Fun Facts About My Country

[daveb]

1 hour ago, umbasa said:

The nod.

That's a pretty common "greeting" between guys where I live/have lived (in southern California and other parts of the US), as well.

[Sally]

US women do the nod also.

[umbasa]

13 hours ago, daveb said:

That's a pretty common "greeting" between guys where I live/have lived (in southern California and other parts of the US), as well.

 

12 hours ago, Sally said:

US women do the nod also.

Huh. The more ya know. It's always a wtf thing when people from Europe and Asia learn about it.

[Scott1989]

15 hours ago, umbasa said:

The nod.

 

It is an universally acknowledged greeting among men in the North of the UK. WHEN you're both passing each other by on a casual stroll.

 

Can be done downwards or upwards.

 

Can be combined with "alright" to greet but not necessary. You normally use "alright" with the nod when you're on more familiar ground with the passerby. For complete strangers, you just nod.

 

The nod and look you give as you nod is semi-serious. No big motions. It is a short nod. You don't do it with a great big smile on your face. Just no.

 

My theory is the nod as a greeting originates from our Northern farmers. I like to imagine that due to heavy and noisy machinery, if a passerby came along there was no way for the farmer to verbalise their greeting for the passerby to hear and so the nod was used.

 

I quite like my theory. 

 

Since I touched on it, here in the north we also use "alright" for hello or hi. This amusingly can confuse some people from outside the UK as my own experience can attest to (as can my sister's).

Lol I gave the nod along with a proper Glaswgian "Awright" to someone who turned out to be an ex First Minister of Scotland, who growled at me like a dog.

[Piotrek]

@[noize:injekktion]

Wait... it's possible to see aurora from Poland? (On the other hand, if the stream of particles from the Sun is strong enough (e.g during a solar flare) you can see it even in the tropics...)

@Homer

I think in Poland the cleaning of one's part of stairwell is also strictly followed. I remember that when we lived in a block of flats there were monthly schedules hanging on the wall and I recall recurring controversy arising from someone not sticking to it.

 

My city in Poland has this landmark of two goats ramming each other's horns. You can see this spectactle everyday at noon at the top of the city hall tower. The legend has it that the goats were about to be slaughtered but escaped and climbed the tower.

We also have a biker monument Namely, that of a local folk character with his bike on the way to work. There's also a variation of a "moving statue" legend attached to it. Apparently, the man moves, ever so slowly, towards the factory where he works.

Cracow, probably the most famous city in Poland, has a characteristic trumpet call played every day. It ends very abruptly mid-sound as, according to a legend, back in the Middle Ages, a city guard who played it to warn the city of the incoming Tartar army, was shot with an arrow through his neck, before he was able to finish.

[ThaHoward]

-It's one of the nations who are the most opposed to EU.

 

-It is the country that follow the most EU laws and regulations, more than Germany and France even.

 

-It have no US/NATO bases to not antagonize Russia, and no country are allowed to have permament military presence.

 

-Still US Marines store weapons etc worth of several brigades for decades and USA and UK have trained here yearly since WW2. Now US Marines train permamently all year round. 

 

-There are ongoing and unresolved land and sea border issues with Russia for centuries.

 

-It is considered a Peaceful nation. However it is among the greatest weapons exporters, and dropped the most bombs in Libya.

 

-It's the 6th most conformative countries (where all other 1st World countries are on the last places), yet it is among the most atheistic, sexual egalitarian, sexual liberated and liberal countries and peoples.

 

-Nearly 30% of the New cars are purely electrical cars. Nearly 50% EVs and plug in hybrids. BMW i3 was the second most sold car in 2017, Tesla broke the world record for selling most cars in a month.. in Norway.

 

-99% of the electricity comes from 100% clean hydroelectrical power (no emissions), yet we're on eof the greatest oil and gas exporters. 

 

-It's considered by other countries as arche-socialist. In fact it have the most right wing government in Western Europe. (In EU only beaten by Poland, Hungary and Czechia).

[Topi]

My country was the first to abolish death penalty;

We had a dead Queen once (she was proclaimed Queen 2 years after her death);

The biggest wave ever surfed was here;

The oldest bookstore in the world is still open in our capital;

My country had the longest reign monarch and shortest too;

It's the oldest country in Europe.

We had the longest European empire;

We had the longest dictatorship in Europe;

Napolian tried to invade and conqueer us 3 times, but always failed;

Our language is the third most spoken European language in the world, official in 9 more countries, spread in all continents.

 

 

 

[Spotastic]

US states are so varied by culture and climate that they can feel like different countries.

 

Very common phrases in one state are completely unheard of in others.

 

State governments handle things in such different ways that the government benefits I received in Texas worked very differently (and much less efficiently) than they do in Wisconsin. 

 

Americans generally assume every other country (and state) works like their own and that "third world" nations know nothing of the internet and live in huts with spears.

 

I have been to 21 States and lived in 7 of them. 

[XYZ96]

Of US troops deployed overseas, we have the second highest amount of them (Japan I believe has the most)...

 

Chinese checkers were invented here (taking inspiration from a board game invented in the US)

 

When naming kids, the name has to be clearly masculine or feminine (I kinda find this rule dumb, but whatever..) 

 

[devoninacoffin]

Some facts about mine are:

 

- A Pirates of the Caribbean movie was filmed here.

 

- The song "Where is my mind?" By The Pixies mention the experiences of the singer while they were swimming here.

 

 -We have a very long Christmas.

[Piotrek]

Time to revive this thread

This one is actually about the Polish language, but since it's spoken as the official language only in Poland, I'll put this one here.

You've probably noticed that the names of months are similar in many major languages, as they ultimately derive from a common soure. Well, not so in Polish (and some other Slavic languages, I believe). The Polish month names mostly come from Polish words describing the state of nature at a given time of the year. The only exceptions, borrowed from Latin, I suppose, are marzec (March) and maj (May). Otherwise, the previously mentioned rule apples, for example:

- luty (February) comes from an archaic word for "cold"

- kwiecień (April) comes from kwiat (flower)

- sierpień (August) comes from sierp (sicle), a reference to harvest

- grudzień (December) comes possibly from an archaic word for frozen ground (gruda)

[Sweet Potato]

My country has two official languages

My country's name came from the native's word for "villiage"

My country is 150 years old

if you understand the following, you are probably from my country

 

"Last night, I cashed my pogey and went to buy a mickey of C.C. at the beer parlour, but my skidoo got stuck in the muskeg on my way back to the duplex. I was trying to deke out a deer, you see. Damn chinook, melted everything. And then a Mountie snuck up behind me in a ghost car and gave me an impaired. I was S.O.L., sitting there dressed only in my Stanfields and a tuque at the time. And the Mountie, he's all chippy and everything, calling me a "shit disturber" and what not. What could I say, except, "Sorry, EH!"

[Grumpy Alien]

-Has no official language

-The government is supposed to be completely secular but the majority of the country is Christian, making that difficult 

-The country’s military spending makes up 1/3 of all military spending worldwide

-Doesn’t ground electricity 

-Has most climate types and spans nine time zones including all states and territories 

-Experiences most extreme weather types

-Has one of the highest number of executions in the world and the highest documented incarceration rate

-There is no law guaranteeing paid vacation, this is up to the company and is often earned according to hours worked

-Most people are paid by the hour and paychecks are given biweekly 

-Paid family leave is not a legal right, making it one of a few countries that don’t have this and the only well developed nation amongst them

-Highest average employee and household incomes out of all OECD nations and second highest median household income

-Mandatory schooling is from age 5-7 (depending on state) to age 18

-Total student loan debt is higher than credit card debt, exceeding one trillion USD as of 2012

-There’s a very strong cultural importance on strong work ethic and competition 

-Gives more to charity on average than most other countries 

-Life expectancy is currently around 80

-Has one of if not the highest rate of obesity

-No universal healthcare 

-Considered a “megadiverse” country

[Tasha the demi squirrel]

On 07/02/2018 at 2:42 AM, Perspektiv said:

conversation at some point turns to the weather

Here in England most people talk about the weather a lot either to complain (we as a country sure enjoy complaining about the weather) or as a conversation starter

[Homer]

I just looked up "Fun facts about Germany" to see what people consider to be odd in the first place. Things like this: Germany was the first country to implement "Daylight Savings Time". (Btw DST is utter bs and we currently have a debate of whether we should get rid of it.)

 

 

[Platonic Underdog]

I thinks it's 17 of the world's most poisonous snakes which can be found in Australia, which I find pretty cool 😀

[Ortac]

21 hours ago, candys said:

In Idaho, Yellowstone National Park is located a well-known "Old Faithful" Geyser. It spews out 3700 gallons of hot steamy water every 44 minutes and attracts tourists from all countries. Each time I visit Idaho I try to visit this place too. Yellowstone National Park is the first National Park in the world.

I saw Old Faithful last year. Isn't it actually in Wyoming? Anyway, I had a rather over romanticized idea of what it would be like before I got there. I imagined a bit of a trek through some woods to get to it and a rural clearing. The reality was a huge parking lot, a huge board walk and a huge gift shop! Even so, it was really good to see it and photograph it. 

[zombie-cat]

- we invented ties

- Game of Thrones is filmed here

- dalmatian dog breed is from here

- home to the worlds smallest town

- Tesla was born here

- has over 1000 islands

[Markéta]

On 30. 11. 2017 at 3:11 PM, notfeelingit98 said:

Czechs love ice hockey. And I mean LOOOOOVE.

It's almost a social norm to be honest - everybody goes to matches, everybody knows what the scores are and who's winning at any given moment of the season... excluding me, because I don't care about hockey at all. But you can't admit that. If someone asks you if you've been to the match and you reply something like "I don't like hockey that much", everyone in a 20 metre radius is gonna be like "WHAT THE FUCK asdfghjkl YOU DO NOT LIKE   H O C K E Y??!"

 

Yep xD I know this too well. A lot of my friends get really excited about hockey when the championship or .....whatever is currently on. I simply listen to them or redirect them to some more excited person.

 

Also one of the most famous people in Czechia is completely fictional. Jára Cimrman. He has his own theatre, his plays, songs about him and documentaries, jokes and books xD It's pretty crazy sometimes.

 

And we are in the heart of Europe ...moreorless xD

 

Plus contact lenses are our invention, aren't they?

 

It's a widely known fact that Czech beer is really good.

 

Our fairytales are nice and funny, really enjoyable. In contrast to.. German ones for instance. They have more dark feel to them, at least I think so.

[Markéta]

I'd almost forget - a Czech author created the word "Robot" :'))

(Karel Čapek - R.U.R.)

[Ashmedai]

The kangaroo and the emu are the only two animals that can't walk backwards. We've also got the only 2 egg laying mammals. Our first police force was made up of the best behaved convicts.

[XYZ96]

- The national anthem is only one verse of the song from which it comes 

- We have a word that means the opposite of homesickness, as in it means, a strong urge to go somewhere far away (that is more a fun fact about the language spoken in the country, not really the country..) 

- One of the most iconic childrens TV characters in the last 20 years is a depressed loaf of bread (and he is fantastic) 

Spoiler

(this is what runs on the childrens channel in a loop at night)

 

[Lichley]

There are only 22 countries that we haven’t invaded. Out of 195. That’s 173 invasions.

[Guest]

My country is French-speaking but has 11 other official languages...Maybe more so dialects.

[Tunhope]

Something about Wales: you don't have to be Welsh or be able to understand the Welsh language to be filled with emotion when you hear the Welsh National Anthem sung. The melody is lovely. Interestingly, whereas many anthems are very agressive in tone, the Welsh anthem talks of poets and singers. Don't wish to add a sexist note, but if you're going to check it out, go for a version with an all male choir.

[SallyBlackwater]

- One of the most important chocolate products manifacturing company of the world is based here. There's a high chance that you've seen at least one of its products in shops... unless it's illegal where you live (USA, I'm looking at you)

- My country has two other countries inside it. One of them is the smallest country in the world.

- We are overprotective of our food traditions.

- The government is shit.

- The gesture that is typically associated with my country actually means "what do you want?" and isn't ALWAYS used xD