AIBU to ask for you to pick any country and share an interesting fun fact about it?

[1person100names]

I love learning about countries around the world, i am unable to explore physically due to covid so I would love to learn more fun interesting facts that you would kindly share!

Heres mine!

In Vietnam it is offensive to cross your fingers in a certain way, it is seen as an obscene gesture, akin to raising your middle finger and saying“F* You! It is also used to call people a derogatory name! Photo attached !

I will add more shortly =)

Whats yours?

Liechtenstein’s National anthem has the same melody as God Save The Queen.

Fascinating thread!

Bhutan has no traffic lights. A set was installed some years ago in the capital, Thimphu, but residents found them too impersonal. Instead traffic in Thimphu is directed by a police officer, who wears white gloves.

More than 830 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea.

@Miggymoggymugwumps

There are no roundabouts on roads in the USA

This is not true - US roundabouts are called “rotaries” and generally confuse the hell out of unsuspecting motorists.

Bermuda: you're never more than a mile away from the ocean, the speed limit is 20mph and the shipwreck in The Tempest took place off the coast.

@Westfacing

Switzerland - women only gained the right to vote in 1971.

Not fun but interesting!

Women gained the right to vote also in all local elections only in 1991, when Swiss Supreme Court had to force the last canton to acknowledge that women are people.

Menorca - It’s a protected Biosphere Reserve

Menorca was declared a Unesco Biosphere Reserve in 1993 due to its amazing diversity of flora and fauna, and landscape that ranges from beaches and valleys, to caves, wetlands, and sand dunes.

It’s also where the sun rises first in Spain.

I am at these facts! Amazing!
@TwelvetyOClock Who adopts these Japanese men? What for? Why? So many questions!

My fact is that one of the languages spoken in Patagonia is Welsh.

Welsh people migrated there in the late 1800s to protect their language and culture, which was being threatened by the English at that time. It also lead to Patagonian Welsh which is fascinating. It’s ended up with constructions like

“Mynd i baseando” = go for a walk in Patagonian Welsh.

(Mix of the Welsh “Mynd am dro” and (Patagonian area) Spanish “ir paseando”

#linguisticsnerd

Portugal and England have the world's oldest alliance.

Opinion rather than fact : I think the shape of France looks like the shape of Worcestershire. I noticed it only today.

Bulgaria is the oldest country in Europe and has never changed its name!

Libya's economy is 98% based on oil.

Opinion rather than fact : Libya would do well to invest in banks of solar farms and supply Europe with green energy via undersea cable before we all ditch fossil fuel motor cars.

You can't wear camouflage in Barbados

Switzerland -

1. Has a square flag (as does only Vatican City).

1. Hamsters and Guinea pigs must legally kept in pairs.

1. Cup-a-soup was invented there in the mid-19th century.

France was the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away food (2016)

In Bhutan, in the 1970s, the king declared Gross National Happiness to be more important than Gross Domestic Product.
This principle still influences the government today and is managed by the Gross National Happiness Commission.

Facebook is illegal in Turkmenistan, as is photographing government buildings and driving a dirty car in Ashgabat.

NZ's only native mammals are ones that can fly or swim.

Nepal is the only country not to have a four-sided flag.

This is fascinating! I am in New Zealand and desperately trying to think!

The plague is still endemic in parts of Madagascar (where lemurs come from)

The weather in Cape Town in SA is similar to the U.K., lots of rain.

Cardiff is the 21st wettest capital in the world.

There are no roundabouts on roads in the USA

Untrue, as pp say. Lots in Mississippi, also lots of armadillo roadkill. 😢

Isle of Man - has the oldest continuous parliament in the world
(And also the largest working water wheel in the world)

We must thank the people and country of Mexico for providing the world with:

Chocolate
Tomatoes
Avocados
Chilies
Popcorn
Tequila

And of course, the real food of Aztec Gods and everyone else, the taco

Plus, Color TV, the balloon, and birth control pills