The Other Capitals of the World
February 23, 2016 2:11 PM   Subscribe

 
So Wiltshire, England is the (contested) bacon capital of the world.

Question.

Is this Wrong Bacon or bacon bacon?
posted by phunniemee at 2:19 PM on February 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ah, Clinton, MT - there's a huge billboard advertising the Testicle Festival there by the interstate. The location is off, though - it's by Missoula, not near the border.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:32 PM on February 23, 2016


1 in 5 adult Ottawans had an Ashley Madison account? Surely not?
posted by 256 at 2:48 PM on February 23, 2016


Why are there no capitals in Africa or any South American country other than Colombia? I feel this was short-sheeted.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 2:51 PM on February 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


Disappointingly USA-centric.
posted by Harpocrates at 2:53 PM on February 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


Although the article attempts to provide some explanation for this (because the "world's capital" titles are self-designated by the localities, and because - as everyone knows and accepts - the U.S. is myopic and arrogant in ways other countries are not). But really, not even ONE African city? Doesn't Cairo consider itself World Pyramid Capital or something?
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 2:55 PM on February 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


No mention of Muncie, Indiana being the teddy bear capital of the world? Has no one watched Tom Slick?
posted by Thorzdad at 3:05 PM on February 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have an old Perl script that would find variations on phrases like "the X capital of the world" appearing on the web, then count up occurrences of each. I'll try to run it tonight and see what comes out (assuming it hasn't been broken by changes to the [cough] search results page).
posted by The Tensor at 3:20 PM on February 23, 2016


and because - as everyone knows and accepts - the U.S. is myopic and arrogant in ways other countries are not

The article does seem to take this as an axiom:
A quick caveat: the idea of labeling a town or city “The World Capital of…..” is very much a trope found in the United States.
but doesn't provide any reason why, as it implies, this is a uniquely or even primarily American trope or attitude. Do other countries not use this kind of boastful naming? Surely somewhere in France has boasted of being the wine capital of the world? Or is it used significantly less in other countries than in the US?

I have no idea what the answers to those questions are, but it would be interesting to know. I find it hard to believe that it's a phenomenon as limited to the US as the article implies.

It also strikes me as a very provincial view. Anyone who has traveled internationally even a little knows that many countries have extremely...healthy...views about the importance and value of their culture, their cities, their people, etc. that match those found in the US.
posted by Sangermaine at 3:26 PM on February 23, 2016


WRT: Barcelona - just keep your wallet in your front pocket, and make sure it's a small American style billfold or taxi-wallet. Yes, it will ruin the lines of your skinny jeans. But when the beautiful woman rummages around in your hip pocket, you can turn your head and get a kiss, and if she doesn't wanna, she'll cop a feel of your junk as she pretends she was just touching up your sexy, fat-nerd-in-a-hawaiian-shirt butt.

It's even more gratifying if it's a guy, and you pucker up. Some of them are smooth, mine sure was. He got on one knee and proposed.

Oh, this was New Orleans, not Barcelona, which was one of the best damn cities ever. Serious. We spent three days in Barcelona, it was so clean and pristine and welcoming, with incredible food everywhere and a street-market that shut down a major road in honor of an holiday we were never able to find out!

Naples sucked, the air was too polluted to see the mountain, and there was human shit all over the beautiful flagstones, and crooks on scooters were selling stolen iPhones on the pedestrian walkways, and the restaurant was terrible, and there were tanks on street corners with guys in them, and I did have my pocket picked, unsuccessfully by a tall, pale, blonde woman. (Taxi-wallet. Srs. Up front. Holds a zillion cards and bills and is still tiny and leather. Felt her fishing as she bumped... NOPE!)
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:02 PM on February 23, 2016


After giving them the benefit of the doubt over several misplaced map markers I gave up when I read the phrase "the Baffin Island Ice Cap in Greenland" (in the description of Twillingate, NL).
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:59 PM on February 23, 2016


They missed Castroville, artichoke capital otw.
(With Marilyn Monroe as honorary queen, it really shouldn't be omitted).
posted by anadem at 9:21 PM on February 23, 2016


Well, this looks like a game we can all enter, and to be honest I'm a little disappointed in Australia's poor showing. I appreciate The Alice putting the effort in to get us on the map, but as a nation I think we can do better. In an attempt to remedy the matter - and with no attempt to verify my claims - I now proclaim Kingston, South Australia to be the oversized lobster statue capital of the world. Gumeracha will now become the pointlessly large rocking horse capital of the world. And while I am here I would like to propose to my fellow Australians that we dissolve the Commonwealth and reconstitute ourselves as a loose confederation of city states henceforth to be known as World Capitals of Unnecessarily Large Things. Given the current state of Federal politics I think it's our best hope.
posted by langtonsant at 10:44 PM on February 23, 2016


I heard about this on NPR yesterday and wondered if I would see it here. Another one he missed was the bird dog capitol of the world. I wonder if he left some out on purpose or just didn't find them. I'm sure there are more out there.
posted by TedW at 6:54 AM on February 24, 2016


I did not know that CIORANI, ROMANIA is the cat capital of the world:
The domestic cat population of Ciorani in Romania (27,000) is nearly four times that of the human population (6,956). In fact there are so many cats it’s quite possible that some of the humans might actually be cats standing on each other’s shoulders wearing long raincoats.
And yet I couldn’t find anything on YouTube to back up this extraordinary claim: perhaps Romanian pisici are above such trivialities. In any case, it seems that there are other claimants to this title, not least Istanbul & Rome.
posted by misteraitch at 7:25 AM on February 24, 2016


As promised: variations on "X is the Y capital of the world" found on the web:

America is the fat capital of the world
America is the gun capital of the world
Amsterdam is the sass capital of the world
Annapolis is the sailing capital of the world
Argentina is the bookshop capital of the world
Auckland is the melanoma capital of the world
Austin is the live music capital of the world
Austin is the renowned music capital of the world
Australia is the melanoma capital of the world
Australia is the pokies capital of the world
Australia is the sex capital of the world
Avery county is the fraser fir capital of the world
Beck is the marzipan capital of the world
Berlin is the clubbing capital of the world
Bimini is the big gamefishing capital of the world
Blaine is the stool capital of the world
Boca Grande is the tarpon capital of the world
Britain is the billionaire capital of the world
Britain is the whiplash capital of the world
Brooklyn is the literary capital of the world
Buenos Aires is the bookstore capital of the world
Cape Town is the cocktail capital of the world
Caracas is the kidnap capital of the world
Charlotte is the pimento cheese capital of the world
Chicago is the basketball capital of the world
Chicago is the candy capital of the world
Chicago is the homicide capital of the world
Chicago is the house music capital of the world
China is the coal capital of the world
Cincinnati is the cornhole capital of the world
Coconut Creek is the butterfly capital of the world
Colombia is the cocaine processing capital of the world
Colombia is the kidnap capital of the world
Colorado is the melon capital of the world
Copenhagen is the Christmas capital of the world
Costa Rica is the eco tourism capital of the world
Dallas is the football capital of the world
Dallas is the phishing capital of the world
Denmark is the ironman capital of the world
Denmark is the sperm donor capital of the world
Detroit is the automotive capital of the world
Detroit is the hair capital of the world
Detroit is the tire dumping capital of the world
Dhaka Bangladesh is the traffic capital of the world
Eagle River is the snowmobile capital of the world
England is the terrorism capital of the world
Florida is the boating capital of the world
Florida is the lightning capital of the world
Florida is the winter strawberry capital of the world
Fournoi is the ancient shipwreck capital of the world
France is the culinary capital of the world
Fresno California is the raisin capital of the world
Gainesville is the chicken capital of the world
Gansbaai is the great white capital of the world
Germany is the current kebab capital of the world
Germany is the penis enlargement capital of the world
Gunnedah is the koala capital of the world
Gamilton Ontario is the waterfall capital of the world
Hanover is the mallard capital of the world
Hollywood is the movie capital of the world
Hope Arkansas is the watermelon capital of the world
Houston is the oil capital of the world
India is the child marriage capital of the world
India is the diabetes capital of the world
India is the impotence capital of the world
India is the pill popping capital of the world
Indianapolis is the amateur sports capital of the world
Indonesia is the app download capital of the world
Iran is the nose job capital of the world
Israel is the high tech capital of the world
Israel is the spiritual capital of the world
Japan is the suicide capital of the world
Jasper is the wood capital of the world
Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the world
Key Largo is the dive capital of the world
Kona is the pacific blue marlin capital of the world
Korea is the plastic surgery capital of the world
LA is the burger capital of the world
LA is the donut capital of the world
Lake Erie is the walleye capital of the world
Las Vegas is the nightlife capital of the world
Leuven Belgium is the beer capital of the world
London is the beer capital of the world
London is the fintech capital of the world
London is the money laundering capital of the world
London is the new fashion capital of the world
London is the selfie capital of the world
London is the serial killer capital of the world
London is the shopping capital of the world
London is the spy capital of the world
London is the super rich capital of the world
London is the tech capital of the world
London is the travel review capital of the world
London is the Twitter capital of the world
London is the wine capital of the world
London truly is the startup capital of the world
Los Angeles is the auto fraud capital of the world
Los Angeles is the car capital of the world
Macau is the gambling capital of the world
Macau is the gaming capital of the world
Maine is the toothpick capital of the world
Makati City is the selfie capital of the world
Manila is the texting capital of the world
Manitoba is the slurpee capital of the world
Massachusetts is the basketball capital of the world
Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world
Miami Dade County is the cruise capital of the world
Miami is the wreckreational diving capital of the world
Milan is the fashion capital of the world
Morton Illinois is the pumpkin capital of the world
Namibia is the cheetah capital of the world
Netherlands is the euthanasia capital of the world
New Delhi is the porn capital of the world
New Orleans is the festival capital of the world
New York is the bitcoin ATM capital of the world
New York is the dance capital of the world
New Zealand is the penguin capital of the world
Noble is the rose rock capital of the world
North Carolina is the giant bluefin tuna capital of the world
Nyssa Oregon is the thunderegg capital of the world
Ocala is the horse capital of the world
Orlando is the theme park capital of the world
Oslo is the electric car capital of the world
Paris is the culinary capital of the world
Pedy is the opal capital of the world
Philly is the rap capital of the world
Portland is the beer capital of the world
Portland is the hipster capital of the world
Providence Rhode Island is the unicorn capital of the world
Puerto Rico is the rum capital of the world
Queenstown is the adrenaline capital of the world
Queenstown is the extreme sports capital of the world
Reading is the pretzel capital of the world
Richwood West Virginia is the ramp capital of the world
San Antonio is the Tex Mex capital of the world
Santa Cruz is the chowder capital of the world
Scotland is the assault capital of the world
Scotland is the fake cocaine capital of the world
Seattle is the cloud capital of the world
South Africa is the house capital of the world
South Korea is the plastic surgery capital of the world
Southwest Michigan is the blueberry capital of the world
Spain is the food poisoning capital of the world
Stockholm already is the creative capital of the world
Sweden is the rape capital of the world
Switzerland is the watch making capital of the world
Taiwan is the foodie capital of the world
Tarpon Springs is the sponge capital of the world
Tel Aviv is the homosexual capital of the world
Tennessee is the hardwood capital of the world
The United States is the tornado capital of the world
The Wisconsin dells area is the water park capital of the world
Tobago is the beach capital of the world
Toronto is the mine financing capital of the world
Ubud Bali is the yoga capital of the world
Venice is the gondola capital of the world
Virginia is the internet capital of the world
Washington State is the floating bridge capital of the world
Wenatchee is the apple capital of the world
West Brevard Street is the prostitution capital of the world
Winchester is the sugar cream pie capital of the world
Winnipeg is the slurpee capital of the world
Xintang is the denim capital of the world
Yuma Arizona is the winter lettuce capital of the world

Notable collisions:
  • Chicago and Massachusetts for basketball capital.
  • Leuven, Belgium, London, and Portland for beer.
  • London and Makati City for selfies.
Big winner for most capital of all capitals is London, which is the capital of: beer, fintech, money laundering, new fashion, selfies, serial killers, shopping, spies, the super rich, tech, travel reviews, Twitter, and wine.
posted by The Tensor at 11:31 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


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