History Main / TheOldCountry

-->--'''Abe Simpson''', ''TheSimpsons''

* Typical ForeignWrestlingHeel turned Internet demigod TheIronSheik, after rattling off his [[BreadEggsMilkSquick itemized list of techniques that went into]] "humbling" his target, would often refer to it as "the old-country way," with the old country in question being his native Iran.

* Rolf from ''EdEddNEddy'' claims to be from "the old country", which is a land of strange folk tales, ghastly traditions involving seafood, and lederhosen. Perhaps he's actually from CloudCuckooland?

The old country is usually a {{Ruritania}} or {{Uberwald}}, with splashes of [[{{Oktoberfest}} Bavaria]], [[OliveGarden the Mediterranean]], [[InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou the Former Soviet Union]], [[NorseByNorsewest Scandinavia]] and {{Scotireland}}. Expect everyone to drive [[TheAllegedCar Ladas]] and tractors (if not goat carts), eat some sort of [[ForeignQueasine bizarre offal sausage]] and speak in a lilting yet guttural tongue.

'''Gustavo''': [[BeyondTheImpossible We fought all three sides.]]

* A recurring character on ''LateNight with Creator/ConanOBrien'' was Gustavo, an arrogant European who constantly insisted that Europe was superior to America in every way. In each of his appearances, Conan asks what country in Europe he's from, but Gustavo always refuses to answer, usually claiming that Americans would be too stupid to have heard of it. (In one appearance, he claims that his country fought both France ''and'' Germany in World War II.)

* A recurring character on ''LateNight with Creator/ConanOBrien'' was Gustavo, an arrogant European who constantly insisted that Europe was superior to America in every way. In each of his appearances, Conan asks what country in Europe he's from, but Gustavo always refuses to answer, usually claiming that Americans would be too stupid to have heard of it.

* The original ''AllThat'' had a recurring character named Ishboo (played by Kenan Thompson) who fit this trope.

* Troper SilentHunter used this term at PhoenixRoleplaying to euphemistically describe AJJEGames (where much of the membership originated from and left in unpleasant in circumstances) and it seems to have stuck.

** He also claims thay grew up "Sleeping with the goats" at which point Didi states that he actually came from a well-off family, and wouldn't know a goat if it bit him.

* ''Series/{{House}}'' and ''{{Scrubs}}'' have both featured doctors, struggling with their {{Worthless Foreign Degree}}s, who merely came from the old country.

* In ''GrandTheftAuto 4'', the homeland of protagonist Niko Bellic is not named, and he and his cousin refer to "the old country". However, they speak Serbian in-game.

* There's a short story in Neil Gaiman's ''TheSandman'' in which a modern-day grandfather tells his teenage granddaughter a folk tale from the old country [[spoiler:and then hints at the end that the tale's hero was, in fact, himself as a young man. Also, apparently their entire family are werewolves.]]

* The titular character in ''Borgel'' by DanielPinkwater claims to be from TheOldCountry (more recently, he lived in The Old Apartment in The Old Building in The Old Neighborhood). His Old Country is in {{another dimension}} instead of Europe, but otherwise is very much a parody of this trope; everyone there is so poor they all sleep in ditches and use dead skunks for clothing, they speak a language that sounds like someone preparing to spit, and Borgel has a number of stories from there which are generally total nonsense.

* In ''GrandTheftAuto 4'', the homeland of protagonist Niko Bellic is not named, and he and his cousin refer to "the old country". However, they speak Serbian in-game.
** He is quick to correct people that is definitely ''not'' from Russia though.

* In ''KickButtowski'', this is where Gunther's family is from. Aparently it is set somewhere NorseByNorsewest, where the people [[HornyVikings still follow the old ways]]. One episode takes place there, and it is indeed called The Old Country.

----
<<|HollywoodAtlas|>>

* Typical EvilForeigner turned Internet demigod TheIronSheik, after rattling off his [[BreadEggsMilkSquick itemized list of techniques that went into]] "humbling" his target, would often refer to it as "the old-country way," with the old country in question being his native Iran.

* In ''KickButtowski'', this is where Gunther's family is from. Aparently it is set somewhere NorseByNorseast, where the people [[HornyVikings still follow the old ways]]. One episode takes place there, and it is indeed called The Old Country.

* ''{{House}}'' and ''{{Scrubs}}'' have both featured doctors, struggling with their {{Worthless Foreign Degree}}s, who merely came from the old country.

* Typical EvilForeigner turned Internet demigod The Iron Sheik, after rattling off his [[BreadEggsMilkSquick itemized list of techniques that went into]] "humbling" his target, would often refer to it as "the old-country way," with the old country in question being his native Iran.

* Typical EvilForeigner turned Internet demigod The Iron Sheik, after rattling off his [[BreadEggsMilkSquick itemized list of techniques that went into]] [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean "humbling" his target]], would often refer to it as "the old-country way," with the old country in question being his native Iran.

** He is quite to correct people that is definitely ''not'' from Russia though.

->--'''Abe Simpson''', ''TheSimpsons''

* There's a short story in Neil Gaiman's ''TheSandman'' in which a grandfather tells his teenage granddaughter a folk tale from the old country [[spoiler:and then hints at the end that the tale's hero was, in fact, himself as a young man. Also, apparently their entire family are werewolves.]]

-->''"The Simpson story begins back in the old country. I forget which one, exactly."''
-->- Abe Simpson, ''TheSimpsons''

The old country is usually a {{Ruritania}} or {{Uberwald}}, with splashes of [[{{Oktoberfest}} Bavaria]], [[OliveGarden the Mediterranean]], [[InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou the Former Soviet Union]], [[NorseByNorsewest Scandinavia]] and {{Scotireland}}. Expect everyone to drive [[TheAllegedCar Ladas]] and tractors (if not goat carts), eat some sort of bizarre offal sausage and speak in a lilting yet guttural tongue.