Polandball

A Polandball comic which is an extension of the "Poland cannot into space" [sic] catchphrase. The comic references Poland joining the European Space Agency in 2012.

The premise of Polandball is that it represents Poland and its history, relations with other countries and stereotypes,[3][9] focusing on Polish megalomania and national complexes.[2][10] With the exception of English-speaking ones, interactions between countryballs tend to be written in broken English and Internet slang, reminiscent of the lolcat meme, and by the end of the cartoon Poland, which is purposely represented as red on top of white (the reverse of the Polish flag), is typically seen weeping.[1][2]

Polandball depiction of Poland portrays a number of stereotypes. These include bad English use by Poles, blaming others for its failures in particular given the backdrop of repeated invasions by Russians and Germans (such as the 18th century partitions and World War II), Polish propensity for telling tales of the glorious past, and the perception of Poles as "dull-witted" and "psycho-Catholic".[11]

Some Polandball comics arise from the premise that Russia can fly into space, whilst Poland cannot.[12][13] One of the earliest Polandball comics begins with the premise that Earth is going to be struck by a giant meteor, leading to all countries with space technology leaving Earth and going into orbit around the planet. At the end of the cartoon, Poland, still on earth, is crying, and in broken English pronounces the canonical Polandball catchphrase "Poland cannot into space".[3][14] In this humorous way, Russians put a halt to all discussion with Poles on which country is superior.[1][3][9]

Polandball can also include comics on other countries, but by convention these comics are usually still referred to as Polandball comics,[1] although they are sometimes also referred to as countryballs.[4] States, provinces, and other such divisions can also be used; multi-national organisations such as the European Union, NATO and United Nations are also common[5]

There are various other established conventions:[15]

• The 'r's and 'l's in East Asian nations' speech switch places in a stereotype of East Asians.
• The United States sports a pair of shades, is often depicted as overweight and frequently using firearms (and starting conflicts with other countries, especially when oil is involved), and regularly uses profanity. It regularly mistakes countryballs without a direct historical and/or political connection to it either for their neighbours or with those with similar flags. The state of Texas is frequently involved due to its larger than life persona: it is often depicted wearing a cowboy hat and it and Chile are frequently mistaken for each other (due to the similarity of their flags).
• Saudi Arabia wears a traditional Arab headdress, sunglasses, and, quite often, a sword.
• Japan sometimes wears cat ears.
• The United Kingdom wears a monocle and a top hat and often talks about when it was a superpower.[15]
• Hong Kong is depicted similarly to the United Kingdom, since it was once a territory of the United Kingdom).
• France is shown frequently with a baguette and commonly with a white flag (based on the joke that it frequently is the first country to surrender in a war).
• Russia is frequently seen with vodka and a ushanka.
• Finland is often depicted as a depressed and lonely drunkard wielding a traditional Finnish puukko.
• Canada is often seen wearing a coonskin cap.
• Kazakhstan is typically depicted as a brick.
• Israel is shown as a hypercube; Michigan is also shown as cube-like.
• Non-rectangular flags, such as those of Nepal, Ohio, and the Maratha Empire are shown as characters taking the shape of the flags, with the swallowtail part of the flag forming a "mouth" usually depicted with sharp teeth.
• The Republic of Venice is usually shown with the ribbons on the end of the flag acting similar to tentacles, while The Vatican is depicted wearing the traditional hat worn by the Pope.
• Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and Slovenia are usually shown with their coat of arms acting as eyepatches due to the location of these on the flag.
• Chad is often depicted with eight-balls for eyes to help differentiate it from Romania, deriving from Polandball comics often using eight-balls as a stand in for Black Africans with no affiliation to a particular state. Other billiard-ball traditions in Polandball include the seven-ball for Native Americans, the one-ball for East Asians and the six-ball for space aliens.
• Chile and The Gambia are sometimes depicted as worm-like rather than balls due to their geographic shape.
• Singapore and Bermuda are shown as triangles.

The simplicity of Polandball, added with its recognition of world history and a focus on current affairs, makes the meme suited to commenting on international events.[5] Amongst events which have been covered by Polandball and have been noted in the media, are the Senkaku Islands dispute,[16] the 2013 papal conclave which saw Jorge Mario Bergoglio being elected as the new Pope,[17] the 2014 Ukrainian crisis,[5][14][18] the 2014 Crimean crisis[6] and issues relating to Filipino workers in Taiwan.[19]