History Main / QuirkyNeighbourCountry

* The United States of America (Estados Unidos de America) to Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). Both countries have "United States/Estados Unidos" in their names, both are republics, both are governed by a president, both have states, both have a high obesity rate, both have a national identity that override racial and ethnic boundaries, both spell color without a "u," both have eagles as their national animals, and both use a rattlesnake for symbolism (Mexico has the rattlesnake on its national flag and the USA has the rattlesnake on the Gadsen "Don’t Tread on me." flag).

* Mexico also has all of Central America. They share a language, and similar history (most Central American countries were actually part of Mexico at some point or another). However, each country is smaller than some Mexican states, and their combined population is not even half of that of their Northern neighbor. Mexicans often crack jokes at the expense of them, particularly Guatemala. Mainly, that they are just a bunch of Mexican states in denial, that they don't actually exist at all, or that they just plain suck (''De Guatemal a Guatepeor'', "from ''Guate''-bad to ''Guate''-worse" is a common pun). Central Americans are not always amused, shooting back that Mexicans are just smug North-America wannabes. It's all in good fun, and Mexico is more often than not in good terms with its neighbors. Just don't mention Chiapas to Guatemalans.

[[folder: Useful Notes/Television ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

*** Vancouver and Seattle are this in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest region]].

Many countries big and small have a Quirky Neighbour Country.

** ''Specially true'' with Mexican-descended communities in America, specially those in California, Texas, and other Southern states. A lot of them speak Spanish, and they share a bunch of similarities with Mexicans south of the border (most from both sides can sit to chat , eat tacos, drink a few beers, and swear at each other). However, their accent and slang is very different (Mexican-Americans, predictably, use WAY more English loan words. And never mind the fact that some of these people speak just basic Spanish, if any at all), their food is very different, and they are still American. As a result, they come across as weird cousins (sometimes literally; Mexicans have big, far-reaching families) to native Mexican residents.

%%* Cambodia to Vietnam.
* The Czech Republic to Poland. And, for that matter, Slovakia to the Czech Republic.

%%* Korea to Japan.

%%* Taiwan to China.

* Given its geographical size, the main regions of the US often come off this way to one another. The US-centric version of this is "the quirky City/state right across the border".
** Some of these are in Canada/Mexico.

*** Vancouver/Seattle.
** Others use state boundaries. Some are just quirky, but many times the "nasty" part of a City is in the next State.

*** South Jersey is broadly this to Philadelphia, with [[{{Gangsterland}} Camden]] serving as the "nasty" bit and the rest of South Jersey being merely quirky. (By the by, New Jersey is, as Creator/BenjaminFranklin said, "a barrel tapped at both ends"--you're either the QuirkyNeighborCountry to New York or the QuirkyNeighborCountry to Philadelphia. Although honestly, South Jerseyans are liable to consider Philadelphia to be the "quirky" neighbor: Philadelphia is something of a hipster mecca these days, while South Jersey is home to "average All-American {{suburbia}}).

** Same thing applies to Australian cities:
*** Tweed Heads, New South Wales is the "nasty" part of Gold Coast, Queensland
*** Wodonga, Victoria is the quirky neighbour of Albury, New South Wales
*** Murray Downs, New South Wales is the quirky neighbour of Swan Hill, Victoria
*** Queanbeyan, New South Wales is this to Canberra
*** Sydney has Wollongong, Melbourne has Geelong, Brisbane has Gold Coast and Perth has Fremantle.
*** Tasmania is like this to the Australian mainland.
** Vancouver, WA (not the one in Canada) is like this to Portland, OR, considered to be somewhat more conservative and less culturally advanced (and also as of 2014 the place Portlanders go to get pot and gay married, given that both are legal there). People who live in Vancouver but spend a lot of time in Portland are considered to be tax dodgers, given that Washington has a lower income tax while Oregon has no sales tax. The current mayor of Portland, Charlie Hales, got in trouble for doing this in the past.

*** Vancouver/Seattle, for example.

%%* Afghanistan to Iran.
%%* New Zealand to Australia.
%%* Niger to Nigeria.

%%* San Marino to Italy.

%%* Ukraine and Belarus to Russia.

%%* Mexico also has all of Central America. They share a language, and similar history (most Central American countries were actually part of Mexico at some point or another). However, each country is smaller than some Mexican states, and their combined population is not even half of that of their Northern neighbor. Mexicans often crack jokes at the expense of them, particularly Guatemala. Mainly, that they are just a bunch of Mexican states in denial, that they don't actually exist at all, or that they just plain suck (''De Guatemal a Guatepeor'', "from ''Guate''-bad to ''Guate''-worse" is a common pun). Central Americans are not always amused, shooting back that Mexicans are just smug North-America wannabes. It's all in good fun, and Mexico is more often than not in good terms with its neighbors. Just don't mention Chiapas to Guatemalans.

** ''Specially true'' with Mexican-descended communities in America, specially those in California, Texas, and other Southern states. A lot of them speak Spanish, and they share a bunch of similarities with Mexicans south of the border (like a love of tacos and close-knit, doting families). However, their accent and slang is very different (Mexican-Americans, predictably, use WAY more English loan words. And never mind the fact that some of these people speak just basic Spanish, if any at all), their food is very different ("burritos" are seen as foreign everywhere in Mexico except for the North), and they are still, first and foremost, American. As a result, they come across as weird, quirky neighbors to native Mexican residents

* The United States of America (Estados Unidos de America) to Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). Both countries have "United States/Estados Unidos" in their names, both are republics, both are governed by a president, both have states, both have a high obesity rate, both have a national identity that override racial and ethnic boundaries, both have eagles as their national animals, and both use a rattlesnake for symbolism (Mexico has the rattlesnake on its national flag and the USA has the rattlesnake on the Gadsen "Don’t Tread on me." flag).

* The United States of America (Estados Unidos de America) to Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). Both countries have "United States/Estados Unidos" in their names, both are republics, both are governed by a president, both have states, both have a high obesity rate, both have eagles as their national animals, and both use a rattlesnake for symbolism (Mexico has the rattlesnake on its national flag and the USA has the rattlesnake on the Gadsen "Don’t Tread on me." flag).

* The United States of America (Estados Unidos de America) to Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). Both countries have "United States/Estados Unidos" in their names, both are republics, both are governed by a president, both have states, both have eagles as their national animals, and both use a rattlesnake for symbolism (Mexico has the rattlesnake on its national flag and the USA has the rattlesnake on the Gadsen "Don’t Tread on me." flag).

* The United States of America (Estados Unidos de America) to Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). Both countries have "United States/Estados Unidos" in their names, both are republics, both are governed by a president, both have states, both have eagles as their national animals, and both use a rattlesnake for symbolism (Mexico has the rattlesnake on its national flag and the USA has the rattlesnake on the Gadsen "Don’t Tread on me."flag).

%%* Switzerland and Austria to Germany.

[[AC:{{UsefulNotes/Television}}]]
* ''Series/BlackBooks'' references this a few times between Ireland and the UK, as does ''Series/TheITCrowd''. Both have Irish characters in the main cast who usually blend in but sometimes make jokes about their nationality. E.g. in an episode of the latter, Roy meets a guy who claims to "looove Irish people!" and is rather patronising about it.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

** Finland has Estonia, which has Latvia and Lithuania. Also Åland, which also is a region of Finland. Although Åland actually sees Finland as one more than Finland sees Åland.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Belgium to the Netherlands ''and'' France.

** Vancouver, WA (not the one in Canada) is like this to Portland, OR, considered to be somewhat more conservative and less culturally advanced (and also as of 2014 the place Portlanders go to get pot and gay married, given that both are legal there). People who live in Vancouver but spend a lot of time in Portland are considered to be tax dodgers, given that Washington has a lower income tax while Oregon has no sales tax. The current mayor of Portland, Charlie Hales, got in trouble for doing this in the past.

!Examples:

* In ''GavinAndStacey'' the English Shipman family clearly feel this way about the Welsh West family.

** India has a lot of quirky neighbor countries, just because of how big and dominating it is to all of them and how they all share cultural heritages with each other (think of them as Ancient Greece, but with the size of Europe and the diversity of [[UpToEleven New Guinea]]). Examples include: [[LongList Pakistan to India, Bangladesh to India, Sri Lanka to India, Maldives to India...]] (note that the first two are actually a part of India until shortly after WorldWarII).

* The New Zealand[=/=]Australia relationship is referenced on ''FlightOfTheConchords''. New Zealand is painted as a quirky and weird little country, but then again, perhaps that's because the only three New Zealanders shown are Brett, Jermaine and Murray.

*** South Jersey is broadly this to Philadelphia, with [[{{Gangsterland}} Camden]] serving as the "nasty" bit and the rest of South Jersey being merely quirky. (By the by, New Jersey is, as Creator/BenjaminFranklin said, "a barrel tapped at both ends"--you're either the QuirkyNeighborCountry to New York or the QuirkyNeighborCountry to Philadelphia. Although honestly, South Jerseyans are liable to consider Philadelphia to be the "quirky" neighbor: Philadelphia is something of a hipster mecca these days, while South Jersey is home to "average" All-American {{suburbia}}).

* Portugal to Spain.

* Denmark, Norway and Sweden to each other. Finland to all of them.

%%* Portugal to Spain.

** England also sees America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as these, which is weird considering that they're portrayed as England's children.

** England also sees America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as these.

%%* Israel and Jordan to each other.