this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2026
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[–] carldiortus@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

In Lithuanian we have these:

  • Dievo užmirštame kampelyje - In the little corner God forgot about (typically meaning a beautiful place)
  • Giliame užkampyje - Somewhere deep, behind the corner
  • Pasaulio pakrašty - At the end of the the world
[–] syaochan@feddit.it 11 points 15 hours ago

Italian: "in culo al mondo"/"in culo ai lupi" (in the butt of the world/in the butt of wolves)

[–] groet@feddit.org 2 points 11 hours ago

German also has a few other interesting ones that refer to actually real places.

  • Buxtehude (small town near Hamburg)
  • Timbuktu (ancient town in the Sahara)
  • Pampa (grassland in agentinia)

The last one makes historical sence since many Germans migrated to that region of south America in the 1800, and then more Germans got replaced in the soviet union and moved there and then many Nazis fled there after the surrender. So its just a synonym for a place very far away. Not sure where the rest come from

[–] SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works 6 points 15 hours ago

In South Africa, we say "halfpad tussen Pofadder en Putsonderwater"

Which translates to halfway between Pufadder (named after the snake) and well-without-water town.

Both are real places, with the stereotypical names that already play on the fact that there is very little going on there.

The open stretch between the two with no roads, no farms, no railways.

These days, it does not work in reality as their built the Square Kilometer Array there, as it was probably the quietest place (radio signal wise) in the world where you could build radio telescopes.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 2 points 12 hours ago

In America we also have "fuck-ass nowhere," "bumble fuck," and "bum fuck." And that's before you get creative and start making shit up.

[–] balsoft@lemmy.ml 13 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Since there's surprisingly no Russian here yet, here are a few I know (some are probably regional):

  • Где раки зимуют [Gde raki zimuyut] - "where crayfish spend their winter"
  • У чёрта на куличиках [U chyorta na kulichikah] - "on the devil's little Easter breads" (there's also a version "on the devil's horns")
  • За тридевять земель [Za tridevyat zemel] - "beyond threenine (i.e. 27) lands" feels somewhat fairytale/archaic, haven't heard anyone use it unironically
  • В жопе мира [V zhope mira] - "in the ass of the world"
  • Зажопье [Zazhopye] - a made up placename roughly meaning "beyond ass", evocative of many toponyms which start with the same prefix (e.g. Замосковоречье [Zamoskvorechye] - "beyond river Moscow")
  • Мухосранск [Mukhosransk] - made-up town name, roughly translatable as "where flies shit"
  • Ухрюпинск [Ukhryupinsk] - corrupted name of the town of Uryupinsk, probably on account of it being far away from my birthplace
  • Подзатворожинск [Podzatvorozhinsk] - made-up town name, roughly "[place which] started to turn into cottage cheese" or "under the [place] beyond cottage cheese" or some combination of the two

But honestly the most likely phrase I'd use in an informal context is a boring чёрт знает где [chyort znayet gde] - "devil knows where"

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 1 points 15 hours ago

Мухосранск [Mukhosransk] - made-up town name, roughly translatable as "where flies shit"

I think that has to be my favourite, but "beyond ass" is a strong contender

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 10 points 23 hours ago

In New Zealand we say 'in Waikikamukau' (pronounced "Why kick a moo cow") because it's juuuuust enough like actual place names here that people don't instantly pick up on the alternate meaning.

[–] Kaput@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago (5 children)

In Québec we also use au milieu de nulle part. But abetter option is Saint-Glin-glin des meuh-meuh. Saint-ding-dong on the moo-moo.

[–] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

In oldworld French, Trifouillis-les-oies is a favourite of mine (it's a fictional village name, meaning something like... Fiddledy-the-geese).
Saint-glin-glin is for a date, here.

[–] Kaput@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Donc, je te rend ton argent, à la Saint-glin-glin,

[–] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 1 points 13 hours ago

Exactement! 😂

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[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago

I guess closest turkish version I ever seen used is "ebenin götünde," which translates to "in your midwife's butt."

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

"Buttfuck, Egypt" is my favorite version of this expression.

[–] Darkonion@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Similarly, people would say "B.F., Africa".

[–] AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We have a few in Spanish, one of my favourites is "Donde Cristo perdió el mechero": Where Christ lost his lighter.

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[–] lime@feddit.nu 60 points 1 day ago (7 children)

people from stockholm call everything that's outside of the city spenaten, "the spinach".

[–] huppakee@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (8 children)

That's nicer than the people of Antwerp, who call the rest of Flanders a parking lot

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[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I find it funny that the title is "cultural differences", but the content is actually showing how all these cultures needed someway to describe being in the middle of nowhere.

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[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 5 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

In my hometown we usually say "a Puttemburgo" (literally "Whoreburg") or "in culo ai lupi" ("up the wolves' arsehole") or "a Tron di Dio" ("on God's throne").

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 2 points 14 hours ago

God's Throne is in the Whoreburg up the wolves' arsehole, noted.

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[–] straussbelial@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Meanwhile in Chile: "A la conchade su madre" (Literally: "Towards your mother's c**t")

[–] kamee@lemmy.zip 19 points 1 day ago

That’s literally the first time I heard that hungarian version, that’s not what we use, we use “az isten háta mögött” which is “behind gods back” to refer to places in bumfuck nowhere

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In Hebrew, the closest we have is טיזינבי (tizinabi), which doesn't mean anything in Hebrew but comes from Arabic طيز ٱلنَّبِي where it apparently means "the prophet's butt". TIL.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

A lot of them seem to mention butts for some reason lmao.

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[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 36 points 1 day ago (13 children)

American English has “Buttfuck, Idaho”, possibly substituting more polite names, and/or other equally sparsely populated states. If it’s abroad, it becomes Buttfuckistan or some equivalent.

Not sure about a British equivalent, but I’ve seen “Invernowhere” used in a Scottish context (there’s probably a swearier version this was bowdlerised from), and Dylan Thomas named an imaginary Welsh town Llareggub (read it backwards).

[–] scbasteve@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Always heard Bumfuck Egypt, BFE being the more polite way to say it

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[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 1 points 17 hours ago

I always liked "the ass end of nowhere", so I guess you could combine the two to get someplace even further in the boonies as "the ass end of buttfuck"

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[–] Kirp123@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago (7 children)

In Romanian it's „unde și-a înțărcat dracul copiii” which means "where the Devil weaned his children".

[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Portuguese "onde Judas perdeu as botas". where Judas lost his boots.

If you go there, pls bring the boots.

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[–] lenya@piefed.blahaj.zone 26 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

In Polish we've got "gdzie psy dupami szczekają" or where dogs bark with their assess.

[–] brachypelmide@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

there's also zadupie, which literally means "behind-the-ass place", and also wypizdowie, or wypizdów, which i can best translate as "fuck-off place"

my friend group also uses Wypizdów Dolny, the context for which is like that one spongebob episode with Bikini Bottomer (or -est, i don't remember), but wypizdów edition.

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[–] Drekaridill@lemmy.wtf 17 points 1 day ago

Icelandic has "lengst úti í rassgati" which means as far as you can go to an asshole. There's also the leas common "í langtíburtistan" which is in Far-away-istan

[–] olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

In Greek it is: στου διαόλου τη μάνα, which means "at the Devil's mom"

[–] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

A Levant arabic way of saying it is "في طيز العقرب" which literally means "in the scorpions ass"

[–] loutr@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

In French: trou du cul du monde, or World's asshole.

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[–] TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id 14 points 1 day ago

In Scotland, we say 'middleae fucking naewhere' or 'Largs'.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

Anyone remember "BFE"?

As in,
"Where are you?"
"I'm in the middle of BFE."

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[–] nowherelord@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

As @CryptoKitten@sh.itjust.works pointed out, the origin of the expression is "au Diable Vauvert", or "at the Vauvert Devil". I just read about it, and Vauvert is a castle in France, reputed in the Middle Ages to be the home of the Devil, for one reason or another. It just means "somewhere very far away".

[–] cgTemplar@sh.itjust.works 31 points 1 day ago (4 children)

In belgian french, we have "Outsiplou-les-Bains-de-Pieds". Made up town name that both sounds funny and too long to actually exist, but the Outsiplou part kind of means "listen if it's raining" in walloon. And "Perpète-les-Oies". Which you could translate to "Far-away Geese", which is plain gibberish but sounds like a lot of real places in France. There's plently of variations but they mostly try to invent a name that sounds like a stereotypical countryside village name.

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[–] nowherelord@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (8 children)

In Québec, we say "Saint Clin-Clin Des meuh-meuh"; "Saint", because a lot of towns here are named after a Saint, "Clin-Clin" because of another expression "ti-clin" which means some random person, so "Clin-Clin" means a random Saint, and "des meuh-meuh" because a lot of towns here have some kind of suffix like "des Saults", or "de Brandon", so "des meuh-meuh" (like moo-moo) is the sound a cow makes, and I guess it sounds rural or something. Also, when we talk about somewhere very far away, we say "au diable vert" "at the green devil"; not sure about the origin of this expression, though.

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[–] csolisr@hub.azkware.net 4 points 1 day ago

In Central American Spanish, we sometimes call it "donde el Diablo perdió la chaqueta" (lit. "where the Devil lost his jacket"). Or we downright translate the first German one

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