In the immortal words of the executive transvestite: do you have a flag?
Madagascar. And the Republic of San Marino.
Slovenia
Bolivia
Benin
Mozambique
Norway
I think pretty fondly of Bhutan: beautiful mountains, friendly people, "Gross National Happiness," newly constitutional monarchy, archery. Sometimes I worry that it will be annexed by India or China.
I'm having trouble with the "for no particular reason" part. Any country I root for, I can pretty quickly think of some reason (however random) that I do so.
You may be able to think of a reason ex post, but that doesn't mean the fondness wasn't for no particular reason ex ante.
Jamaica, yeah. Also Canada, because. Probably Guatemala. Their coat of arms seems nice.
Semigallia
Silesia
Galicia
Galicia
Buryatia
Any former Soviet 'Stan. Not that that comes up very much.
The part I don't get about the OP is why or how "rooting for" leads to a pennant for Team Whatever. I don't speak sports very much, and this sounds suspiciously like sports.
Djibouti
What ever happened to the days when the 'tariat spent a lot of time talking about heebie's booty, anyway?
Denmark and Equatorial Guinea, because they something completely random in common. Liechtenstein and uzbekhistan for the same reason. I keep hoping either of these pairs would play each other in some sport.
I renounce the sports metaphor and attempt not to become disgusted.
If I were a pig, I'd root for truffles, though as a human, I still root for truffles in the "yay truffles" sense. Also, it's a sport of sorts.
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I knew Mitch Daniels was short, but he's 5' 3"? Oh dear. Maybe he should run for Republican President anyway. I really don't know.
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In rough decending order: Finland, Brazil, Turkey, Iran (modulo the mullahs), Morocco.
I'm definitely in the pro-Finland camp.
18: nobody can tell any more what with the momjeans.
Dis gusty bus goes dis way; dat gusty bus goes dat way.
Any country I root for, I can pretty quickly think of some reason (however random) that I do so.
Fair point, and I think the inverse is also true. Though one's "reasons" are not necessarily reasoned or coherent or logical, of course (which I took to be heebie's point about no particular reason).
I personally can't imagine putting a Team Russia pennant on my wall, not because of any Cold War ideological position or anything like that, but basically because of the historic rivalry between Canada and Russia in the field of international hockey (those guys are the enemy, and our boys need to beat them). Reasonable? No, not at all, but that's my reason. On the other hand, I will always root for Jamaica over just about any other country that I can think of (mostly excluding Canada, I guess, though not always even then). I have warm and fuzzy feelings about that country, which have to do with its status as a small Commonwealth country with significant immigrant ties to Canada, and also with my own personal and positive experiences working with Jamaican immigrants (at a nursing home in Ottawa).
Iceland is a country that I also feel inclined to support. I've only been there once, and that once only briefly, but I was impressed by the women: they seemed so frank and forthright, and they appeared to take for granted a level of societal support for women and children that we could only dream of in North America in our most bizarre and hallucinogenic imaginings. And apparently without (though admittedly I may be romanticizing) any of that icky sentimentality ('won't someone please think of the children!') that typically plagues any and all efforts to push for more humane policies in America. Iceland I will root for.
Burkina Faso. Mostly for the name, but I also have been there and its crazy charming, despite my inability to speak any of the languages. If I ever manage to learn French or Mossi, I'm totally moving there.
Also Finland and Trinidad and Tobago.
Another vote for Finland. I might have mentioned that we almost moved there for a year—my wife applied for a teacher-exchange Fulbright, and it wasn't until she'd gone through the process and gotten accepted that her district bothered to tell her that they don't do exchanges.
Also +1 to Jesus M's ahem.
Oh and France, but that's pretty goddamn boring. But really, I hear people speaking French on the subway and I want to go up and practically congratulate them. It's downright irrational.
30: I actually don't care for Transnistria. I'm all about Moldovan unity.
Texas is to Kurdistan as [Shearer? McManus? X or Y or Z?] is to Stanley.
Iceland, Finland, Thailand, Suriname, Slovenia, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Japan. Only one of which I've been to.
but he's 5' 3"? Oh dear
Ahem.
I just realized that I don't picture any of the males on Unfogged as short except for bob who I imagine as a short older hippie.
40 to 38, or to 12? Or to both? I'm easily confused.
Tristan da Cunha. (That it is not a country must count towards the irrationality of its being a country I root for.)
42: Previous discussions of size have been about something other than stature, for some reason.
44 On certain work days I look at the Doctors Without Borders map on the office wall and try to find the place furthest from the most people and astrally project there. It seems to be Tristan da Cunha.
But really, I hear people speaking French on the subway and I want to go up and practically congratulate them.
Reading a work of German epistemology in a bar seems to have gotten me a date with an Italian law student.
This is not really relevant to Smearcase's comment or this thread, but I highly doubt that any comment or post to which it's substantially more relevant is likely to be forthcoming. And it's not like I'm just not going to mention it.
I know of Tristan da Cunha only as part of the title of an album.
47: A student of Italian law, a law student of Italian descent, or both?
I can't believe you beat me to Tristan da Cunha... And so early the thread!
I know of Deathprod only as an artist who has named an album after Tristan da Cunha.
If I beat you to Tristan da Cunha, it is only because I set out six weeks ago on the annual voyage of the RMS Saint Helena.
It seems, Gabardine, that we must now fight a duel.
I nominate inaccessible island rail as my second.
It doesn't seem like a terribly fun place to live, not that that was a criterion.
And yet! Most people chose to go home after the 1961 evacuation.
9, 13: Jamaica is in the "seriously conflicted" column for me. (Can we take this out of the "irrationally supportive" and into the "seriously conflicted" territory for a sec? Because I feel like Inflicting Some Unsolicited Sharing on y'all.)
And it's not just because I once dated a Yardie (yes it was unpleasant overall but she was of herself a wonderful woman -- if more than slightly crazy from my standpoint -- and I still miss her), but because Jamaica has persistently demonstrated its ability to compete favorably with my not-really-native-but-at-least-clan-connected-South Africa in the Worldwide Ignorance Olympics. Cf. a degree of racial neurosis that would make an Afrikaner blush; the warzone slums of Kingston (filled with gangs dedicated to political parties who've long since deserted them); and the falsely laid-back, tourist-friendly image of Rastafarianism promoted by pop culture, which has little or nothing to do with the bigotry- and conspiracy-theory-prone religion as it too often manifests in reality.
Still. Love me some dub reggae, and all that. Alborosie, Lone Ranger and Yellowman FTcollectiveW.
34: "Finland, Finland, Finland... / A country where I quite want to be / Eating breakfast or dinner, or snack lunch in the hall... / Finland, Finland, Finland... / Finland has it all..."
My only brother-in-law (ex-brother-in-law now, I guess) was from Finland. I do have a soft spot.
I love their news website. It's like a middle school newsletter, but with more random shipwrecks coming ashore.
My sister spent a summer or a year or something in Finland when she was in high school, and later her host sister came and visited us. I may have had a minor crush on her.
Much later in life, I went to Helsinki to attend some concerts, but I did not run into her.
I'm pleased that the Falkland Islands chose to name their capital after me, but I doubt they'll actually let me take over. My first order of business would be to change the name back to Malvinas, and number two would be to subject the population to Argentine rule. ¡Bárbaro!
Oh, you know who I'm irrationally in lesbians with? Brazil. Strictly a '94 World Cup thing.
Allow me to be the first to proclaim my affection for Finland.
Also, Estonia.
I do like what Russia's been doing with giraffes, though.
65: The one Estonian I know once almost vomited on my floor but instead made it to my roommate's floor. True story!
Estonians: all right by me.
Oh, you know who I'm irrationally in lesbians with? Brazil. Strictly a '94 World Cup thing.
It's not unusual to love Brazil because of soccer. But because of the '94 team? That's just perverse.
I choose on a case by case basis depending on the situation.
I dissent from all the love for Finland. They're all certifiably mad.
Reading a work of German epistemology in a bar
seems to have gotten me a date with an Italian law
student
This probably happens in reality one time for every 60,000 times it is fervently and futilely hoped for.
I just realized that I don't picture any of the males on Unfogged as short
Me neither. In my mind you're all 12 stories high.
On the other hand, there are non-national sports teams I root for that I have no real affiliation with. Ajax Amsterdam, because I enjoyed the 1996 Champions League Final (even though they lost and have never been as good since), for example. They've never been so good since. The dangerous thing I've found with European soccer teams I know little about is that disturbingly often a non-negligible percentage of their fans turn out to be racists or anti-Semitic and I just can't support the team anymore. Not that anyone notices the change.
They're all certifiably mad.
And so?
Arizona! (Which the US briefly dissolves from the union {is that even an option? It should be} before being absorbed back into México.)
Really? No one's going to join me in my Burkina lovin? Come on!
I'll also throw out Uruguay, for the non-specific love. Meaning I wouldn't throw it out, IYKWIM,AITYD.
It really is remarkable the extent to which Finland has captured the imagination of so many.
68: I know. But the suspense! The tension! The night before spent chanting "Brah-sil! Brah-sil! Brah-sil!" It was quite magical.
77: I love Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad's song "Burkina Faso." Close enough?
79.2: It's a little bit 311-y for my tastes, but sure.
78: True. I somehow felt its allure before I learned about its standards of musical education, which are unsurpassed.
No one's going to join me in my Burkina lovin?
I will. Is there a capital more euphoniously named than Ouagadougou?
67- It's nice to see someone with actual knowledge of a real Estonian can corroborate my vague ideas from the internet.
Apologies if this has been covered in some other thread, but: NMM to George Tooker.
The song "Sweden" by The Divine Comedy refers:
I would like to live in Sweden
Please don't ask me why
If I were to give a reason
It would be a lie
I told you about the time that little Napoleon Adolf took it into his head that he wanted to be Swiss, and decided therefore to convert his bedroom into "Switzerland"? No word of a lie, his first action on declaring Swiss sovereignty was to institute a ferociously right-wing immigration policy, which was something of a problem given that his nanny at the time was Polish and rather took offence. We had to have a stern chat with the boy about the concept of racism, the main effect of which was that he dashed off to his colouring pencils and produced a sign saying "WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND!" for his door. And a slightly more peturbing one saying "French Lessons In Here", which he rather hopefully hung on his wardrobe.
I knew Mitch Daniels was short, but he's 5' 3"? Oh dear.
You called?
Abkhazia. Apart from the fact that it wants to be independent from Georgia, I know absolutely nothing about it.
Andorra. OK, there's a reason, sort of. that it's a joint principality with two princes from other countries who probably never think about it from one end of the year to the other.
Tristan da Chnha is an anarchist commune, or at least it was originally. We should have a whip round and send Natilo.
For some explicable reason I always root against Russia. I don't have any constant random type ones I root for, though I do tend to have some country I pick on in each World Cup, assuming they're not playing Poland or the US.
Wales, but that's strictly a Rugby Union/Six Nations thing. Germany in football if Holland isn't playing or out.
But what about countries you have an irrational hatred for? Not countriesmyou hate in sport, like England because they're bad losers or America because they're worse winners, but countries off which you just don't like the cut of their jib?
Canada for example....
Italy in football. Diving bastards.
I tend to be prejudiced against Americans in individual sports like tennis and golf because they're beyond parody in being totally up themselves. OTOH I cheer on the US soccer teams (note appropriate terminology there), because it's the only country that actually denigrates its football stars.
And bollocks to the Zimbabwean cricket team. Arse licking Mugabe supporters.
Germany! Portugal! Papua New Guinea!
Anyway, this seems a more appropriate thread than the last couple to remind the Bay Area chapter that the good ship Yorks Ranter's next port of call is indeed San Francisco.
I'm tempted to invite you all to Jamie Zawinski's nightclub, but that is arguably far too bloggy and likely to lead to an evening of regex jokes.
88. Are these countries you root for irrationally, or countries whose sportspeople you hate? If the latter, what did PNG ever do to you?
PNG? Surely being the only nation that plays league primarily gets them in your good books?
Not countriesmyou hate in sport, like England because they're bad losers or America because they're worse winners,
England aren't very good winners either, but luckily it doesn't come up much.
Yeah, I quite like the English (culturally, as people, etc) but English team sports people are near universally total bastards once they get together.
I tend to think kind thoughts about Uruguay, mostly because I had literally never thought about its existence until I met a friend's husband who's from there, and he's a really good cook and tells Brazilian jokes. And of course I feel vaguely proprietorial about Samoa, with less and less reason as my two years there recede further and further into the past.
Also, a slight residual hostility toward Tonga, also from my days in Samoa.
94. Are Brazilian jokes the same as Irish jokes in Britain, Polish jokes in America, Belgian jokes in France, Norwegian jokes in Sweden, etc. or do they have some unique quality?
92 sounds patronising, not meant that way.
Uruguay
"The Oriental Republic of Uruguay", to give it its full name. (because it's on the east side of the Uruguay river)
Are Brazilian jokes the same as Irish jokes in Britain, Polish jokes in America, Belgian jokes in France, Norwegian jokes in Sweden, etc. or do they have some unique quality?
They're served on great big skewers.
89/90 - They're all in the good books. But if anyone wants to erase the United Arab Emirates...
I'm tempted to invite you all to Jamie Zawinski's nightclub, but that is arguably far too bloggy and likely to lead to an evening of regex jokes.
In real life, it's just a regular (pretty good) nightclub. Not very bloggy at all.
77: I am a Burkina Faso aficionado. My Dad did some consulting work there, and I have a traditional Burkina Faso sword by my bed in case I am attacked by ninjas.
81: Antananarivo. A friend of mine lives there. They have lemurs! Who doesn't like lemurs? Crazy people, that's who.
I root against Swaziland because the king is a right bastard. There was a girl at my high school whose family spirited her out of the country in the dead of night because the king's wife scouts showed up and started asking about her. One day she's just a fourteen year old kid living a normal life, the next she's trekking through the bush to avoid being married off to a fat old pervert with hundreds of wives.
96: Oddly, they're the jokes that Americans tell about Texas. Full of themselves and everything's huge.
102.last: I can't imagine what that must be like. I guess there's no process for turning him down?
I guess there's no process for turning him down?
I think it's called "Moving to South Africa".
like England because they're bad losers or America because they're worse winners
I tend to think kind thoughts about Uruguay, mostly because I had literally never thought about its existence until I met a friend's husband who's from there, and he's a really good cook and tells Brazilian jokes.
Picking the one South American country with nothing but white people, I see.
104: I can't either. I've known a lot of refugees, but her story is still one of the most disturbing to me.
105: Or in her case, Botswana. It was a better choice back then due to Apartheid.
I like to imagine how geographic anomalies lead to bitter athletic rivalries:
"For the double-landlocked world championship, Liechtenstein, formerly the undisputed champion, takes on Uzbekhistan for the 22d year in a row. Analysts say the yacht race will be expecially close . . ."
"The finals for the Nations Whose Capitals are on Offshore Islands comes down once again to Equatorial Guinea vs. Denmark. The Danes have the advantage in the cross-country skiing events, but the Equatorians win the large animal wrangling competition every time . . . "
"Kaliningrad, Ceuta, French Guinea and Alaska meet in the Final Four of the Provinces Completely Separated From the Rest of their Nations League, non-island division."
Mamas, don't give your kids globes.
If there was a Team Russia pennant, I'd put it up on my wall.
Isn't the flag of Nation/State X generally taken to be, in fact, a Team X pennant?
Provinces Completely Separated From the Rest of their Nations League, non-island division.
Hosted, as always, in Llívia.
18: Also, we don't spend as much time noticing just how right she is--witness the fear thread (with some noble exceptions, esp. Megan).
109.4: You forgot Azerbaijan.
98: "The Oriental Republic of Uruguay", to give it its full name. Nice, did not know this or the double land-locked ones from 109.
Speaking of exclaves/enclaves, Wikipedia has an unfathomably extensive list of them (and variants). One section is "Subnational pene-enclaves/exclaves and inaccessible districts". Includes some temporary examples in the service of modern royalty:
Suite 212 at Claridges Hotel in London was ceded by the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia on June 17, 1945 to allow Crown Prince Alexander, whose parents were in exile, to be born on Yugoslav soil.and
In 1943, the maternity ward at the Ottawa Civic Hospital in Canada was temporarily extraterritorial so that Princess Juliana's daughter Princess Margriet would only have Dutch (by parents' nationality) and not dual nationality, because of being born on Canadian soil. Dual nationality would have excluded her from the royal succession.
And on August 4th 1961, the maternity ward in the Nyang'oma Kogelo District Hospital in Nyanza Province, Kenya was ceded to the United States by Governor Sir Patrick Renison, after he lost it in a poker game with the American Consul in Nairobi.
So that settles that.
They just annexed it to Honolulu due to prior experience in being remote from the mainland US.
Apologies to those who raise questions about my remark about Mitch Daniels's height. But you know what I refer to: the Republican party, or conservatives, like their Presidents to be he-men. They don't have to be Arnold Schwartzenegger, though that would be nice, but they should evidence plenty of testosterone.
Bleh.
but they should evidence plenty of testosterone
Hence the McCain/Palin ticket.
Testosterone if male. McCain is good enough for his generally hawkish war stance. Palin seemed good enough because women are supposed to be feminine, dammit, not like that Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi (castrating bitches that they are). Michelle Bachmann is good by this account. Madeleine Albright was bad. You know the drill.
I feel sort of badly for Mitch Daniels therefore, without even getting into whether he's a less frightening prospect for Republican president than the others.
Did conservatives openly dislike Albright? I had it in my head she was pretty well-respected across the board. I've got crappy-memory issues, admittedly
Isn't the flag of Nation/State X generally taken to be, in fact, a Team X pennant?
111, meet 1.
Did conservatives openly dislike Albright? I had it in my head she was pretty well-respected across the board.
Nobody who serves in a Democratic administration is respected by conservatives. Observe the respect.
121: I actually don't know how she was received in policy circles. She was certainly mocked as manly and unattractive, so I'm assuming she wouldn't have gone over well as a Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate.
I'm assuming she wouldn't have gone over well as a Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate
For starters, it would have *really* driven the birthers nuts.
A "favorite" country of mine from my childhood was Paraguay where the fascination stemmed from fascination with the Gran Chaco and the rather pathetic war that had been fought over it. I found it hard to internalize the reality of the place under Alfredo Stroessner.
Ew, eww, Apostropher made me read a Freepers thread!
Similar to Tristan de Cunha, I was always fascinated with Pitcairn Island (and the related, although not nearby, Norfolk Island). Actually, all of the 14 remaining British Overseas Territories (which includes Tristan de Cunha) are somewhat interesting, plus they tend to have great Coats of Arms.
88: Drop me an e-mail (or maybe we can get one of the overlords to put up a post). What's your schedule again?
A "favorite" country of mine from my childhood was Paraguay where the fascination stemmed from fascination with the Gran Chaco and the rather pathetic war that had been fought over it John Cusack killing the president with a fork.
Paraguay was a big part of my life growing up. My Dad lived in Stroessner's Presidential Palace for a while as a 20 year old. Cryptic!
Two votes for Transnistria has got to be a record.
Oh, it's not actually my favorite. I just wanted to show off the fact that I'd heard of it. Sort of in a "[long-absent commenter]!" way.
Picking the one South American country with nothing but white people, I see.
It's probably no coincidence that E.B. White wrote a story about it.
Transnistria brings to mind Carpatho-Ukraine (I first knew of it as simply Ruthenia, however, the autonomous Carpathian Ruthenia (officially known as Subcarpathian Ruthenia until then) changed its name to "Carpatho-Ukraine" soon afterwards). It lasted as an independent country for all of 1 to 3 days in March 1939 depending on exactly when you view it as having been annexed by Hungary (it had been part of Czechoslovakia post-WWI*, and an autonomous region of that country following the Munich Agreement the previous September). Now part of the Ukraine, there have apparently been some renewed nationalist stirrings.
*Of which I quite enjoyed this footnote: Zatkovich was appointed governor of the province by Masaryk on April 20, 1920 and resigned almost a year later, on April 17, 1921, to return to his law practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
109: Liechtenstein itself is subdivided into eleven "communes" which have a gratifying number of exclaves and enclaves.
