the same, you will kill them. Still deep down the Dutch treasure their Frisian dearly.