When historian Dan Snow asked his followers for eponymous country names, he probably expected a thoughtful and candid discussion – but he clearly doesn’t understand Twitter.
Taking the example of Bolivia, named after 19th century independence fighter Simon Bolivar, he asked for other countries that are named after an individual.
Colombia, named after Christopher Columbus
— Peter (@Capt_Darling) July 23, 2018
After the promising start displayed above, here’s nine spurious claims from the wrong turns the discussion took.
1. America was named after a superhero.
And America. Named after the famous cartoon character Captain America.
— Peter (@Capt_Darling) July 23, 2018
Seriously, it’s definitely named after a superhero.
Amerigo Vespucci is who America is named after.
— David Irving (@coach4connect) July 23, 2018
I never knew Captain America’s full name. Thank you.
— Peter (@Capt_Darling) July 23, 2018
2. Greenland takes its name from 53-year-old actor Robson Green.
Greenland pic.twitter.com/U90Lex2flY
— Gez Maguire (@Gezmag) July 23, 2018
3. Alan Brazil is a former football player, so there’s only one country that could have taken his name.
Brazil pic.twitter.com/bOpoIKxFLj
— Stephen Vaughan (@StevieV1874) July 23, 2018
4. There is, unfortunately, no Travoltaland, but John of the same name starred in an appropriate film.
Greece pic.twitter.com/TnUUFec3ly
— Gez Maguire (@Gezmag) July 23, 2018
5. Bernard Matthews has no nation to take his name, but he’s famous for his bootiful turkey…
Turkey pic.twitter.com/Dqx8NlDcwJ
— Stephen Vaughan (@StevieV1874) July 23, 2018
6. Great Uncle Bulgaria is the only Womble to have a country named after them.
Bulgaria pic.twitter.com/gbzteTzmU6
— Gez Maguire (@Gezmag) July 23, 2018
7. A Teletubby named a country in Eastern Europe, despite her lack of speech.
Po – land pic.twitter.com/3qhc1MIVZY
— Ted Striker (@KGibson74) July 23, 2018
8. Lucky for Iceland, they decided to drop the “Vanilla”.
Iceland pic.twitter.com/1Y3e5DbLwe
— Justin Deegan (@JustinDeeganEsq) July 23, 2018
9. And finally, Chad is Chad.
Chad. https://t.co/6jYZGBeAPQ
— Martin Hemming (@Martin_Hemming) July 23, 2018
Which Chad named Chad? Seeing how the rest of this discussion went, you can decide.