  Believe it or not, I have a Walloon story. I mentioned a few days ago on this blog that I found an old journal of mine that I had written in when I was about sixteen.
Like most American teenagers, I was very interested in the Eighty Years War, also called the Dutch Revolt or the Dutch War of Independence. I say "interested" and I mean "interested". I even went so far as to purchase urlLink this remarkably overpriced volume from those price-gougers over at urlLink Brill .
I might add that it was a tad more expensive than $52.00 when I bought it... But I digress. Pasted in my journal is a neatly clipped line-drawn depiction of one of the countless little skirmishes over fortified hills, this particular one in the environs around Zeeland. Written above one of the ranks of pikemen arrayed behind a low wall, clear as day, is the appellation "Wallonisch".
Right there in my old journal. I wish I had a scanner. "Walloon" itself is linguistically related to the german welsch and the English welsh , meaning "stranger" or "foreigner". The Walloons of south Belgium speak a dialect of French which distinguished them linguistically from their northern Flemish neighbors. Many Walloon families remained Catholic during the Wars of Religion in the 16th and 17th centuries, but by the time the Dutch began arriving in America, all Dutch Protestants in the New World were known as "Walloons".
As much as I'd like to read urlLink Walloon literature , I'm afraid it is far outside of my linguistic ability. Do note the bit in that article above about the Walloons being "in general characterized by greater vivacity and adaptability than their Flemish neighbors, while they excel their French neighbors in endurance and industry". There have been few better excuses for an intense national pride. Adaptable AND Resiliant? Vivacious AND Industrious? Long live the Walloons!!!! ! 
