[Carnyx]

Originally Posted by Dr Fred

I heard many frenchmen claiming, for instance, George Lemaitre the creator of the Big Bang theory, or Etienne Lenoir the creator of the first automobile as one of their own (even though the latter took the french citizenship), if they are not, it's the brits or americans who make the confusion, before telling everyone how little the Belgians contributed to the world.

Well, I wouldn't know. What I know for sure is that more famous Walloons like Hergé for instance are not considered French by people in France, or at least I'm not aware of it. However I've heard about Johnny Hallyday being claimed as one of ours despite his Flemish lastname. This is the real catastrophe! Johnny sucks!

Jean-Joseph Étienne Lenoir (Mussy-la-Ville, Belgique, 12 janvier 1822 - La Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, 4 août 1900) est un ingénieur belge, qui réalisa notamment le premier moteur à combustion interne en 1860 et le premier moteur quatre temps en 1863.

Jean-Joseph Étienne Lenoir - Wikipédia

Georges Lemaître( Monseigneur ) (Charleroi, 17 juillet 1894 – Louvain, 20 juin 1966) était un chanoine catholique, astronome et physicien belge.

Georges Lemaître - Wikipédia

On the other hand I can understand how some French may feel close to Wallons. I've myself always considered them close to Northern French and Lorrains.

Not an inventor, but Charles Martel, who allegedly saved western europe from islamization is often called a male version of Jeanne D'arc... incidentally, the French version of Wikipedia is the only version where his birth on present day Belgium is not mentionned...

Hmm, isn't it an anachronism in this case? At Charles Martel's time it was in exitence yet Wallonia?

It's a Jacobinist mentality, everything is "French washed" or "Paris washed".

Paris, it's Paris... La province aux provinciaux, les jacobins à Paris!