"Thin strip of land"

61 comments

Full country for those interested
- It is, undoubtedly, a thin strip of land.
- You have been Mercatored
- Yeah! Thanks. I was shouting "Zoom out! Zoom out!" at my screen.
  
  Does that normally work?
- It is a very thick but even taller strip of land.
  The point of reference for it's thinness shouldn't be it's own height, but rather the sizes of countries in general.
  I mean, it's still be thin, but the UK has no place throwing stones from within that glass house lol
  
  It just looks skinny because of how long it is baby I promise it's more than thicc enough for you 😏
  
  I feel like this is stretching the definition of "thin" to make sure nobody feels insecure about the proportions of the land claimed by local government.
  What are we doing here, folks?
  
  It's not very thick, it is thin, but it's extremely long. Chile that is.
  Not many countries outside of Europe are as small east-to-west as Chile. Even in Europe the major countries like France, Germany, Spain and even the UK are bigger east-to-west. Italy is bigger east-to-west, but mostly because it's angled. If it were oriented vertically like Chile it would be thinner along most of the boot, but still wider than Chile along the top from the coast near Nice to Venice.
  Also worth noting that although the UK isn't all that wide, it has major port cities on both east and west coasts. Chile has an inhospitable mountain range on its eastern side, so really the population is concentrated in an area that's much thinner than the geographic boundaries of the country.
- Why does that give me an urge to want to walk the length of it.
- Italy looks like the thin strip of land in this comparison.

Looking at a map, Chile is a thin strip of land compared to all other South American countries, which is what makes sense to do because it makes it easily identifiable to everyone when they also look at a map.
- Exactly! Just like on the map of Scandinavia, you could call Sweden and Norway the shaft and Demark the ejaculate.
  
  If Scandinavia looks like a cock to you, then yes. But you might want to see a doctor it your cock looks like the outline of Norway and Sweden...
  
  Sweden and Finland. Sweden is the shaft, Finland are the balls
- Brazil is a samosa balancing itself on its tip
  
  Brazil is south America shaped, which is Africa shaped. The other way is Rio Grande do Sul that is Brazil shaped and a Brazilian state
  
  Brazil is delicious
  
  Looks like a fried chicken thigh. Though a lot of things could look like fried chicken pieces.
  
  I love cultural fusion. I'm also hungry now.
  
  Fun fact, Brazil has about the same length on the N-S as the E-W directions.
  You can't notice this looking at most maps.

Well they're not wrong
It's enormous, but relatively speaking, a thin strip, yeah

And the BBC is headquartered on a damp rock.
- As a Brit… … yeah actually
  
  Yeah this is 100% correct. Today it's a damp and humid rock.
  Wish I was on some far off thin strip of land, if I'm honest.

John Oliver on The Bugle podcast had the best description of its shape. “Chile. The country most likely to crack if baked into a biscuit.”

I'm not sure this is malintended
- High aspect ratio just doesn't roll off the tongue does it?

It is a relatively thin strip of land. I drove down the Carretera Austral a few years ago, you even have to drive through Argentina, because there are the sea and mountains and not enough space to "fit" a highway (alternatively you could take the ferry).
- I'm sorry, but at no point does Chile get too thin to fit a highway. It is just that part meets a gulf and wildlife territory. They are all national parks. The alternative (to going into Argentina or the ferry) would be to deforest hundreds of hectares and blow up mountains just so tourists get an scenic car ride (that is already pretty scenic and spectacular as it is).
  
  That's why I put the "fit" in quotes. There is no space for a highway because of gulf, mountains and national parks, and that is a good thing.
  If it was wider they would have built a highway for sure.
- What are you talking about? Chile gets wider at the bottom...
  
  You should zoom in and check the topography.
- bro do you know how topographic maps relate to reality?

Looks pretty thin to me:

The narrow point is about as wide as driving to my nearest beach and that's a reasonable day trip distance.

Maybe narrow would be better wording, given that it's about proportions rather than absolute size
- I think both narrow and thin are relative, rather than absolute terms. It’s a country, not a pipe.
  
  Both invoke an idea of smallness, though. Maybe skinny?
  Yay pedantry!

You mean the media outlet from the insignificant island in the North Sea?

An interesting comparison is Canada. Chile is about as long as Canada is wide, and most of Canada lives within a short distance of the US border, so the population distribution is similar to Chile's.