How did a Flemish butcher’s rabbit sign become an award-winning Dutch joke?

Taalvoutjes announced on 13 February 2021 that a rabbit advertisement associated with butcher Theo Daelman in Belsele, Flanders, had won its language-mistake award for 2020. The platform’s results confirm the winning wording; Sint-Niklaas’s municipal profile connects it to Theo’s shop, De Fijnproever. This is a retrospective on that documented award, rather than a newly announced result. [Taalvoutjes](https://www.taalvoutjes.nl/grappigste-taalvout-2020), [Sint-Niklaas](https://www.sint-niklaas.be/vlees-en-verzen-achter-de-toonbank-van-theo), [RTL Nieuws](https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/5214427/taalvout-taalfout-berijden-corona-optreden)

The sign reads: “Wij berijden ons konijn in eigen keuken.” In English, that means “We ride our rabbit in our own kitchen.” The expected verb is bereiden: to prepare or cook. Replacing ei with ij turns an ordinary promise about homemade food into an absurd image. For readers learning Dutch in Belgium, the explanation unlocks the joke without requiring them to share the embarrassment implied by a spelling competition. [RTL Nieuws](https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/5214427/taalvout-taalfout-berijden-corona-optreden)

The local account changes how the sentence reads. Sint-Niklaas describes Theo as a butcher-poet whose advertising sometimes incorporates deliberate mistakes. Its profile records his poetry collections and his observation that people make detours to read the boards. The municipality calls them “creatieve reclameborden”—creative advertising boards. That framing invites readers to consider authorship and humour before assuming incompetence. [Sint-Niklaas](https://www.sint-niklaas.be/vlees-en-verzen-achter-de-toonbank-van-theo)

The competition offers a different perspective. Taalvoutjes presents the winning entry under “Arm beestje”—poor little animal—and records 19% of the vote. Its audience was choosing the funniest language mishap, not evaluating the writer’s intentions. An ANP report published by the Dutch newspaper Reformatorisch Dagblad says more than 3,300 people voted among 24 shortlisted entries. Those figures establish the scale of the competition; they do not measure how many people across Vlaanderen encountered Theo’s work. [Taalvoutjes](https://www.taalvoutjes.nl/grappigste-taalvout-2020), [ANP via Reformatorisch Dagblad](https://www.rd.nl/artikel/914071-restaurant-dat-konijn-berijdt-maakt-taalvout-van-2020)

There is also a telling difference in identification. RTL Nieuws described an unnamed restaurant and its cook, while the Belgian municipal account identifies a butcher’s business. These are different descriptions of the setting, and the available evidence does not explain how the restaurant label arose. It would therefore be misleading to repeat it as an independently established fact about Theo. [RTL Nieuws](https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/5214427/taalvout-taalfout-berijden-corona-optreden), [Sint-Niklaas](https://www.sint-niklaas.be/vlees-en-verzen-achter-de-toonbank-van-theo)

That contrast suggests a broader lesson about jokes circulating online: the sentence can become better known than the person who wrote it. A photograph gives distant readers enough information to laugh, but may leave out the habits and intentions that local customers recognise. Here, the municipal profile supplies precisely the personal context missing from the competition coverage. That is an interpretation of the reporting, not proof of how every reader understood the board.

Nor does appreciating the humour require dismissing clear language. In its explanation of editorial standards, Flemish public broadcaster VRT describes its norm as “aantrekkelijk, helder en correct”—engaging, clear and correct. It also recognises that language style depends on audience and context. This is useful background, not a VRT response to Theo: a shopkeeper’s joke and a public broadcaster’s news bulletin serve different purposes. [VRT](https://www.vrt.be/nl/over-ons/nieuws-over-vrt/waarom-correct-taalgebruik-zo-belangrijk-voor-vrt)

The international connection is correspondingly modest: a Belgian shop’s wording reached Dutch-language competition coverage in the Netherlands. No EU decision or diplomatic dispute is involved. The story’s interest lies in everyday language and the distance between a neighbourhood reputation and an internet punchline.

What follows remains a reporting question. The undated municipal profile says Theo was looking for someone to take over the business. Whether that happened, and whether his writing plans advanced, requires fresh confirmation. The award is established; the next chapter should come from Theo himself. [Sint-Niklaas](https://www.sint-niklaas.be/vlees-en-verzen-achter-de-toonbank-van-theo)