That might be in part due to the Arabic language. We have weird guttural sounds that can only be somewhat represented in English by uncommon letters. I'm talking about Oman and Qatar specifically (try googling their Arabic pronunciations!). Or it might just be pure coincidence.
@Yanni47 Oman in Arabic doesn't begin with a vowel, it begins with a consonant which the closest I know of in any other language is the Afrikaans "h" - kind of like the noise you make when you're trying to cough but coughing hurts. In fact Oman doesn't even contain the letter O in Arabic (although it does contain a short vowel which isn't normally written down).
@Sifhraven It is weird no other countries start with o or y, but for Qatar, English approximates the arabic [q] to [k], showing that the sound is formed further back in the mouth with the tongue touching the uvula
Thats a common myth. Iceland in comparison to Greenland is more green. But given its location, it can be very icy, so thats not a misnomer in any sense.
Erik the Red a viking was exiled to Greenland and he named it that so that others would go to the island. (Well that is what I have heard although it doesn't sound like it actually happened.)
Yeah, Iceland's definitely greener than Greenland, but it is also most definitely a cold and icy place. More than a tenth of it is covered in permanent ice. Even in the capital Reykjavik, one of the warmest parts of the country, temperatures can drop below zero in the summer. On this site's coldest capital cities quiz, Reykjavik comes in third with a year round average of 4.3 degrees and Iceland is ranked as seventh coldest amongst the world's 196 countries.
I feel like it's a good amount of time, I finished with a minute to go and had to think about a few of them or try a couple options before getting them.
Was thinking England for E, but guessed Estonia was a little further north. Guess I was right. I noticed W isn't on the list because Wales is a country.
I am from the UK and I can say that England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland are NOT there own countries, There are nations which make up the country 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' so both gnuandrew and Matthew07 are right.
For 'shinwasha'....... Wales and Northern Ireland are similar to Scotland's situation which is as follows: ....... Scotland is a country which is part of the United Kingdom (UK). The UK is a regionalised unitary state, and since the late 1990s, a system of devolution has emerged in the UK, under which Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have each been granted some measure of self-government within the UK.
Scotland entered into a political union with England in 1707, and since then has sent representatives to the Palace of Westminster, which became the British parliament. Currently, 59 Members of Parliament (MPs) represent Scottish constituencies at Westminster, and issues such as the constitution, foreign affairs, defence, social security, pensions, issues of medical ethics, and fiscal, economic and monetary policy are decided at UK-wide level. In 1999, an 129-member Scottish Parliament was established in Edinburgh; it has full power to make law in Scotland, except in reserved matter
It would be more of a challenge if you yellow-boxed it to where people would have to fill in the country matching that specific letter, otherwise most people can just fill in northern countries randomly and get half the answers right away :)
What did you do JetPubk, I suppose you only moved on from A when you had worked out what A would be, or did you have a shot at a northern country beginning with A like all of us.
You guys are only talking mostly European Countries, now South Americans: Trazil Truruguay Trargentina Traraguay Trile Teru Tecuador Tolombia Tolivia Tenezuela Tuyana Turiname (And Trench Truyana)
Scotland entered into a political union with England in 1707, and since then has sent representatives to the Palace of Westminster, which became the British parliament. Currently, 59 Members of Parliament (MPs) represent Scottish constituencies at Westminster, and issues such as the constitution, foreign affairs, defence, social security, pensions, issues of medical ethics, and fiscal, economic and monetary policy are decided at UK-wide level. In 1999, an 129-member Scottish Parliament was established in Edinburgh; it has full power to make law in Scotland, except in reserved matter
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