Funny Facts About Your Country

[duraaraa 203]

I thought that this would be a fun 'game' to play in a big international community, like the one we have here. Although most of us are probably familiar with American culture, there are so many fantastic traditions around the world, I thought it would be fun to list some of the quirky things people may not know about various countries. Here are some things about countries I've spent a lot of time in.

In Japan:

A popular game for kids in Japan is called 'kancho.' They put their hands together in the shape of a gun, and try to shove their hands up another kid's butt. People find this to be funny, and it's basically allowed, and not considered sexual harassment. Kancho means 'enema' in Japanese. Luckily, I have avoided being Kancho'ed... so far.

In Mongolia:

Parents often give their kids names in Mongolia which would be very confusing to people. Examples are "nergui" - no name, "hunbish" - not human, "enebish" - not this one, or "muunohoi" - bad dog. They often do this when they lost a previous child, traditionally believing that if they give their child a bad name, evil will not be attracted to it.

What are some of the silly, unique, or interesting things people do in your country?

[Alaska2012 462]

In Sweden we celebrate midsummer by dressing up a pole with flowers. Then we jump like frogs around it while singing we are small frogs....

[duraaraa 203]

In Sweden we celebrate midsummer by dressing up a pole with flowers. Then we jump like frogs around it while singing we are small frogs....

I didn't know that Sweden had such awesome traditions. All I knew was that everyone pronounces "sju" differently, and that Timbuktu is a brilliant rapper.

Edited April 17, 2013 by duraaraa

[Frances&Bryan 6]

umm im not sure if this is silly to others, but i'll post it anyway.

In the dominican republic, boys start at an early age to play "Vitilla." It's a baseball game. The only difference is that they play with a bottle cap instead of the actual baseball! Just thought I'd share that!

Great post by the way!

[Formula1 5]

In Spain many teenagers gather in a city/town square around midnight, any day of the week works, and drink alcohol beverages previously acquired in liquor stores.Around 2 or 3AM they go to clubs without paying the outrageous alcohol prices set in those places. Then, they get home at 7AM and sleep through the day in their parent's house, where they live does not matter the age, while mom and dad, sometimes granpa, are praying that the 50% unemployment for youth stays as it is so they can have their kids at home until the end of times. It is a national sport.

[duraaraa 203]

A lot of talk about national sports, hahaha.

If we're talking about sports...

In Mongolia, the national sports are Wrestling (Mongolian Sumo), Archery, and Horse Racing. All of the jockeys are kids.

There's an old Mongolian tale that says there was a woman who disguised herself as a man and entered the wrestling competition, and that she defeated all of the men. Since then, they have a wrestling costume with sleeves, but an open chest. It's called zodog shuudag, and it looks like this:

[Shiobhan 235]

OK...so in Texas we say " we are gonna go make groceries", My hubby say its "you are gonna buy groceries". Some people will describe those with long nails

as "having big nails", an upsweep or well sprayed hair as "big hair" Most people greets each other in the mornings with a howdy or hello, even the kids, although

a large state with lots of people its got an homey community feel to it, Many ppl who never lived or visit claims its a racist state I don't think so I have lived in 4

other states and see more racisms...not saying its not here (its in every state) but its not in your face rude like that...I speak for Dallas, Houston Austin& San Antonio

Cannot speak for Jasper .

[Jawaree 717]

In Jamaica the sports enjoyed are Foot-ball here (internationally called Soccer) & Cricket

Every young boy kicks anything like a soccer ball also culturally we are big on running..

there lies our great Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell among many others.

Weather is usually in 75-90 degress year-round depending on where you live, there's no snow

lots of beaches & resorts. Like everywhere in the world we have our share of troubles, but

the country parties a lot. give them a reason for a party and its on.

Manchester and Blue Mountain does get cooler than anywhere else , like in the 50-60s The

ppl are friendly and can seem a bit aggressive at times in their excited pattern of speech

Jamaica is the largest English speaking Caribbean county ( a local dialect of broken English

is spoken, called pothois=pronounced potwa.

Jamaica have been accused of being a homophobic country which is not necessarily true there

are and have been many notable Jamaicans and ppl who have been and is successful and never

harmed for been gay . Being a Christian country some ppl are offended IF a man begin the DIVA

behavior in public.But no one goes around harming gays without some reasons of certain public

display.

Jamaica is the birth home of reggae, birth place of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Robert Louis Stephenson

and Marcus Garvey...This is where the Rasta religion began, The only country whose national airline

never had any crashes before it folded (Air Jamaica).There are rich, upper middle-class, lower middle-class

poor & poorer like evry place else...National Anthem "Eternal Father Bless Our Land"

[duraaraa 203]

The only country whose national airline never had any crashes before it folded (Air Jamaica).

I never knew that! Very interesting!

[Shiobhan 235]

texas has a lot of fairs during the summer time, in Dallas Big Ben is the main feature at the fair, dancing horses, and most people love to eat the Corny dogs

[duraaraa 203]

In Japan, "high-tension" means relaxed, and happy. "Low-tension" means stressed out and sad.

[Shiobhan 235]

When I lived in Florida what's called a canal or waterways there is called a Bayou in Texas

[Pinkrlion 2,716]

In the USA Midwest, there are few major cities, the space of the cities can be vast. Some cities are considered the murder capital of the US, but it is in relation to number of incidents per capita. There are a lot of farm land, corn, wheat, beans, and fruit are the major products. There are several words for soft drink in the midwest. You will hear soda, pop, pepsi (can mean anything that is a soda) We fry anything and it tastes good.

[Jawaree 717]

In Jamaica the national dish is Ackee & codfish (called saltfish in JA)Ackee is a fruit brought

to Jamaica by Captain Bligh(Ackee official name is Bligha Sapida), its very good but must be cooked

properly only by those who knows how to.

A new Airline for Jamaica was recently launched starting off small with flights from the NY area & soon

Florida the airline name is FLY JAMAICA, hopefully it will become a success and be another fantastic airline.

Please support them if you can.

There's the Blue Mountain Peak 7400 ft and this area is where our coffee comes from, also this area boost many

health and day spas where most visitors enjoys a one of a kind massage by professionals who are licensed.

The kids have/had many games Dandy Shany, Jacks, Snakes & Ladders, Baseball, Simon says just to name a few.

Most older Jamaicans will not light a stove to cook on Good-Friday (its a lent holiday) but fishes are fried

and prepared for meal that day after church, even those that are not regular worshipers tend to go to church

Good Fridays, Easter Sundays and New years Sunday , many eat no meat during lent. A large portion of Jamaicans

does not eat pork, while some like myself Loves Pork.

[Shiobhan 235]

In Florida were many fairs Collins Ave, South0beach & still does. On Sundays most would head to Rickenbacker to hang at beach, dance to bands

go sailing, the cruise that goes by Star-Island was/is interesting going by Shaqs, Madonna and a few more famous peeps mansions on Star-Island

however no stopping were allowed. Florida is a hard place to get a good job because of bi-lingual requirements, many businesses are owned by

Cubans.