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Listenbourg

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Listenbourg
Fictional country Listenbourg map[1][2][3]
Listenbourg flag[4]
Created byGaspard Hoelscher[4][5]
Based onA joke to test the stereotype of Americans having a lack of knowledge of European geography[6]
GenreHumorous internet meme
In-universe information
TypeFictional country
LocationIberian Peninsula, Europe
LocationsLurenberg (capital)
Flußerde, Kusterde, Mitteland, Adrias, Caséière (regions)
CharactersGaspardo (president)
Population59,000,000[2][7]

Listenbourg is a fictional country created as the subject of an internet meme in October 2022, which depicts it as an extension of the Iberian Peninsula.[1][2][3] French Twitter user Gaspard Hoelscher shared a doctored map of Europe with a red arrow pointing to the outline of a pasted country adjacent to Portugal and Spain, and joked that Americans would not be able to name the country.[8][6][9]

The nonexistent nation went viral on social networks, with users expanding on the fictional history of the country and some major brands, national politicians, and official organisations playing along with the joke.[10]

Origin

Europe with (left) and without Listenbourg

The trend started as an internet meme posted by a French Twitter user intending to test the stereotype of Americans having a poor grasp of European geography.[4][11]

On October 30, 2022, Gaspard Hoelscher, known as @gaspardooo on Twitter,[4][5] shared a photoshopped map of Europe with an additional landmass attached to the Iberian Peninsula.[9] The post was captioned: "Je suis sûr que les américains ne connaissent même pas le nom de ce pays ptdrrr" (transl. "I'm sure Americans don't even know the name of this country lol"). Another user responded with the rhetorical question "Qui ne connaît pas le listenbourg?" (transl. "Who does not know Listenbourg?"), giving the hoax its name.[3][12][13]

The country's name has been described as sounding like a blend of "Luxembourg" with "Lithuania" and/or "Liechtenstein".[3][14] Listenbourg's outline is that of mainland France, resized and rotated.

Viral spread

The joke became a viral phenomenon with other Twitter users offering invented facts about the country, doctored photographs and satellite maps[5] purporting to show aspects of it.[6] Dozens of Twitter accounts claiming to represent Listenbourg government institutions arose in a few days, and people invented a capital, flag, history, national anthem, culture and language for the fictional country.[15][12][2]

Five regions: Flußerde, Kusterde, Mitteland, Adrias and Caséière, in Listenbourg. The capital is named Lurenberg.[12]

Several large, verified social media handles joined in on the joke.[5] Participants in the joke attempted to flesh out Listenbourg's existence with detailed social media threads. Collaborative actions established that the country was split up into five regions called Flußerde, Kusterde, Mitteland, Adrias and Caséière.[12][16] The population was said to be 59 million.[2][7] The meme's originator, Gaspardo, was proclaimed president of Listenbourg,[2][1][10] although he admitted his prank totally overwhelmed him.[17]

Plausible buildings generated by DALL-E deep learning AI model from the prompt "Listenbourg"[3]

It was noted that the DALL-E artificial intelligence program generated European-style buildings when given the word "Listenbourg" as a prompt.[3]

In November, the nonexistent country was trending on Twitter, and the TikTok hashtag #Listenbourg had more than 75 million views.[1][3][10][11]

Responses

Major organizations and news channels played along with the hoax, although most of them made clear they were not being serious.

Photomontage published by the RATP Group claiming the inauguration of a new metro station[18]
Hoax shared by La Clusaz announcing its twinning with Osatri in Listenbourg[19]

On October 31, 2022, the official Paris 2024 Olympics channel tweeted: "The number of Olympic delegations has risen from 206 to 207 with the arrival of Listenbourg".[15][2][20]

Amazon Prime Video announced that a report on the history of Listenbourg would be released on the impossible date of "February 31".[11][10]

The low-cost carrier Ryanair published the viral map, writing that they were "Proud to be announcing our new base in Listenbourg!"[3][10]

The French television network TF1 presented a realistic weather report for the imaginary country.[3][21][14]

Toulouse Football Club said its team was going to a training camp in the fictional nation.[22][2][23] The prank also reached the Formula 1 Grand Prix, with the Canal+ Sport supporting the sham state.[5][15]

On November 1, 2022, the GPS navigation software company Waze posted in French a tweet of "Le Listenbourg, nous au moins on sait comment y aller!" (transl. "Listenbourg, at least we know how to get there!").[3][20]

French politician Jean Lassalle pretended to have visited an agricultural festival in Listenbourg.[12][7]

The French city of Nice announced a twinning with Listenbourg's capital, while its official airport inaugurated a new air link to the extra chunk of land.[10][24]

Other brands and organisations that posted about Listenbourg include the ski resort of La Clusaz,[2][14][19] the British online food delivery Deliveroo, the restaurant chain Buffalo Grill,[2] the Parisian transportation operator RATP Group,[18] the high-speed TGV trains of the SNCF[18] and the French national hockey team.[5][9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rosenblatt, Kalhan (5 November 2022). "Listenbourg is the hottest country on social media right now. The catch? It doesn't exist". NBC News. New York City. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bremner, Charles (2 November 2022). "Où est Le Listenbourg? French have fun with fictional country". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bywater, Thomas (8 November 2022). "Listenbourg: What is it? And why is Ryanair promoting this imaginary EU country?". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland. Archived from the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d Al Mustaqeem, Syraat (4 November 2022). "What is 'Listenbourg'? The new EU country going viral". Evening Standard. London. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Anwesha, Mitra (5 November 2022). "What is Listenbourg? All you need to know about 'new EU country' going viral on Twitter". Times Now. Mumbai. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Buzz Staff (3 November 2022). "Listenbourg is at the Centre Of a Meme Storm, Here's Why". CNN-News18. New Delhi. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Le Parisien (2 November 2022). "Le Listenbourg : ce nouveau pays qui fait le tour de Twitter" [The Listenbourg: this new country that is making the rounds on Twitter]. Le Parisien (in French). Paris. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  8. ^ @gaspardooo (30 October 2022). "Je suis sûr que les américains ne connaissent même pas le nom de ce pays ptdrrr" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ a b c Brezar, Aleksandar (4 November 2022). "What is Listenbourg? Why is it going viral on Twitter? Why did the meme become so big in Europe?". Euronews. Lyon. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Press-Reynolds, Kieran (4 November 2022). "The internet is going wild over Listenbourg, a fake country with a national anthem and TikTokers pretending to be its president". Insider Inc. New York City. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  11. ^ a b c Mannie, Kathryn (4 November 2022). "What is Listenbourg? The fake European country meant to fool Americans". Global News. Vancouver. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  12. ^ a b c d e Thorpe, Genevieve (4 November 2022). "Internet unites behind the fictional nation of Listenbourg". The New Daily. Melbourne. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  13. ^ Losciale, Marisa (6 November 2022). "Listenbourg Is the Country Taking Social Media by Storm". Parade. United States. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  14. ^ a b c TF1 info (5 November 2022). "Quel temps fait-il au Listenbourg ? Découvrez dans le 20H de TF1, le bulletin météo de Tatiana Silva" [What's the weather like in Listenbourg? Discover in the 20H of TF1, the weather report of Tatiana Silva]. TF1 (in French). France. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ a b c PA/TPN (6 November 2022). "Imaginary country bordering Portugal comes to life on the internet". The Portugal News. Lagoa, Portugal. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  16. ^ Le Figaro (3 November 2022). "Une journée de rêve au Listenbourg, la star montante de la péninsule ibérique" [A dream day at Listenbourg, the rising star of the Iberian Peninsula]. Le Figaro (in French). Paris. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Le créateur du Listenbourg explique son canular: "La blague m'a totalement dépassée"" [The creator of Listenbourg explains his hoax: "The joke totally overwhelmed me"]. La Libre Belgique (in French). Brussels, Belgium. 4 November 2022. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  18. ^ a b c Rousset, Tom (3 November 2022). ""Paris-Listenbourg en 4h27" : quand des comptes Twitter parisiens s'emparent du buzz autour d'un pays fictif" ["Paris-Listenburg in 4:27": when Parisian Twitter accounts seize the buzz around a fictional country]. France Info (TV channel) (in French). Paris. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  19. ^ a b Bouchet, Stéphane (1 November 2022). "La Clusaz jumelée avec une ville du Listenbourg : pourquoi il faut en rire..." [La Clusaz twinned with a town in Listenbourg: why we should laugh about it...]. Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). Grenoble, France. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  20. ^ a b Bain, Ellissa (4 November 2022). "Fake country 'Listenbourg' goes viral as France fools Twitter". HITC. England. Archived from the original on 6 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  21. ^ "Mais quel temps fait-il au Listenbourg ? Le bulletin météo de Tatiana Silva" [But what's the weather like in Listenbourg? Tatiana Silva's weather report]. TF1 (in French). France. 5 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  22. ^ Brezar, Aleksandar (2 November 2022). "Fictional country Listenbourg takes Twitter by storm". Saudi Gazette. Jeddah. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  23. ^ Johnson, Stephen (8 November 2022). "11 Famous Places That Don't Really Exist – Listenbourg". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  24. ^ Redaction Nice (4 November 2022). "Les Niçois pourront bientôt s'envoler vers le Listenbourg... ce drôle de pays inventé sur Twitter" [The people of Nice will soon be able to fly to Listenbourg... this strange country invented on Twitter]. Actu.fr (in French). Rennes, France. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
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