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People Share Bizarre True Facts About Their Countries, Here Are The 45 Most Interesting Ones
Interview With Expert
It can be surprisingly easy to forget that there are a lot of curiosities around the world that you would miss if you never traveled or interacted with other people.
Someone asked “What's a crazy fact about your country?” and people from across the globe shared their best examples. We got in touch with veteran traveler Jayne Gorman to discuss learning more about the world. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites, and be sure to comment your own thoughts and opinions below.
More info: Ourtravelhome
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
UK.
During the ad breaks on certain TV shows, (such as Corrie), we have what we call the TV pick up, when the British National Grid gives an extra boost of power to manage the sudden influx of people getting up to switch on their kettles to make themselves a cup of tea. There are people whose jobs are to predict exactly when these pick ups will occur.
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#2
We've had a war with Denmark for the past 25 years over ownership of some random island. It's fought by exchanging alcoholic beverages and exchanging flags being planted on the island every once in a while.
unfortunately the war just ended this year.. :( we split the island down the middle... So disappointing of an ending to an epic war.
#3
Belgium went 594 days without goverment and didn't become a crime ridden dystopia.
Bored Panda got in touch with Jayne Gorman, from the travel blog Ourtravelhome to learn more about exploring the world and the things you might discover. First and foremost, we wanted to know, after years of traveling, what she would tell her younger self.
“Don’t overthink it, just do it. When I was younger I had a habit of turning things down if it wasn’t the right time or might have been complicated. I distinctly remember backpacking in Asia and deciding not to include Laos on the itinerary as I could always come back another time. Well, guess what, 15 years later an opportunity to pop into Laos has not presented itself! Now, as a 38-year-old mum with a 4-year-old and a mortgage, I look back at the freedom I had then and think I probably could have done a little bit more with it.”
#4
In Finland we have 5.5 million people and 3.2 million saunas.
Ólafur Unnar Jóhannsson 9 months ago
That's the reason Finland is the world's happiest nation.
#5
After we put the Indigenous people on reserves we allegedly wanted them to become farmers, but we didn't just teach them to farm the way White folks farmed with the 19th century technology that was current at the time. We had a "peasant farm" policy where we gave them rudimentary tools and made them farm with old timey techniques, ostensibly due to the belief that they had to "evolve" toward modern farming on their own, but actually so that they could not compete with White farmers and basically stayed farming at a subsistence level or failed at it altogether.
(Canada, if you're wondering.)
Content Wombat 9 months ago
Just one of all the atrocities heaped on the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Absolutely horrendous.
#6
Believe it or not, Kazakhstan is the number one exporter of potassium in the world. All of your potassium supplements come from here. I would know, I own a potassium factory.
When it comes to traveling, spending money sometimes isn’t a matter of convenience, it can actually affect your safety! So we asked Jayne Gorman to talk a bit about when it’s worth spending that little bit extra. “I think it’s all about working within your budget and making smart choices! Personally, I’ve always favored a mix of high/low travel. I’ll often fly with a budget airline on a short-haul flight so I can splurge on a boutique hotel in my destination. I’d definitely pay a premium for transport if it gives me more time at the destination. But I might self-cater my lunch that day to make up for it!”
#8
Still my favourite fact is the fact one of our prime ministers probably drowned and to remember him we named a pool after him.
Another contender is the fact that in one of the world wars the game plan for if we were invaded (and lost) was to lead them into wildlife.
#9
In Bulgaria shaking your head means "yes" and nodding means "no". My country is the only one in the world which has reverse meaning behind the shaking and nodding. So if you happen to spend your holiday in Bulgaria be prepared to not get confused by this. :D
“Always research the options for airport transfers. In some destinations, Marrakech and Lisbon, for example, a taxi is much faster and just as affordable as public transport. But in Luxembourg, where I’m headed next, all public transport is free. Pre-planning your arrival saves time, money, and stress.” Indeed, Americans might be surprised that in most places there is dedicated transport to and from the airport.
#10
I live in the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare and 14% of working age adults don't have health insurance.
#11
Most of us stopped using the flags of our country in public or wearing the jerseys of our National team because nowadaya those things translate to supporting the president, who is f*****g stupid.
That's Brazil for ya
#12
We made a commercial openly admitting we misunderstood a native word and ended up naming our country "village".
We also wanted to hear if she had any extra advice for traveling somewhere completely new in general. “Start a collection on Instagram and save posts with top tips and things you’d like to do at your destination. Save points of interest to a Google map. I create a new list for every destination I visit and will save my hotel, popular restaurants, attractions, etc to a map in advance so it’s easier to plan my days and navigate the destination,” she shared with Bored Panda.
#13
Our landmass looks like a boot and I think it must've kicked our biggest island at some point, because it's moving away from us by 1cm a year.
#14
We ate our prime minister. Oh and we also ate his brother
#15
We have more bikes than people
Fembot 9 months ago
As a Dutchie, I’ll illustrate how this happens: we’re a family of four and have 9 bikes between us. One regular for each of us, for going to school, into town, friends, a bit of shopping etc. Then we have two e-bikes (one old for me and a flashy one that my partner uses), these are for longer distance home-work, 10-30 kms. We have one mountainbike, one racing bike, and lastly one older, a bit s**t bike our kids like to use for going to places where people are careless, like the station or sports field. I know it’s a lot but not at all uncommon in households I know
“As data roaming with your own network provider can be very expensive, I recommend downloading an eSIM before traveling. I use a company called Airalo to buy a local eSIM and load it up with a cheap data package as I would literally be lost without my phone.” You can find more on her website or on her Instagram, and if you want to learn more about life in some countries, check out our article on people confirming or denying stereotypes.
#16
The first King of England made a law that everyone had to be in bed by 8pm.
PFD 9 months ago
OP refers to mediaeval curfew, originally a requirement that home fires be banked after a certain time (usually said to be 8 or 9 pm) as a precaution against fire (curfew is from cuevrefeu, cover-fire). This was signalled by the ringing of bells. The "first king of England" refers inaccurately to William I, traditionally said to have introduced this law. That part is b******t history though. Apparently the evidence is patchy in inconclusive. However similar laws existed across Europe, and in England specifically, there was probably no single national law but a patchwork of varying local laws and customs.
#17
One of the many is, Denmark is the first country to legalize porn and the porn industry along with sex work such as prostitution/escorts (As long as you’re turned 18)
Lyone Fein 9 months ago
Legalization means workers can unionize. They can prosecute customers or employers who abuse them. They can negotiate contracts, etc.
#18
It’s illegal to handle salmon suspiciously
Janeybent42 9 months ago
It is suspicious they have a finger on top of the knife. Tuck that forefinger in!
The.Butterfly.Effect.530 9 months ago
I thought salmon only *ran* into northern pacific costal rivers... that's why I love reading these and learning new things
Auntriarch 9 months ago
Salmon fishing is possible in the river where I live, south west England
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#19
Our country has the most number of vegetarians yet our chicken dishes are widely popular.
#20
France.
We have the longest domestic flights : The first one is from French Polynesia to Paris ; The second one is from Reunion Island to Paris, their duration is respectively 16h and 12h.
Oh and our longest land border is with Brazil.
#21
The amount of dialects, compared to it's size. I am talking about Switzerland.
There is no exact number. Strictly speaking, differences can be found in every village compared to the surrounding villages, so that one could also say with some justification that there are at least as many dialects as there are villages, which is a huge amount.
Switzerland has always been shaped by conquests and immigration, and so very different languages have been able to coexist over the centuries. Even before the 6th century, groups with alemannic dialects immigrated to Switzerland, breaking up the nationwide spread of romance languages. Since 1848, German, French and Italian have been considered the national languages of the Confoederatio Helvetica.
#22
We were the first country to legalize same-sex unions in 1989 🏳️🌈
#23
My country's whole economic system relied on families of 10 children supporting the 2 parents. And that's the reason it totally failed, along with heavy corruption and nobody paying taxes, left us with being a country in debt for the last 13 years. Right now, the economic power relies only on tourism and nautical commerce.
#24
Women health care is practically non existent
You can't go to a gynecologist without being bullied by your doctor or their assistant. They will judge you before you even try to explain what the problem is. There is no education on period or cramps or anything. No sex ed.
#25
It has no official national language but many of its citizens think it's English.
#26
The full name of our capital which roughly translates to city of the gods is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit
#27
the age of sexual consent used to be 12. yes, you heard that right, 12. it wasn’t even that long ago that this was changed, it was changed to 16 just back in march.
#28
We are most invaded country on earth. Scoring first with whooping 200+ times.
#29
we have 11 time zones and it's so big that from our capital to some cities you need to go over 6 days by train.
#30
There's an ongoing court case against a man, who entered the church with a hat.
It lasted 4 years and is still going, the procurators once again put it under scrutiny.
#31
The movie The Wolf Of Wall Street was financed with our taxpayers' money. Also we lost a plane.
#32
Despite being a country with continental proportions, more than 8 million square kilometers, we've got a notorious lack of atypical natural phenomena. No volcanoes, no earthquakes, no hurricanes, no tsunamis, it doesn't even snow anywhere in the entire country. On the other hand, we're in the list of megadiverse countries, with six continental biomes.
.
.[EDIT] Ok people, it does snow in here, kinda rarely and only in a very small part of it, but it does. It was a generalization because the huge majority of us have never experienced it in the country, I'd risk saying more people from here have seen snow while traveling abroad than people have within the country. Sorry for the exclusion, I was just making it practical for the argument. Also, fora bolsonaro.
#33
Our navy is the second largest air force in the world
Mustafa Kiziroğlu 9 months ago
Don't forget the other navy with 400 fighter jets and also numerous ones belong to Air National Guards.
#34
you can marry a dead person (with presidential agreement and under special conditions)
#36
We have the highest density of castles in the world, if the same rate were to be applied to New York, Manhattan alone would have two of them. If you were to apply our castles per capita (roughly 1/5000), New York would have 13,000, the US would have 514,000.
#37
We are fourth in alcohol consumption, somewhere in top 10 tobacco use, #1's in beer per capita and over 30% of people here are obese
zububonsai 9 months ago (edited)
I take a wild guess and look in the general direction of... 🇨🇿 Czech Republic?
#38
We have the highest number of porn stars per 1 million inhabitants....wow.
#39
Our country declared war to the US sometime during WWI (or WWII? Can't remember), which to this day hasn't been ended with a piece treaty or anything. So we've technically been in war with the US for the last 100 (80?) years.
#40
On one end of the country, there’s a cocktail where people drink whiskey with a real cut off human toe inside. On the other end, you get a certificate for drinking whiskey and kissing a dead fish.
Downunderdude 9 months ago
The Sourtoe Cocktail is practically a rite of passage for visitors to Dawson City, Yukon. It's a simple drink (a shot of whiskey, usually Yukon Jack) with an unusual accompaniment: a mummified human toe.
#43
Do people even know where Slovakia is
#44
We haven't been hit hard or at all by any of the current world economic disasters.
#45
We have the world's highest number of ministers per capita (excluding microstates) with one minister per 10.000 people.
What do you think ?
David Paterson 9 months ago
I loved that most of these didn't name the country. Made it a great puzzle. With answers in the comments section.
Load More Replies...
StrangeOne 9 months ago
All of you complaining the country wasn't named, it's because the source of this post is taken from a Reddit thread of guess my country riddles. But the answer, for most of them, can be found clicking on the username of the Redditors to the right under the posts. It will bring you to the source.
Debbie 9 months ago
So we better go read reddit then? If they steal/reuse content, steal/reuse all of it, not just half.
Load More Replies...
Petra Schaap 9 months ago
By far most people in Belgium speak Dutch/Flemish, yet for some reason everyone thinks everyone speaks French. (oh and theres some German too)
Fynne 9 months ago
Most of these were just people hating on their countries which makes me sad. Also this is from a 2 year old Reddit post. Anyone remember when BP used to make their own stuff, and it was user generated. I think I might just switch to Reddit as that's what this site has become anyway
PhaseWitFact 9 months ago
This would've been much better without country bashing. Give us some fun facts without bashing and preaching. We get it already.
Gavin Johnson 9 months ago
My country was involved in the shortest war ever. The U.K. attacked Zanzibar at 0900 27th August 1896 and between 38 and 45 minutes later they surrendered. In the 16th century, a London law forbade wife beating after 9:00pm, but only because the noise disturbed people’s sleep. Y’know, sleep is valuable 😳
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censorshipsucks 9 months ago
We have 11 official languages, but most people give up and use English.
Guess Undheit 9 months ago (edited)
Trivia question, some countries I have no relation to: (1) What are the least and most densely populated countries with at least 10 million people? (2) What are the least and most densely populated countries with at least 100 million people? [ Hint: only three countries answer these questions, not four. ]
Matthew Fox 9 months ago
In the US: the astonishing number of people both inside and outside this country who think we can order firearms online and have them shipped to our front door. Or that it's easier to buy a firearm than it is to get a library card.
George Hylands 9 months ago
Wales: gave the world Viagra, and the first proper railway journey.
Gavin Johnson 9 months ago
TIL Joseph ‘Job’ Daniels from Aberystwyth, Wales, emigrated to the US in the 18th century. His grandson Jack went on to create the world renowned Jack Daniels whiskey.
Load More Replies...
David Paterson 9 months ago
I loved that most of these didn't name the country. Made it a great puzzle. With answers in the comments section.
Load More Replies... StrangeOne 9 months ago
All of you complaining the country wasn't named, it's because the source of this post is taken from a Reddit thread of guess my country riddles. But the answer, for most of them, can be found clicking on the username of the Redditors to the right under the posts. It will bring you to the source.
Debbie 9 months ago
So we better go read reddit then? If they steal/reuse content, steal/reuse all of it, not just half.
Load More Replies... Petra Schaap 9 months ago
By far most people in Belgium speak Dutch/Flemish, yet for some reason everyone thinks everyone speaks French. (oh and theres some German too)
Fynne 9 months ago
Most of these were just people hating on their countries which makes me sad. Also this is from a 2 year old Reddit post. Anyone remember when BP used to make their own stuff, and it was user generated. I think I might just switch to Reddit as that's what this site has become anyway
PhaseWitFact 9 months ago
This would've been much better without country bashing. Give us some fun facts without bashing and preaching. We get it already.
Gavin Johnson 9 months ago
My country was involved in the shortest war ever. The U.K. attacked Zanzibar at 0900 27th August 1896 and between 38 and 45 minutes later they surrendered. In the 16th century, a London law forbade wife beating after 9:00pm, but only because the noise disturbed people’s sleep. Y’know, sleep is valuable 😳
Load More Replies... censorshipsucks 9 months ago
We have 11 official languages, but most people give up and use English.
Guess Undheit 9 months ago (edited)
Trivia question, some countries I have no relation to: (1) What are the least and most densely populated countries with at least 10 million people? (2) What are the least and most densely populated countries with at least 100 million people? [ Hint: only three countries answer these questions, not four. ]
Matthew Fox 9 months ago
In the US: the astonishing number of people both inside and outside this country who think we can order firearms online and have them shipped to our front door. Or that it's easier to buy a firearm than it is to get a library card.
George Hylands 9 months ago
Wales: gave the world Viagra, and the first proper railway journey.
Gavin Johnson 9 months ago
TIL Joseph ‘Job’ Daniels from Aberystwyth, Wales, emigrated to the US in the 18th century. His grandson Jack went on to create the world renowned Jack Daniels whiskey.
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