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80 Random Facts About Different Countries That Sound Made Up (But Aren’t)
Travel guides can tell you a lot about a country.
But locals often have stories and facts you won’t find anywhere else.
Across the internet, folks have shared fascinating details about where they live, offering a glimpse into daily life and history around the world.
Want to know which nation sent a bear to fight in WW2? Who eats macaroni with sugar and feta for breakfast? Or where, believe it or not, people once ate their prime minister?
You’ll find these stories—and more—below.
More info: Reddit | ThreadsThis post may include affiliate links.
#1
Australia has only ever lost 1 war...against the emu's in 1850. They are now our overlords. They are forcing me to write this. Pray for us
ROSESARERED 5 months ago (edited)
Never mess with an emu,they have a nasty beak. A friend's father had one, not a pet, but a regular visitor, would go into his shed and nick his tools, had to chase him to get them back.
RELATED:
#2
New Zealand's Air Force logo is the kiwi, a flightless bird.
Caffeinated Ape 5 months ago
Hah! I genuinely didn't know that... honestly the more surprising thing to me is that we still even HAVE an air force!
Janissary35680 5 months ago
Newly-minted urban legend: At the committee meeting where they were discussing what the logo should be, someone joikingly suggested the kiwi. Then somebody said, "No, that'll never fly" and suddenly a lightbulb went on over everybody's head. 💡
Boris Long-Johnson 5 months ago
Seeing as it’s an organisation dedicated to make a flightless mammal fly seems quite apt
#3
Belgium supplied the uranium for the Manhattan Project. It went something like this:
Belgium government-in-exile: "So we hear you guys need this 'uranium' stuff."
US government: "What? No, we don't. And if we did that would be top secret. Seriously, who tf talked?"
Belgium: "Doesn't matter, Congo is one of two uranium deposits in allied hands. We have 1200 tons of the weird glory rock, do you want it?"
US: "Yes, if you can get it to the African coast, we can get it across the Atlantic."
Belgium: "No need, it's already in the US."
US: "It... what?"
Belgium: "It's rare stuff. So when we moved all of our gold, silver, and other valuables here at the start of the war, we included the uranium. It's in a warehouse on Staten Island. Has been for the past four years."
US: "Fuuuuu... Yes, we'll take the lot!".
Glenn Milliken 5 months ago
There was a whole division of the government set up to finding and buying uranium back then it was quite a lucrative business we didn't have these huge mines like we do today well not for your radio or anything that heavy of a metal
Mary Kelly 5 months ago
they forgot the part about how belgium essentially enslaved most of the congo to work the mines and continue to this day to f with the congolese and much or east central africa....
Tom Hutcherson 5 months ago
The Manhattan Project obtained uranium from several key sources: the Shinkolobwe mine in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), the Eldorado mine in northern Canada, and various mines and mill tailings in the American West. The Belgian Congo provided the highest-grade ore, while the Canadian and American sources also contributed significantly.
Scott Desmier 2 weeks ago
Just like the SR-71 cold war spy aircraft. Entirely made of Soviet titanium bought through "channels".
#4
In New Zealand, we had a leader recently (Jacinda Ardern) who almost everyone else outside NZ loves. Yet there is a proportion of the population who hates Jacinda Ardern with a passion even now, years after she saved a lot of people’s lives and supported businesses during the pandemic. During her leadership she dealt with a mass shooting, a volcanic eruption with loss of life, and a pandemic and did it all exceptionally well.
Yet there is this unfathomable hatred towards her. It’s bizarre.
Joanne Webster 5 months ago
Jacinda did an enormous amount of good for New Zealand, but she was the wrong gender!
Rata Robinson 5 months ago
The is absolutely correct! Some people couldn't stand having a woman telling them what to do - her being right made it worse.
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Ian Webling 5 months ago
Much like the unfathomable love some people have for the orange monster.
Sarah Belt 5 months ago
NZ was held up as a great example of a COVID response in the American & British news media I consume. It doesn't surprise me how much vitriol she faced for this and other pro-people actions, but news agencies mentioned her frequently in a positive light. I was sorry to hear about her resignation, but plenty of commentary praised her for being open about the struggles of leadership.
DowntownStevieB 5 months ago
Same here in the U.S. towards Obama and Biden for saving the economy and pulling us out of the pandemic.
K Barnes 5 months ago
I love how Biden single-handedly caused the global recession, not covid. It was all his fault. /s
Load More Replies... K Barnes 5 months ago
We've had similar in Canada towards Trudeau in recent years. F**k Trudeau has been everywhere and it bothers me that children have been repeating this mantra. Thankfully he stepped down. He had become ineffective and made LOTS of mistakes but wasn't so bad that it was worth defining your personality as hating him, IMO.
#5
The Choctaw nation sent $170 to Ireland during the potato famine in the 1840s. This was a huge sum for the Choctaw to collect and send at the time partially because they were having their own crop related issues.
Scott Desmier 2 weeks ago
They should have had more than one starch crop.
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XenoMurph 5 months ago
There's a statue in Cork to comemorate this act of friendship. And during covid when the Choktaw were badly affected, people in Ireland sent about $800,000 to the Choktaw people.
DC 5 months ago
I'd ver much prefer those inherited friendships over inherited hostilities. France and Germany were at war with each other how often in the 100 years before 1945? The French-German-Friendship, as established by DeGaulle and Adenauer, is among the best that ever happened to us. This sparking a friendship, a sense of solidarity, that may be carried on for decades to centuries to come, paints a nicer picture of ourselves, one we should prefer and consider worth any effort.
#6
Canada has more freshwater lakes than the rest of the world.
Combined.
Mary Kelly 5 months ago
is that counting the other half of the great lakes that is in the u.s.?
#7
There are 195 countries on Earth. There are only four countries that DONT have paid maternity leave: Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Tonga, and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. That’s right folks. In America we work until the day we give birth, and we’re right back to work after giving birth. Isn’t that awful!? No other developed nation treats their mothers like this. Germany, Mexico, Japan, Canada, literally every country you can think of, they give their mothers PAID, job protected maternity leave!
Upstaged75 5 months ago
This just means that employers don't HAVE to provide it. Many of them do it anyway. The good ones at least. It's usually part of your employee benefits and some offer up to 6 months. But sadly this is mostly for salaried jobs. If you work at an hourly-rate job you're most likely SOL. (sh!it out of luck)
XenoMurph 5 months ago
So, the higher paid get it, but the lower paid don't? Sounds like capitalism to me,
Load More Replies... Spellflinger 5 months ago
Canadians also get paid parental leave when they adopt as well. Both parents.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
TBF, there are many companies that offer this in the US - it's just not mandatory. But it should be.
Manny 5 months ago
America does have paid maternity/paternity leave. There are companies that offer it and then there are some that don't but most do.
#8
We have a unique word "Kalsarikänni": It describes the moment of drinking at home in your underwear. Word was also used by Homer Simpson in one Simpsons episode.
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago (edited)
It's "Kalsarikännä" if you're wearing someone else's underwear.
Pandemonium 5 months ago
Do the Fins usually wait until that someone else has removed their underwear before they get their Kalsarikännä rolling?
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
This is a Finnish word. Also another reason it's the happiest country in the world.
Placebo Domingo 5 months ago
Finland is the words happiest nation, I wonder why.
Load More Replies... Chewie Baron 5 months ago
Greg Davies and Russell Howard also did a very good programme on this.
Kari Panda 5 months ago
How do you use this word? As in, would you tell your friends, "I did nothing over the weekend, just Kalsarikänning a bit“?
Svenne O'Lotta 5 months ago
How much time to you have? A couple of years? I'll tell you about Finnish grammar then
Load More Replies... #9
60% of our country would be (re)claimed by the sea if we'd done nothing for the past 500 years about water management. More than half of it exists because human beings are f*****g smart.
Edit: Yes, The Netherlands.
#10
Spain is, in fact, currently a very secular country where the Catholic Church has lost almost all its influence. People enjoy the folklore of religion but do not practice religion actively. Few people under the age of 60 attend mass regularly.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
That's interesting because Spain is responsible for spreading so much Catholicism around the world that is still widely practiced.
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago
Yeah, but I mean you're supposed to outgrow having imaginary friends, so it makes sense. (Sorry, someone had to be edgy, and I mean it was RIGHT there.)
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Bianca 5 months ago (edited)
"I didn't expect the Spanish I*********n." "NOBODY Expects the Spanish I*********n!" Really... now we censor I n q u i s i t i o n?
#11
Indian women collectively hold an estimated 24,000 tons of gold, which is more than the combined gold reserves of the top five gold-holding countries.
T'Mar of Vulcan 5 months ago
So, if you took the ethnically Indian South African women's gold and added our country's gold to it, would it be more? :D
Nitka Tsar 5 months ago
Not necessarily. A) gold could be cheap there b) it could be inherited c) it could be something they invest in c) cultural importance, like my Mother from Poland would always wear her best jewlery, to show how “rich” we are, even though were never were, not even for Polish standarts
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Jill Rhodry 5 months ago
only if you have the money to buy her gold jewellery
Load More Replies... #12
The last residential school (abducting Indigenous children from their families and putting them in Christian schools where they were a****d, poorly fed, and lost their culture) closed in 1996 in Canada!! This is not ancient history.
A lot of our nutrition knowledge is based on unethical experiments conducted on these children and other Indigenous communities without consent and without any of the ethical procedures that are now in place to protect research subjects.
Upstaged75 5 months ago
Indigenous people all over the world got effed over by white people. Why is our first instinct to erase other cultures? 😢
Mari 5 months ago
And then they say that the immigrants are the 'bad people' 🙄
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Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
Indigenous North and South Americans were treated so horribly by "civilized" European nations ...
Caffeinated Ape 5 months ago
Absolutely appalling. Colonialism was horrific for indigenous peoples the world over.
K Barnes 5 months ago
My parents' generation was super racist towards the First Nations people here in Canada, their parents were worse. My generation is a bit better but still a lot of pieces of s**t who refuse to learn. The younger generation is learning about their history and Indigenous ways of learning in schools and seem pretty open to it... gives me some hope for our future after an atrocious past.
Miracle Max 5 months ago
You folks should read some history from more than the last 200 years. Indigenous people warred with, enslaved and sacrificed people from other tribes long before white people started. Just remember, who sold African slaves to European/American traders? African people!
HighNMightyBigshotBossOfWorld 4 months ago (edited)
And white people were killing each other in Europe all the time in a similar manner, language, religion and geography. French revolution a lot of whites killing other whites Englishmen killed Irishmen the Irish killed them back, the Scots and even other Irish and the Scots did the same, Highlanders vs Lowlanders a lot of k!llingd going on the Crusades, the in.qui.sition the Romans? Well the Romans against every one! Every world war? Mostly white on white war crimes. Hitler killed 14 million whites Stalin killed 40 million white serial killers and their white victims. white mass shooters and their white victims rapists, arsonists,pdfiles, thieves, murderers,d**g dealers etc. Victims? White
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Renee Fiola-Homen 5 months ago
It's sinful what white people have done to Indigenous people , especially here in the U.S. . It makes my blood boil.
#13
Australia lost a prime minister. Like literally lost him. Harold Holt went out for a swim at Portsea Beach one day and was never seen again. No body, nothing. Of course there were rumours about a Chinese submarine waiting offshore to whisk him away, but nothing was ever proven. Then Melbourne Council named a swimming pool after him. True story.
Upstaged75 5 months ago
Naming a swimming pool after someone who drowned just seems mean. Was he disliked?
Schrödinger's Douchebag 5 months ago
We literally have a saying 'doing the Harry Holt' and it means to disappear. Aussies got a real dark sense of humour.
Powerful Katrinka 5 months ago
Bill Bryson wrote about this in his book In A Sunburnt Country.
Oerff On Tour 5 months ago
*Takes notes in Dutch * *Takes notes in German....Crumples note. Remembers Germans don't have any sense of humor *
Load More Replies... #14
Contraception was only legalised in Ireland in 1980. Homosexuality was only decriminalised in 1993. Divorce was only legalised in 1995.
Rika 5 months ago
Homosexuality was considered a mental disease in France until the early 80s - making you unfit to join the military. Military service used to be mandatory for guys. You bet that a lot of them suddenly turned gay.
Orysha 5 months ago
Don't forget that gay people could give their blood like heteros did for decades only since 2022 in France
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Wolflark 71 5 months ago
As an Irishman, it always amazes me how the Catholic Church has an unhealthy obsession with other peoples sexuality.
Cuppa tea? 5 months ago (edited)
The Irish Catholic church didn't object or got involved in same s*x marriage referendum .After referendum in legalising abortion - which they opposed - Diarmud Martin said it was a reality check for Irish Catholic church.
Mary Kelly 5 months ago
don't feel bad...women didn't get the right to vote in swtzerland until 1971
#15
As Americans, we’re taught about slavery, the trail of tears, etc. But I swear we never, or just *barely* were told about how the country treated the Japanese in the 40s and 50s. Terrible stuff. It’s not common knowledge like slavery and indigenous g******e are.
JayhawkJoey 5 months ago
I never learned about the Trail of Tears (born 1965). Of course now, thanks to President A$$hole, American kids will learn none of it.
BlitheSpirit 5 months ago
I actually did learn about this in HS in Oklahoma - we had a fantastic history teacher.
Kioh81 5 months ago
Same but I think it’s only bc we live in Oklahoma that we learned about it.
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Remi (He/Him) 5 months ago
As a trekkie, I learned about them from George Takei who was locked in an internment camp with his family as a little kid
joann fielding 5 months ago
Yes! He wrote a wonderful children's book about his experiences.
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 5 months ago (edited)
I'm quite aware of this. Not sure where I learned about it. But now that any lesson in public schools that doesn't extol the greatness of America or might offend the fragile children of religious parents has the potential to be banned or opted out of, I doubt any of the next generation will know about any of that.
Janissary35680 5 months ago (edited)
Look up "442nd Infantry Regiment (United States)" on Wikipedia. It was a WW2 infantry regment composed almost entirely of 2nd-generation Japanese-Americans. It served with distinction in Europe at a time when many of their parents were in interment camps.
Pferdchen 5 months ago
Assuming that it will be legal to teach, we'll be sure to include this in the section where we discuss ICE and CPB abducting people off the streets and shipping them off overseas, or to a concentration camp in the Everglades, without being charged or convicted of a crime.
Johnnynatfan 5 months ago
I grew up in Maryland (80's kid) and we learned about the internment camps. The US education system is so varied in how effective it is from state to state and even county to county. And now that we have a moron in the White House AGAIN this is only going to get worse. Kids who grow up in red states will not get an even average education.
Saniyaya m 5 months ago
I???? I learned about this in school. Maybe it’s just where you attended
Cydney Golden 5 months ago
Americans will learn less and less about actual history so we don't embarrass stupid white people.
#16
Americans are so dumb that they thought 1/3 was less than a 1/4 and it derailed a whole hamburger campaign in the 1980s. .
SouthernGal 5 months ago
Enough of us are that a convicted felon was elected president. Absolutely disgusting. I will never be able to wrap my head around how so many Christians are able to overlook all of Cheeto’s atrocities and support him.
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Emilu 5 months ago (edited)
I don’t typically get into the #notall arguments, but doesn’t it get tiring shîtting on Americans all the time? Signed, an Aussie.
Gunný Petersen 5 months ago
They have á bad case of superior complex that make them think that they don't need to learn anything. They already know!!
Load More Replies... lightlywhispereddestruction 5 months ago
Correction: only 50% of Americans are dumb. I will let you choose which half and how they voted.
UKGrandad 5 months ago
If you think that the stupidity is all on one side then you cannot be listening to the other side. There is certainly more of it on the right but the left has its share.
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Margaret Shannon 5 months ago
I'm still angry at the deli from several months ago. I wanted 1/3 pound of chicken salad and the woman behind the counter was concerned it would not fit in the 1 pound container.
BookFanatic 5 months ago
Oh, I remember this. Our teacher used it as an example while we were learning fractions.
#17
We ate our prime minister one time. The Netherlands
Gunný Petersen 5 months ago
I was going to propose to someone offering them selves up to eat Trump so we would get rid of him but I don't want that someone to die of food poisoning so I changed my mind about that so we have to find another way 🤨
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
Considering Kilauea's recent outbursts, perhaps Madame Pele is needing a sacrifice? Oh, wait... that might give her indigestion :(
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Tucker Cahooter 5 months ago
Either the portions were very small or quite a few people missed out on a meal
Just a ray of f'ing sunshine 5 months ago
AND his brother iirc (please correct me (nicely) if I'm wrong here).
Oerff On Tour 5 months ago
Johan de Witt Dutch statesman (1625–1672) Wikipedia
Load More Replies... #18
Scotland is the only country in the world where Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola made Fanta isn’t the number 1 selling soft drink. It‘s Irn Bru!
UKGrandad 5 months ago
They chose the unicorn because in mythology it is the natural enemy of the lion. No prizes for guessing which country's national animal is the lion.
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Rick Murray 5 months ago
I tried it once. Umm... What the hell is it supposed to be?
Load More Replies... UKGrandad 5 months ago
If it makes Irn Bru palatable it's not just magic, it's a bloody miracle 😉
Load More Replies... Miracle Max 5 months ago
And Irn Bru is fantastic! If you need to stay awake for 20 hours a day for a week, crack one open in the morning and pound them all day! Source: I was at a convention in Glasgow and had to up 20 hours a day for a week.
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago
Ok, now I want to try Irn Bru, but SOMEBODY broke the country's tariffs so it might be a bit before I shell out the cash to pay for them. The real bearers of the burden of tariffs are the friends we made along the way. But to be clear, the friends live in this country, so it's still not the other country that's eating the tariffs.
Buttrnutsquash 5 months ago
Loved Irn Bru, until the company started adding aspartame to it bleh :P Totally vile now. Didn't realize when I was at the airport in the UK a few years back, grabbed my usual bru, took one sip, almost threw up and looked at the ingredients. Aspartame in regular soda. WTF? Got home, checked the bottles here, and same thing. Aspartame c**p. Well, we had a good almost 50 years!
#19
We hold the world record for most days without a fully elected government. From December 2018 to October 2020, Belgium had no federal government and was governed by an interim government for 652 days, beating the previous world record holder (541 days), which was… Belgium.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
I recall hearing at the time that apparently the Belgium economy was the most successful in Western Europe. "Just get rid of the clowns in charge" seems to be a lesson we could learn? 😉
Load More Replies... Verena 5 months ago
After the uranium story I wanted to comment, "I love my neighbours dearly, but Belgium is a weird country. They once went years without a government, and nobody noticed....". Okay, then
Rick Murray 5 months ago
Meanwhile I think quite a few of my fellow Brits would relish the opportunity to exist without a government. I was going to write "without a functional government" but it hasn't been functional since Thatcher (maybe before, but I'm not old enough to remember what came before the iron madwoman).
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#20
Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve.
featherytoad 5 months ago
That's what I was going to post. I think there was.
Load More Replies... sturmwesen 5 months ago
So do I.. no, really! I always have a minimum of 3 bottles for my coffee
Trashy Panda 5 months ago
To be clear, it's not a national reserve. It's owned and managed by a private industry group.
#21
The soviet union dropped 450 nukes near my town in Kazakhstan. No one was evacuated and people are still born with deformities and cancer is prevalent.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
1949-1989: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site#History
Load More Replies... #22
Actually right now,half a million people in Serbian capital are fighting against the f*****t regime which is using tear gas and weapons against their own people in favor of the f*****t s***s,this fight has been going on for 7 months and the government controlled media is trying to silence all of this.
Chris Mpls 5 months ago
Criticizing government censorship is so heavily censored that it obscures the very issues it aims to highlight. Way to go BP.
DC 5 months ago
Yeah, the autocensor makes BP somewhat less bearable. Pandabearable, it seems, many words aren't.
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Boris Long-Johnson 5 months ago
The Fâttist regime or is it’s the F4ttest regime? Come on BP I need to know if as a fat bar steward I’m a god or a pauper!
persephone134 5 months ago
Why don't we just c******* to c***** r***** w*****. What f**! [S*****!]
#23
We have both the largest air force in the world (USAF) and the second largest air force (US Navy). This fact has always blown my mind.
No affordable healthcare, horrible work/life balance, the government doesn’t even pretend to care about its citizens… but, hey! We’ve got a s**t-ton of military aircraft!
Multa Nocte 5 months ago
Don't forget the USA also has an orange rapist who married a porn star and is running the country (to ruin).
Jane Hower 5 months ago
Well, you were ok with the Muslim born Phillipeno gay commie married to a trans, so what are you complaining about??
Load More Replies... S Bow 5 months ago
And congress just passed dumps big bill, giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy while cutting Medicaid Healthcare for the poor. It's estimated 11 million people will lose what little healthcare they had. I wonder how many of those people voted for him.
Spidercat 5 months ago
Yeah but just don't point out to the GOP that the US Military is funded via a socialist method...oh look, we all pay taxes and a few of us use that money to protect everyone = Socialism.
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago
That is not a tax! That is a 'nationwide freedom contract' and citizens are able to opt out of membership fees, subject to internal adjudication and severance penalties that may include temporary relocation. The United State of America is not responsible if the member suffers an adverse medical reaction to the adjudication prior, during, or following temporary relocation.
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Jane Hower 5 months ago
GEE WHIZ, then WHY are so many people in the world trying to get here???????????????????
Panda'sMom 5 months ago
Yeah, let's do all that stuff instead of protecting the country and let China/North Korea take over. Then things will be SO fair and equal. Except for those that are more equal than others, like the elite. Who will STILL be the elite, only more eliter. Fun times!
Yared Calkinnunen 5 months ago
Don't forget we also send billions to Israel every year, a country with universal healthcare, which we don't have in the USA.
#24
We have more saunas per capita than street legal cars. Roughly 2.7M cars (not including bigger vehicles like trucks/semis/buses/trains/military etc) and 3.2M saunas in Finland.
Manuel Delgado 5 months ago
That's only because they answer the poll after the long drink.
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#25
My country has more than half of all the roundabouts in the world, and almost twice as many roundabouts as the second most roundabouty country. And to be honest, I find it a little WTF that other countries don't have more roundabouts. I find them way more comfortable to navigate than cross intersections or red lights.
Edit : That's France.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
The US is sloooowwwly adopting roundabouts at crossroads. They leave many confused, but they work so much better than lights and 4-way stop signs!
Nikki Sevven 5 months ago
We've had them in New England as long as I've been alive (60 years). They're far superior to traffic lights.
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Multa Nocte 5 months ago (edited)
I moved to France from the US and I LOVE roundabouts! They are so much more efficient! Although given how people drove in the US I am not sure how well that would work there.
K Barnes 5 months ago
I love them, too, but find that because we have so few here most drivers don't know how to use them correctly. Had someone come to a complete stop inside the roundabout in front of me and try to wave the driver outside of it in a few weeks ago. I almost hit them.
Load More Replies... Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
There was a roundabout - called a traffic circle - in DC that I had to navigate when I was taking a course at George Washington University. One day, as I entered the circle I saw a car with out-of-state plates driving around. I was just dropping off a paper, so it wasn't long before I was back at the circle. The same care was going around and around. I don't think they ever made it out.
kissmychakram 5 months ago
I'm a fan of roundabouts too, but the one at the Arc de Triomphe terrifies me.
Julie S 5 months ago (edited)
When I went up the Arc de Triomphe I think I spent most of the time just watching the traffic it was mesmerising and terrifying.
Load More Replies... Scott Rackley 5 months ago
In my part of the US we're converting 4 ways to roundabouts about as fast as we can.
Tine Tennessen 5 months ago
Canada likes roundabouts too. I believe they are safer than intersections.
Linley Lou 5 months ago
My husband recently when visiting France, " hold on, we're about to go around a round about, the wrong way, on the wrong side of road with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car!" Lol
#26
For 7 years, the prime minister of Serbia was an openly lesbian woman who has a son with her partner, even though gay marriage and adoption for gay couples are illegal in my country. Today, she is the president of the parliament.
Caffeinated Ape 5 months ago
And the co-leader of the explicitly homophobic, misogynist, racist AfD party in Germany is a lesbian married to a Sri Lankan woman. Make THAT make sense.
XenoMurph 5 months ago
Hypocrisy? Hitler was not blonde or blue eyed. Trump's whole family are immigrants or children of immigrants. Nigel Farage is married to a German. The followers never need sense or logic.
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OneHappyPuppy 5 months ago
Also her last name is a tad bit offensive in English, which makes her the butt of a lot of jokes
#27
In Honduras there's a interesting event that happens every year in a really small town, called "La Lluvia de Peces" (The Rain of Fish), where fish fall from the sky during heavy storms, likely sucked up by waterspouts and dropped on land, leaving locals to collect them for food. There has been some studies and there are several explanations but nothing completely confirmed.
Michael Largey 5 months ago
The residents have a lot to carp about. Particularly this new way of getting catfished.
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UKGrandad 5 months ago
Nobody has seen the fish fall from the sky, they are found on the ground (and not on roofs or caught in trees or other high places) after particularly heavy rain storms. The most likely explanation is that the sudden increase in water levels causes underground streams to overflow, taking the fish along in the ensuing low-level flooding. When the water recedes a lot of the fish are left stranded.
Bored Sailor 5 months ago
In Florida, yes Florida my dad's friends saw it happen and sent us pictures. Open parking lot, fish landing in the bed of his truck. So maybe there nobody has seen it but it has been seen.
Load More Replies... K Barnes 5 months ago
In South Korea there is an annual phenomenon where the sea parts and opens up a pathway that is submerged the rest of the year (out to a little island). Locals and visitors collect seaweed and marine life to feast on. It's very cool. When I went some guy was dressed up as Moses and it made me laugh a LOT.
#28
Philippines is the only other country besides the Vatican where divorce is illegal. And that's just one of the many problems we have here.
Jaya 5 months ago (edited)
That's horrible. Forcing people to stay married if they clearly make each other unhappy, is such a waste of the happy life you could be living. Also, some partners are simply too abusíve to stay with.
S Bow 5 months ago
You're so right. If I hadn't been able to divorce my alcoholic ábụsivé ex, one or the other of us would more than likely not be alive today.
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DC 5 months ago
Philippinean legislation, generally, isn't of the nicer kind. Drüg dealers can be executed. I know, there's several problems stemming from drügs (of which a lot are more a result of prohibition than the actual, searched for, molecule in question, but that's for elsewhen, that's everywhere anyway), but it seems like an overreaction to me, the crime and punishment are nowhere near a somewhat balanced, or even just acceptable, relation. I'm sure that, along with prohibiting divorce, there's a lot more hideously strict law in theory and practise over there, and ... I'd wish, of course so, for all Philippineans that this won't continue for much longer.
Uncle Schmickle 5 months ago
Another example of the intimidation power of the Catholic church.
#29
Poland. We had woman crowned "King" instead of "Queen". And her husband met diplomats from our country in the baths half-naked to show how civilized he is. We enlisted bear in the military and had him reach quite a high rank in the artillery division.
We are a WTF nation in general.
JayhawkJoey 5 months ago
Yeah, the politics there are bad. And I'm American so know bad politics.
Load More Replies... David 5 months ago
And Poland was the first country to let Jews be attorney's in the Courts (700 years ago), invented modern Rocket Science in the 1600s (including the mult-stage rockets science, 300 years before the first one would be built), had Europe's first Constitution, and much more. Poland is interesting to say the least
#30
Montenegro declared war on Japan for no good reason. It is half a world away and has the population of a Japanese village.
DC 5 months ago
Be careful with such - they may declare you being, thus making you, an Arch Uncle. Even without you noticing.
Load More Replies... Remi (He/Him) 5 months ago
Oh I checked this out and turns out Montenegro had been on the Russian side in the Russo-Japanese war, but they forgot to include it in the peace treaty way back in 1905. Over a century and a reclaiming of independence from Jugoslavia later Japan declared peace while recognizing Montenegro as independent
kissmychakram 5 months ago
Shhhhh! You'll wake the over zealous censor-bots.
Load More Replies... OneHappyPuppy 5 months ago
If I'm not mistaken, pictured here is Kotor, the suícide capital of Montenegro. A beautiful city in summer, but dead in winter. The surrounding mountains make short days even shorter and depression runs rampant.
Cydney Golden 5 months ago
They did! In 1901 and the 'war' continued with no actual battles until 2006.
#31
Poland
A bear called Wojtek fought in our army in WW2 and he carried amunition during the battle of Monte Cassino.
He also liked to drink beer and smoke(and eat at the same time) cigarets, he had the rank of corporal during his time in the army, he was bought by our soldiers in Syria later lived in Italy and at the end in Scotland where he was put in a zoo where he died in 1963, he never actually visted poland and we have statues of him in diffrent polish cities, his statues are also in Italy and Scotland.
Brian Droste 5 months ago
I believe I seen a program about him. I believe a troop.or part of the army found him as a lost or his mother was killed as a cub. So the army adopted him. Trained him to carry ammunition. In one battle it was very hard to get ammo to the troops so they had the bear take ammo to the troops. I belive it was very tough or dangerous terrain to transport ammo to the area.
#32
Scotland were world champions in 2004 and 2005 for the sport of ......
ELEPHANT POLO.
fly on the wall 5 months ago
You are right! Scotland should not be allowed to be the world champion in anything other than tossing the cyber.
Load More Replies... Cuppa tea? 5 months ago
I know of African elephant, Indian elephant, but didn't know about Scottish elephant.
Michael Largey 5 months ago
The African and Indian ones are pachyderms. The Scottish ones are MacEderms
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#33
In Australia you are never more than 50m away from a snake. 1 in 3 houses in Brisbane have a resident snake living in the roof.
Boris Long-Johnson 5 months ago
Are you sure it’s not your washing line? Just a very long skinny and extremely tolerant snake?
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
This is not uncommon in suburban Southern US, too. Thankfully, most are non-venomous snakes.
Ripley 5 months ago
In more than 50 years of living in Australia I've only ever seen one snake in the wild.
merlin 5 months ago
I've visited Australia multiple times. Lived there for 3 months one time. And never seen 1 snake in the wild. Spiders on the other hand...shudder
Load More Replies... Tucker Cahooter 5 months ago
Here's one on the move! -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raS3INBu6HM
Marlene Ricker 5 months ago
OMG I am terrified of snakes! I never want to live in a place where snakes are so common!
ROSESARERED 5 months ago (edited)
Eastern brown snakes, venomous, one bite, dead in 20minutes, are regulars in my garden. Only time I sat, nope no gardening today, is if two males are fighting...somewhere nearby there's a h***y female snake...and two very cranky males...nope, no gardening getting done that day....trying to beat the BP *****, and I can't type...sorry edits for spelling
#34
Before invading Spain, napoleon sent a formal letter to the crown along the lines of 'don't worry about my armies crossing the border, we are just on our way to Portugal!'. No one suspected anything until he was literally knocking on the gates of our capital.
LooseSeal's $10 Banana 5 months ago
They had planned to use a giant horse but ran out of time.
TotallyNOTAFox 5 months ago (edited)
I've heard they built a wooden c**k as that is the national animal of France, though the plan failed due to some unfortunate misunderstanding....
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Dav Carro-Ripalda 5 months ago
He was allowed by our (at that time) prime minister, so there you go: the doors to Spain were open to Napoleón and his brother, Pepe Botella.
#35
The two main islands that make up New Zealand didn’t have official names until 2013.
Joanne Webster 5 months ago
In 2013 Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waipounamu were made official alternative names for the North Island and South Island respectively, which also became official. Prior to this, the English names of the islands were not official and the Māori names had stopped being used on official maps.
Caffeinated Ape 5 months ago (edited)
It's subtly amusing how uncreative the English names are. No imagination whatsoever there! Te-Ika-a-Maui and Te Waipounamu are much nicer.
Load More Replies... Caffeinated Ape 5 months ago
I'll chuck in some other random Kiwi trivia. A bunch of the lakes here are named Lake Roto-something. Lake Rotorua, Lake Rotomanu, Lake Rotopounamu. Except "roto" is Maori for "lake", so they've all got tautological names. Lake Rotorua is basically "Lake Two Lakes"!
Rick Murray 5 months ago
The River Avon flows through Bristol. Avon comes from the same root as the Welsh word afon which means....river!
Load More Replies... Michael Largey 5 months ago
And the western island is named Australia, but the New Zealanders don't like it mentioned.
Cydney Golden 5 months ago
Maybe no English names? I'm sure the native peoples had names for their homeland.
#36
Moldova has the largest wine cellar in the world that goes for like 200 km (120 miles?)
also we have one man in iur country who holds the world record for owning the biggest horse shoe collection (over 12 000), he has his own museum full of all his collections btw, it's pretty fun there ngl.
Sally Moen 5 months ago
It's nice to know there are these storehouses of essential things, like the Seed storage, and this wine cellar, just in case
James Twong 5 months ago
Had some Moldovan wine once. I'm sure there are nice vintages but I don't find it surprising that Moldovan wine isn't as well known as French, German or new world wines.
#37
Every year the whole country (UK) gets together with their families to burn an effigy of a dude who almost blew up our parliament 400 years ago. .
The Scout 5 months ago
Guy Fawkes is said to have been "the only man who ever entered the houses of parliament with honest intentions" - only his intention was to blow it up.
Spidercat 5 months ago (edited)
Honestly, as a Brit, I'm never sure if we're celebrating the fact he failed...or the fact that he tried in the first place.
S Bow 5 months ago
My Mancunian spousal unit says most people don't bother with the effigy anymore these days.
Multa Nocte 5 months ago
Hey! You are the only other person than me who calls their married significant other their "spousal unit"!
Load More Replies... T'Mar of Vulcan 5 months ago
South Africa still celebrated Guy Fawkes till the '80s. (We left the Commonwealth in 1961 FFS!)
Helen Rohrlach 5 months ago
We stopped doing this in Australia in the 60's because having a large fire and setting off fireworks during bushfire season is a really stupid idea.
#38
In Bulgaria we eat macaroni with sugar and feta cheese for breakfast.
Upstaged75 5 months ago
After my mom had surgery a friend of hers brought over a dish called "Irish Spaghetti". She showed us the recipe and it included cheddar cheese, noodles, and 2 cups of sugar. 😶😶 I don't remember much else other than that it was disgusting. No idea why or how it was "Irish" either.
LooseSeal's $10 Banana 5 months ago
My grandma (83) makes lasagna with processed Velveeta cheese instead of ricotta. It's from some 1970s cookbook. It's also phenomenally delicious.
Load More Replies... Mari 5 months ago
In Morocco we also use vermicelli, rice or couscous as dessert. Steam or boil it, add sugar and a bit of melted butter. You can flavour it if you like with rose water or orangeblossem water. Add raisins and dried apricots (cooked until soft in syrup) pecans, walnuts, pistachicios and a bit of cinnamon. Very tasty!
SouthernGal 5 months ago
Sounds similar to rice pudding that we have in US.
Load More Replies... Janissary35680 5 months ago (edited)
In Turkey we have somethng called "su böreği", thin sheets of dough boiled and layered with white cheese and parsley, slathered in butter, and baked in the oven. A kind of lasagna in other words. It can be eaten hot or cold and I've seen people sprinkling powdered sugar on it as a breakfast.
Nikki Sevven 5 months ago
I follow a few Turkish chefs on YouTube, and watching them make those thin sheets of dough is mesmerizing.
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Huddo's sister 5 months ago
When I was a kids we would have pasta/rice for dessert with evaporated milk and sugar because it was cheap.
Sally Moen 5 months ago
I can't point fingers, my favorite dinner as a child was heated canned cream corn poured over slice of white bread. (Creamed corn is just corn kernels lightly smashed with added sugar)
#39
Norway, often mentioned as one of the most well-run countries in the world, runs on caffeine.
We drink insane amounts of coffee, and we’re one of the world’s top consumers per capita. But it doesn’t stop there: Pepsi Max is our top-selling soft drink, making us (apparently) the only country where diet soda beats sugary soda. We alone drink over 9% of the world’s Pepsi Max.
Clearly, caffeine is the secret to surviving the cold and dark winters.
#40
In Finland we have a brand of bread called Jussi Pussi.
Do what you will with this information.
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago (edited)
"Jussi = Johnny. Pussi = small bag or pouch. In the eye of a Finnish customer, this reads "Johnny´s pouch". Not that dramatic."
Rinso The Red 5 months ago
yeah, that just makes it sound like a scr*tum instead of a vag
Load More Replies... King Of Birbz 5 months ago
Ah yes, family gatherings must be great. "Hey Ma, give me some of that Jussi Pussi"
#41
Mississippi was the last state in the USA to ratify the 13th Amendment, which is the amendment that abolished slavery.
This occurred in 2013.
While, sure, Mississippi certainly has its history of slavery, this was more of a bookkeeping issue. In the USA, as long as three-fourths of the total number of states ratifies an amendment to the US constitution, it becomes a law for everyone. Even though Mississippi voted against the 13th Amendment, enough states voted for it. Now it is federal law. At that point, a state ratifying the amendment is more of a box checking exercise rather than having any real impact.
In the mid 90s someone realized that, hey, Mississippi still hadn't voted for it. The state legislature came together, voted unanimously to "end slavery", but the paperwork didn't get submitted...and no one noticed until it was finally dealt with properly in 2013.
XenoMurph 5 months ago
Except slavery is still not outlawed. There are hundreds of thousands of black slaves in the US. Slavery is permitted within the judicial system. Enforced servitude is permitted within prisons. White judges own shares in private prisons, which make a profit from work done by prisoners, the majority of whom are black. $11 BILLION in goods and services provided by prison labour in the US last year.
Janissary35680 5 months ago (edited)
XenoMurph is correct, literally. The exact wording of the 13th Amendment is "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime... shall exist within the United States..." If you read that carefully, it means that slavery is a possible punishment for a crime. In other words, slavery is not illegal in the US. It has never really been "abolished". I pointed this out to an instructor in a college class on US Constitutional Law in the 60s and got roundly criticized for it at the time because "Nobody has ever interpreted it that way." With the present administration and SCOTUS, it can't be far off. Probably right after SCOTUS guts the 14th Amendment.
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
Paperwork didn't get submitted ... wonder why? For shame, Mississippi.
Mary Kelly 5 months ago
they didn't need to ...the 13th amendment o the u.s. constitution overrides state costutions...
#42
Ireland used women who had premarital s*x as slave labour for decades.
Uncle Schmickle 5 months ago
Yep, the good old sympathetic and charitable Christian nuns. How many illegitimate babies' bodies were discovered in the cistern system in that convent for unmarried mothers ?
Moira Munguia 5 months ago
And never a word of rebuke for the men who impregnated them and then abandoned them. Ireland wrote a constitution that made the church more powerful than the Oireachtas ( lawmakers) They protected the kiddy fiddlers and all the lying cheating spineless bastards for years
Forrest Hobbs 4 months ago
A man having impregnated a woman and then abandoned her, a decent society around that woman would look after her - not lock her up and use her as slave labour, and discard her child in a pit as if it were any old rubbish should that child die. There's never any excuse for wickedness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Baby_Homes_Commission_of_Investigation#Deaths
Load More Replies... #43
Ireland is the only country that has a lower population today than it did in the 19th century.
Cuppa tea? 5 months ago
More than a million died as a direct impact of famine. Population pre 1850 was almost 8 millions. In 30 years it was half.
Load More Replies... #44
Norwegians eat more pizza per person than any other country in the world.
TMTMTMTM 5 months ago
Their most popular pizza is None Pizza with Left Beef.
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#45
Canada is as tall as it is wide (ish).
#46
Argentina, if you had your 7th son or 7th daughter (so you need 6 of the same s*x first, regardless of having some of different s*x in between), then he or she can get a "presidential godparenthood". Giving the person actual benefits in life like free education (university too) with some allowances as well, kinda pointless thinking that there's public education for all, but still, this is an actual written law. This comes from ancient European myth that the kid could be a werewolf or a witch.
Sly Schlang 4 months ago
Were a werewolf uneducated, which wich would want them?
Load More Replies... Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
The 7th son of a 7th son is supposed to be blessed or cursed in some way, the myths differ.
Heidrance 5 months ago
this kind of feels like it was invented by the 7th children. like Miss Tick the witch in the Discworld Tiffany Aching series spreading "helpful" witch-finding pamphlets saying things like "if you catch a witch, the best thing to do is give her a nice meal, a cup of tea, and a ride to the next town, so she doesn't curse you."
Strahd Ivarius 5 months ago
Does the current President is aware of all that wasteful spending?
Marina Arcagni 4 months ago
Yes, therefore he is planning to ban this law
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#47
In England, it is illegal to "handle a Salmon suspiciously". *The Salmon Act, 1986*.
Also in England, it is prohibited for a Welshman to be in the city of Chester before dawn, and after sunset.
Lol. I love this country.
S Bow 5 months ago
How, one wonders, do you handle a salmon "suspiciously "? On second thought, maybe I don't want to know.
WindySwede 5 months ago
Have you seen the slapping scene from Monty Python? An direct result of that.. /jk
Load More Replies... Spidercat 5 months ago
Aaaah but you can shoot a welshman inside the walls of Chester but ONLY on sight and ONLY with a bow and arrow. If you see one and nip off to get your bow then it's illegal. Weird but true.
Janissary35680 5 months ago
Wasn't there something similar about swans? (Interacting with them I mean not curfewing.)
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
The one about the Welsh in Chester's a bit of a myth. It's said that in 1403 the Earl of Chester did instruct that a curfew be put on the Welsh, but it was never a law and from what I've just read I'm not at all sure there's any reliable record of the instruction.. More here: https://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Shoot_the_Welsh
#48
The United States tried to send all the slaves back to Africa and soon realized it was mathematically impossible, especially given the means of the day. This is how Liberia was founded.
Johnnynatfan 5 months ago
Well now trump is trying to send all brown people with an accent to anywhere but here and even with modern modes of transportation its not going as well as he would like. F**k that guy.
Cydney Golden 5 months ago
Some law school student in Florida in 2025 wrote an award winning paper demanding that all people of color leave the USA. He said they should be given one year. He won a f**king law school award for that.
#49
Bulgaria. My country didn’t change its name in 1300 years
Jaya 5 months ago
I have to admit that for the majority of countries I have no idea at all about how long they've been existing under their current name.
Sapna Sarfare 5 months ago
Bharat, Hindustan and India.. though we call it bharat
Load More Replies... Cydney Golden 5 months ago
I think we should all be referring to countries by their actual names and not the ones our country chooses. And yes, it's still the Gulf of Mexico.
#50
Ukraine is very digitalised country, Ukrainians have government app, where we can show our IDs, driving licence and all the certificates about our education and even get married online.
#51
Ireland had the first copyright case in the sixth century. The ruling was ‘to every cow belongs its calf, to every book its copy’
XenoMurph 5 months ago
ireland has some of the best written history of the middle ages. Interesting fact, English had no space in its writing. So words were all pushed up together makingitverydifficulttoread. Irish monks introduced to space to English writing. Ireland's contribution to English literature is literally... nothing
C B Jones 5 months ago
Thus proving that sometimes, a little nothing is everything :)
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#52
Spain. We have free trains
King Of Birbz 5 months ago
oh goodie so i can just go to a trainyard in Spain and take whichever one i like back home with me?
#53
Canada: My hometown of Winnipeg is (indirectly) the namesake of Winnie the Pooh and is occasionally colder than the surface of Mars.
Also, the “Red Scare” that was prevalent in the US in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s started in Canada with the Gouzenko Affair, when a GRU agent at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa defected and brought with him evidence of a massive Soviet spy ring in North America.
Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
Venus is insanely hot. 864 F average, hotter in spots and at times. I did a term paper on Venus in college, back in the 70s.
Load More Replies... #54
In France, you can marry your cousin or a dead person
Upstaged75 5 months ago
How the hell do you marry a dead person? Do they need to be there in person?
cecilia kilian 5 months ago
The circumstances are very restricted. If the marriage had been publicly announced (the banns have been posted), and the future spouse dies in the line of duty or in a work accident. The surviving fiancé/fiancée can appeal to the French President for permission to marry their no longer living partner.
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Anthony Elmore 5 months ago (edited)
Is your cousin your cousin? Are they dead? You have your answer. On an odd note, I leave this strangely relative fact: Arkansas is the only US state where it is legal to A) own a Kangeroo without a permit, B) practice b3stiality (censor), and C) engage in necrophilia. What you do with this fact is up to you. I don't remember what exactly led my train of thought to compile this information, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
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Rika 5 months ago
France is one of very few countries in the world legally recognizing posthumous marriage. On average, 50 marriages like that are celebrated every year. But no, you can't just decide to marry a dead person: you need proof that the dead person wanted to marry you + permission from their parents/close relatives. A court will then decide whether your request makes sense and they can send it to be approved by the president. It's a complicated, long process (about 2 years) and it doesn't give you any right to your partner's estate. It's truly something done out of love.
Danger Muppet 5 months ago (edited)
China has Ghost Brides. I understand the practice of marring one is becoming popular again? As I was typing this I realized yesterday, July 1st is also the first day of Ghost Month.
Boris Long-Johnson 5 months ago
I don’t think that’s right. I had a French friend who was disgusted the UK allowed first cousin marriage (people have tried to change it but there’s a strong pushback by a specific community despite significant indications of birth defects https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g38l07895o ) also Google seems to think not too : https://www.besteventscompany.com/blog-4/our-guide-to-the-legalities-of-getting-married-in-france
SouthernGal 5 months ago
Long history of royals inbreeding to keep the blood “pure”. This has resulted in many cases of hemophilia, the Habsburg jaw and many other physical and psychological abnormalities.
Load More Replies... #55
The biggest land border France has with another country is with Brasil.
Pernille 5 months ago
And France also have a land border with the Netherlands, I'll let someone else explain, and there might be a prize for the correct answer.
Iva Kazalova 5 months ago (edited)
St Martin, I’ve been there, it’s beautiful
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Caffeinated Ape 5 months ago
Oh! I only just discovered this today, funnily enough. French Guiana in South America is part of France. I think I'd always assumed it was an independent territory in free-association with France or something, but it is in fact an actual region of the country of France.
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Jane Hower 5 months ago
SEE!! Walls DO WORK, and many places have them. Thank GOD we are getting our up higher and better now that Trump is in.
#56
Ireland once had a law that made it illegal to be drunk... in your own home.
Under the Licensing Act 1872, it was technically illegal to be drunk in any public or private place, including your own house. The law stated that “every person found drunk… in any highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on any licensed premises, shall be liable to a penalty…"
But in court cases, “any place” was occasionally argued to include your own kitchen if it was accessible to others or if others were present. While rarely enforced, it remained on the books for over 100 years.
Bonus WTF: It was once also illegal in Ireland to be drunk while in charge of a cow. 🐄🍺
Yes, you could literally be done for drunk cow-handling.
XenoMurph 5 months ago
There were laws introduced by theProtestant led Parliament intended to give the authorities an excuse to arrest any agitators. So they made common things like education and dancing illegal, so that they could arrest whoever they wanted at any time, and accuse them of one of these common practices. Sometimes there was simply a law that they could simply arrest any catholic, without reason.
XenoMurph 5 months ago
If that's the case, you're really doing it all wrong.
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#57
India once had a university in 700 BC with over 10K students.
#58
We have a town called ‘Wait a while’ or ‘Waimate’ in Māori
DC 5 months ago
At least, that would safe them from ever having to rename that place.
Load More Replies... tmw 5 months ago (edited)
newfoundland has a town called d***o (dil do) . it is next to 'come by chance'. for reals.
#59
Abortion is absolutely completely illegal in the UK
However, a more modern law states that, if 2 (or more) reputable doctors confirm that your abortion is necessary, then the government is required to defend your criminal conviction on your behalf. A defence against, themselves, which by default just results in a settlement, of nothing.
It is a stupid workaround because actually updating or even codifying the legal system is too much to ask.
Andrew Burke 5 months ago
From what I heard recently on the radio, abortion is also illegal here in Germany! Though it never goes to conviction I'm guessing.
TotallyNOTAFox 5 months ago (edited)
Abortion isn't illegal here in Germany per se, article 218a states that it has to be done within the first 12 weeks and after consulting a doctor - doing it after that can lead to prison for 1 - 5 years.
Load More Replies... Dav Carro-Ripalda 5 months ago
In the 80's London was the place to go from Spain in order to get an abortion done.
Boris Long-Johnson 5 months ago (edited)
I suspect this is written by someone who has no idea England!=UK. That seems to be England and Wales not UK. “ Abortion in England and Wales is still a criminal offence. Under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (which criminalises later abortions), having or providing an abortion remains a crime that carries a life sentence. This is despite these laws having being repealed for Northern Ireland by Westminster in 2019 and 2020.”. https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/53621/documents/4252
Valegro 5 months ago
Thought i was having a stroke reading this font. Why do you insist on using this??
Load More Replies... #60
Brazil (alongside our pals Argentina and Uruguay) k**led off like 90% of the male population of Paraguay during the war in the 19th century. They were on their way to become a local power, and were basically set back to the stone age.
Funny personal anecdote: my great-grandfather was Paraguayan; we *infer* he immigrated here shortly after the war (who knows why), but can't be sure. Some twenty years ago, my aunt went to the Paraguayan consulate at our state's capital to see if there was anyway we could access his documents without having to travel all the way to Paraguay. The clerk there told her (supposedly in a very rude way) there were no documents left from that time to access; "los brasileros lo han quemado todo", he said ("the Brazilians burnt everything").
Thankfully that was the last war we took part in (other than WWII).
Sue User 5 months ago
Same with tracing your family roots if you from the South in USA. The records were burnt during the Civil War.
Mary Kelly 5 months ago
not true at all...census records, wills, deeds, church records are still around...ever watch finding your roots or go onto ancestry.com?
Load More Replies... #61
Age of consent in Germany is 14 with no age gap clause. I only found that out recently, definitely a WTF!
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago
"The legal age of consent in Germany is 14. However, it is illegal to engage in sexual acts with a minor under the age of 18 by taking advantage of an exploitative situation. This can include exploiting the victim’s lack of capacity for sexual self-determination."
Mary Kelly 5 months ago
if the child is 14 and the adult is 18 or older, the adult is inherently taking advantage of an exploitive situation....
Load More Replies... TotallyNOTAFox 5 months ago (edited)
There is actually an age gap clause - a partner that is over the age of 21 is prohibited from having intercourse with a person below the age of 18
#62
South Africa had its own RuPaul-style drag celebrity named Evita Bezuidenhout who dressed like RuPaul and talked politics like Bill Maher.
Ian Webling 5 months ago
He is still alive. He played both male and female characters and is nothing like Bill Maher. He shows were banned so often that he took to using direct quotes from politicians with only the timing and emphasis changed. He claimed that because of that he did not pay taxes - he paid royalties.
T'Mar of Vulcan 5 months ago
Pieter Dirk Uys. He's a comedian who, as Evita, pretended to be in charge of a "homeland" called Bapetikosweti that had a border with South Africa running through her living room. He'd trip over it all the time and go, "Vervlakste grens!" (Stupid border.) He was one of the few people who could stand up to the apartheid government without getting arrested.
#63
In France, two regions (Alsace , moselle) are not exactly laïc and church and state are not fully separated. I grew up with mandatory Christian studies in public school between ages 5 to 10 . we have more public holidays than the rest of France and our social security is also a bit better.
We have a lot of specificities due to the fact that those region have been German for a long time
honestly, even French people barely know that.
Sarah Gerber 5 months ago
The records on my husband's ancestor's would show that sometimes they were French and sometimes German. I realized they came from Alsace.
Strahd Ivarius 5 months ago
The leaders of Alsace negotiated keeping the more favorable German Reich laws (including Social Security) when the region came back under French rule after 1919. And even after WWII, where Alsace was joined again to the Reich for a few years, nobody wanted to rescind that.
#64
Estonia has the most unicorns per capita.
#65
When someone dies, we don t just mourn, we make coliva also: a sweet wheat cake for the dead. We all eat it ( the ones alive). That s in Romania
SouthernGal 5 months ago
A friend had something she called “Death Salad”. It’s customary in the Southern US to make and take food to the family after someone dies. This was the salad she always made to carry. It was quite tasty!
Mary Kelly 5 months ago (edited)
lived in the south...never heard of it...no recipes or mention online...i have heard about tomato aspic at sourtern funerals, but not a death salad or a funeral salad...and, there is no such recipe in southern living..
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Mary Kelly 5 months ago
the wheat cake, which is really sweetened bulghur w/ nuts and dried fruits molded into a mound...it is decorated with religius symbols and eaten by mourners in eastern orthodox churches...
Sally Moen 5 months ago
I'm trying to remember where I heard people bake funeral bread. Maybe that's a Southern US tradition, like funeral meats
#66
Argentina's national sport is not soccer, it is "duck" played with the carcass of a duck. Nobody practices it like they did a hundred years ago.
#67
Our country is famous for having some of the most passive aggressive people on the planet. But somehow tricked the rest of the world into thinking we’re the ‘nicest’ people.
And I think it’s interesting you all believe that.
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago (edited)
No one thinks we're the nicest people on the planet.
Load More Replies... 
#68
Czech Republic has 11 % of alcoholics 🥲
Michael Largey 5 months ago (edited)
The World Health Organization estimates that there are 400 million alcoholics in the world. If the Czech Republic has 11% of them, that's 44 million alcoholics in a total population of less than 11 million Czechs.
Don Adams 5 months ago
Either OP meant that 11%bof the population are alcoholics, or everyone drinks enough for 4 people.
Load More Replies... #69
We (Ireland) accidentally legalized k******e and e*****y for one day ! They were the best of times, they were the worst of times. We also sent a turkey to the Eurovision, but sure look !
kissmychakram 5 months ago
Kerosene and Entropy. It's the name of my Guns and Roses tribute band.
Peeka_Mimi 5 months ago
In Colorado we had the shortest prohibition ever. During lockdown they declared liquor stores and dispensaries were not considered essential. That lasted from 3p to 5p before Colorado leaders realized the outcry was too much. Also Ketamine, Shrooms, and DMT are legal here along with w33d.
My O My 5 months ago (edited)
Do you have a problem with addic'ts hanging around evereywhere? I read that legalising d***s betters the social situation of dr'ug users
Load More Replies... 
#70
4th largest airforce in 1960. Country of ~8 mil at the time.
>!Sweden!
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago
Neutral then and determined to defend itself against any threat.
#71
There are places in romania where its almost fully hungarian speaking. like thise people even refuse to speak romanian despite being in romania and if you speak romanian to them they d pretend they dont speak it (they do).
#72
I just found out Thomas Jefferson was only 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence
Dav Carro-Ripalda 5 months ago
Well... Newton was 23 when he discovered the differential calculus and the universal gravitational law. But he published 20 years later.
Paul Kinnear 5 months ago
You mean the guy that actually obeyed the Supreme Court?? Riiiiiggghhtt... 😂
Load More Replies... #73
We Dutch like to eat raw herring. We take it out of its little tray, dip its decapitated corpse into chopped onions, lift it above our mouths, and bite off a big chunk.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
If it's anything like canned sardines, I would probably like it. Especially with a bit of mustard.
Nota Robot 5 months ago
Mustard wouldn't work with it. Personally though, I prefer my herring on a bun, as opposed to by the tail ("aan de staart")
Load More Replies... Scott Logan 4 months ago
Absolutely beautiful stuff,i could honestly eat it for rest of my life
Sally Moen 5 months ago
I only wish pickled herring was more readily available in the Seattle area. You can find smoked salmon every where, but pickled herring is not common. Just like pickles and marinated artichokes, pickled herring is good for snacking while standing in your kitchen at midnight
#74
In Tajikistan, milk tea is taken with salt, never sugar.
C B Jones 5 months ago
I'd happily give it a go. Tea and milk are neither sweet nor savoury themselves, so whyever not?
Calane E. Vanya 5 months ago
what? milk is sweet. it contains lactose (glucose + galactose). lactose is broken down in the mouth by an enzyme in saliva.
Load More Replies... KM 5 months ago
Not just Tajikistan, other places too, I've had it in Pakistan and Kalmykia (in a mongol household). Honestly, it's not too bad, just don't expect it to taste the same as sweet tea)) There's a more extreme (for me) option, where yak butter is used instead of milk, so you get a lot more fat with your salty tea.
Scott Logan 4 months ago
How much salt? In Scotland we have salt with porridge not sugar. That's the English way! Get ursell the f**k man
#75
Singapore is likely the only country which has increased its land mass by 25% without war or territorial disputes. We do so via land reclamation from the sea.
Michael Largey 5 months ago
It's done land reclamation, but not enough for a 25% increase.
Load More Replies... Chewie Baron 5 months ago
Monaco lost a lot of land to France and. Ow they use land reclaimed from the sea.
#76
Not a big wtf I guess, but we hang birthday calendars in our toilets. I guess so we can't forget and have something to read while we're there. It's in the Netherlands 🇳🇱
WindySwede 5 months ago
It at previously stated here on BP. A visitor should not add their own to these calenders...
TheElderNom 5 months ago
A birthday calendar is a calendar that lacks years or weekdays. It only has the months and the dates so you can reuse it year after year to remember birthdays or stuff like anniversaries. The idea of putting it up in the bathroom is so you'll see it often. And I guess you can also contemplate gifts while doing your business.
Load More Replies... #77
US. Two of our states went to war over land one of them didn't even border. Thrice. Same states all 3 times.
#78
In theory you could get fined for slamming a car door in Switzerland.
#79
Canadian soldiers were so nasty (no one wanted to be taken prisoner by the Canadians) in WW1. The world came up with rules. The Geneva Conventions.
Michael Ohman 5 months ago (edited)
According to Wikipedia this is not strictly true. They were first established in 1864.
Strahd Ivarius 5 months ago
The worst ones were the Scottish regiments, where German POW had to endure bagpipes...
Mary Kelly 5 months ago
could not find any reputable source stating this, only reddit, quora, and tabloids...and, the first geneva convention took place before wwi
Druth Vlodovic 5 months ago
Never p**s of the peaceniks. They don't care for fighting, they just want to finish and get the F home.
#80
A little known fact about Scotland.
A 2016 study by the Celtic Genome Institute and the University of Inverness identified a rare mitochondrial mutation, MT-HG17(Picta) This mutation was found exclusively in a small group of Highland women descended from ancient Pictish tribes. The mutation appears to halt cellular aging entirely. According to Professional Phil McAvity, these women exhibit no telomere degradation, no signs of age-related decline, and are functionally immune to most diseases.
Locals call them ‘Gobhar Beag Feargach’ and they can theoretically live for centuries.
But they do die, just not naturally. Anecdotal records suggest they only die when enraged or insulted enough to do it out of spite. 129 year old Annie Mallish supposedly dropped dead in Feb 1983 after being arrested for fighting 5 Policemen.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
Gobhar Beag Feargach = "Angry Little Goat" according to Bing translate. Also, surely Phil McAvity is a dentist? 😉
Load More Replies... Jane Hower 5 months ago
That is interesting. I'm now 80 and no one believes it. When I was 72 I had my telomere's 'tested' or whatever, and they showed that I was only 40. My ancestery is German and English, but maybe there is a bit of Scottish in there. hehe
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What do you think ?
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
A lot of these were very interesting! And some were questionable. Wish the BP writers would vet these "facts."
Nikki Sevven 5 months ago
USA...we do not have a homogenous culture. We have regional cultures, to the extent that we might as well be different countries. I'm a New Englander, and have very little in common with Southerners, Midwesterners, etc.
The Short Lady 5 months ago
Instead of censoring, BP could warn of possible triggers on the main page.
King Of Birbz 5 months ago
The facts were interesting but geez, chill out with all the censoring, BP.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
A lot of these were very interesting! And some were questionable. Wish the BP writers would vet these "facts."
Nikki Sevven 5 months ago
USA...we do not have a homogenous culture. We have regional cultures, to the extent that we might as well be different countries. I'm a New Englander, and have very little in common with Southerners, Midwesterners, etc.
The Short Lady 5 months ago
Instead of censoring, BP could warn of possible triggers on the main page.
King Of Birbz 5 months ago
The facts were interesting but geez, chill out with all the censoring, BP.
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