Country Nicknames Quiz

Would it be possible to extend Russia as an acceptable answer to that? I've seen some quizzes that allow it.

The "Evil Empire" was used by Ronald Reagan specifically for the USSR. With the fall of the communist regime, the moniker no longer applies.

When Reagan gave that speech, Russia and USSR were synonymous.

They're not quite as evil and much less of an empire. But Putin's obviously nostalgic for the days when they were both.

Many people used them that way. Thus, they were synonymous. Nobody uses Texas instead of the USA, thus your question is ridiculous.

Just because it was a common thing that "Many people were doing" doesn't mean we need to perpetuate the misnaming of a country. Nobody uses Texas for the whole of the USA, and nobody should have used Russia as the whole of the Soviet Union.

List ten good reasons why they shouldn't have and I won't think less of you.

Never heard of the Great Satan, I assumed it was Iraq or Iran or some hateful place, ironic it was the US, thats what I get for assuming!

It's what Iran calls the US.

why?

I was not very stunned. They have reasons to call us that.

Yes, because Iran is such a lovely place.

Not just Iran. Most Muslim countries call US that. It's because we're not Muslim and because we tend to stick our military noses into places (I won't say whether I think they belong or not - this isn't the forum for such discussions).

Iran's ayatollahs call the USA the Great Satan because they need external bogeymen like Israel and the US to distract their own people from their own abject failures as leaders. Having someone to hate gives them something to unify behind, keeps them fearful so that they will accept the brutal police state they live in (100x worse than the Shah's Iran), and allows the ayatollah's to put their own goals of staying in power indefinitely, enriching themselves, forwarding a pro-shia agenda around the Middle East, and keeping the country stuck in the Middle Ages ahead of other goals such as normalizing relations with the West, creating jobs, and lifting the country out of poverty.

Also while the term is obviously hyperbolic and ridiculous, and intellectuals/liberals in the United States overthink it while projecting their own values and erroneously believe it has something to do with Mossadegh, and the real reasons for it are what I stated above; when the Ayatollah first used this expression what he was actually acting mad about then was 1. US-led sanctions against Iran, 2. refusing to extradite an elderly and ailing man (the Shah) to a country where he'd almost certainly be put to death after a show trial, 3. supporting democracy and liberal values (Israel) in the Middle East, and 4. embodying everything the Ayatollahs hated about the Shah and the liberal Western values that he embraced. (freedom, gender equality, etc).

was my first choice

isnt it that the land of the free is thailand?

Then end of the national anthem of the USA goes "the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

I love Thailand but it's not exactly a free country. Maybe when they're not under military rule and it's legal to criticize the obscenely wealthy king without going to jail for it...

Indeed. I'm from Australia; we have a LOT of nicknames for New Zealand :o) but I've never heard it called 'Kiwiland'.

lol we all call new zealanders kiwis !!! i think it's not very much a trend in oceania but

A quiz a few days ago called it the gateway to Mordor.

TheWombat .......... I can't believe you live in Australia and have never heard the expression Kiwiland........

same here

I have lived in New Zealand (the Land of the Long White Cloud) all my life. No one here calls it Kiwiland.

New Zealand has been known as Middle Earth though.

It's probably similar to Boston being called BeanTown. Nobody in Boston calls it that, but many others do.

I agree 'Walacama'........ these nicknames are not what natives of a country call themselves but what others have or do call them. (others being one person in some instances)

How about Mexico-America's Beard?

At the moment, New Zealand is also Middle Earth. Yay for Kiwi tourism!

The Evil Empire was a named used by Ronald Reagan,scary that only 18% knew that,and the Great Satan was used by Soviet Primers you have to use Soviet Union since Russia is a different country

Great Satan in reference to the US was first used by the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in 1979.

Why is it scary that only 18% of people who took this quiz knew something completely useless and no longer relevant?

Isn't it "the land of a thousand smiles"?

I've seen simply Land of Smiles before on tourist literature.

Good old Australia, got on there twice :)

Yesterday I watched the Simpson's episode where they go 'down under', so when I saw the clue "the boot" I immediately thought of Australia!

I immediately thought of the Yankees when I read "The Evil Empire."

Although australians call New zealanders kiwis, I ve never heard of kiwi land

Americans don't call ourselves The Great Satan, either (most of us don't, anyway) but we're used to hearing negativity from the rest of the world and we usually just ignore it. If you google, "Kiwiland," Wiktionary says it is humorous and informal for New Zealand. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kiwiland

Some of these Kiwis are either very very young, or have never travelled much, I have heard Kiwiland used all over the place in Australia, not by Kiwis but by Aussies.

How on earth is 'kiwiland' insulting? I'm from New Zealand and have heard (and used) the nickname before to describe where I'm from in a casual, humorous way. I've never heard it used derogatively. You've overreacted.

This isn't anywhere near the most derogatory nickname on this quiz.

Yeah in NZ we don't use Kiwiland, it's the first I've heard of it. We call ourselves kiwis though. The nickname is Aotearoa. We aren't associated with down under either that's just Aussie.

Canadian's don't call themselves America's hat either, but we get over it.

You already are over us.

Aotearoa isn't a nickname, it is the Maori name for New Zealand

Ask anyone in New Zealand what Down Under is, and they would say Australia. But I guess people in other parts of the world consider both countries Down Under??

America was the "Great Satan"? I thought it was "God's country" :P

Funny thing about god... everyone always thinks he agrees with them, even thought none of these people agree with each other. Mysterious ways...

'He'

Mexico should also work for the "Boot", if Canada is the hat.

"The Boot" (shape), not "America's boot".

Cool quiz. Interesting comments with some nationals getting hot under the collar. One key characteristic of a nickname in most cases is that when one sticks, the person/group of people referred to consider it derogatory. Anyway, on to a few suggestions: land of a thousand hills - Rwanda pearl of Africa - Uganda horn of Africa - Somalia

Not always. Yankee was a pejorative term used by the British to describe Americans, later adopted by Americans as something positive.

As to other nicknames, I often heard Saudi Arabia referred to as the "Magic Kingdom" when I lived there.

Though if we're going to do Disney themepark rip-offs I might vote for "the crappiest place on Earth"

People who eat cheese for breakfast? So... Egyptians and Jordanians, then? The guys I worked with would just get a big block of white cheese and pour honey on it. Then they would get some flat bread and tear of pieces of it which they would use like a utensil to break off pieces of the honey-soaked cheese. I ate this sometimes myself.

I always laugh too much at these comments because in the UK pants is used for underwear, not trousers.

Would 'the gold coast' be one?

Having repeated countries threw me off.

An easy one would be "USA" for United States! Nobody would get that one! :`D

the best quiz ever very nice :)

What about having 'land of the rising sun' as Macedonia? I mean, it has a sun in its flag.

There are also suns in the flags of Argentina, Uruguay, Antigua, Taiwan, Kiribati, Tibet, Rwanda,... But only Japan is called the land of the rising sun.

Hwo did you manage to put the same answers twice?

Land of the free ............ you wish.

Why the hell is France called the Hexagon when (not specifically) its 5 sides, like a Pentagon?

The Friendly Islands - Tonga.

Over many, many years I've heard 'Kiwiland' used for New Zealand throughout UK, Australia and other countries by English speaking people including Kiwis. I have never yet heard a person refer to NZ as 'The land of the long white cloud' or 'Middle Earth' I think these are terms that some romantic people who have never travelled would like to think NZ is referred as.

Can you accept DPRK for North Korea?

A bit repetitive...

Belgium didn't work for "Evil Empire".