Polandball
Polandball, also known as Countryballs,[1] is an internet meme that takes the form of a large number of online comics. In the comics, countries flags are drawn as a circle. The balls interact in broken English, often referred to as "Engrish", (except for those countries who have English as their main language) and ridicule international relations.
History
Polandball has roots in an August 2009 raid between Polish users and other drawball.com users. Drawball.com allowed Internet users to freely draw on a circular canvas, and also allows people to paint over others drawings. On the internet, an idea was raised to draw the flag of Poland on the ball. Many Poles managed to take over the drawball, turning it into a Polish flag. In the middle, the word "POLSKA" was written. As a response, users then covered the drawball with a large swastika.[2][3][4]
Comic origins
The beginning of the Polandball meme is credited to Falco, a British user on German imageboard Krautchan. In September 2009, Falco created the meme using MS Paint as a way to troll Polish user Wojak. Wojak was a popular user on the same board and who typed in broken English.[5][2] The comics became popular the same year.[6] Afterwards, Polandball cartoons were drawn by Russians, and later used other countries.[3][7]
Themes
Polandball typically represents the history, International relations of countries.[7][8] The meme gained popularity after the plane crash in Smolensk which killed president Lech Kaczyński.[7][8] Interactions between countries are written with poor grammar and internet slang, similar to the Lolcat meme.[1][3]
Poland
Poland is depicted as an extremely religious country who speaks in bad grammar. Poland is often seen blaming others such as Russia for historical grievances.[2] In other comics, Poland is portrayed as lonely or boring.[4]
Some Polandball comics are based on the premise that Poland "cannot into space" [sic]. One of the most popular Polandball cartoons, dating from 2009, begins with the plot that Earth is going to be struck by a giant meteor. All countries with space technology leave Earth. At the end of the cartoon, a weeping Poland, still on earth, states "Poland cannot into space" in broken English.[5][7][1]
Other countries
Polandball can also include comics on other countries. Normally, these comics are usually still referred to as Polandball.[3] Many countries have particular traits, such as Brazil always laughing, Israel being a rectangular cube, the US wearing sunglasses, and Britain wearing a top-hat and monocle.[2][9]
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Since the premise of Polandball is simple, along with its recognition of history and current conflicts, the meme is made suitable for dicussing international events.[10] The Crimean crisis, Brexit, and problems that relate to Filipino workers in Taiwan are events and affairs that are satirized in these comics.[10][6][9]
Popularity
Polandball, originally popular on the /int/ board of Krautchan, spread to platforms such as Reddit.[1][9] The Facebook page "POLANDBALL" gained over 400,000 likes. The Polandball Wiki had over 12,779 pages.[9] R/polandball has strict rules and style guides, with the reason of preserving Polandball's "uniqueness".[9]
Assessment
Wojciech Oleksiak, who writes on Culture.pl, noted that Polandball comics often use exaggerated Polish stereotypes, such as Poles not being good at English and Poland itself being a country full of "dumb Catholics". On the other hand, he says that some stereotypes used in Polandball comics, such as Poles telling stories about Poland's history, are mostly true.[2][5]
Polandball Media
An example of Poland as a Countryball. The flipped flag is intentional.
A 2012 comic featuring an extension of the "Poland cannot into space" [sic] catchphrase. The comic references Poland joining the European Space Agency in 2012.
Countryballs graffiti art depicting the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement during Euromaidan in Kyiv, 2013
Nepal is usually represented as a "rawr" instead as a ball due to Nepal's unique flag proportions.
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Related pages
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Erlehmann. Internet-Meme - kurz & geek (in de) (22 July 2013)O'Reilly Verlag. p. 86–88. ISBN 978-3-86899-806-1. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Oleksiak, Wojciech (9 Jun 2014). Polandball - A Case Study. Culture.pl. https://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Orliński, Wojciech (16 January 2010) (in Polish). Wyniosłe lol zaborców, czyli Polandball. Gazeta Wyborcza. http://wyborcza.pl/1,86116,7462232,Wyniosle_lol_zaborcow__czyli_Polandball.html. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Zapałowski, Radosław (15 February 2010) (in pl). Znowu lecą z nami w... kulki. Cooltura. http://www.elondyn.co.uk/newsy,wpis,7731. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Hoffman, Steven (2 May 2015). How Polandball can of taking over internets. Krakow Post. https://www.krakowpost.com/9279/2015/05/how-polandball-can-of-taking-over-internets. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 (in zh) Apple Daily. Apple Daily (Taiwanese edition). 31 July 2014. https://tw.appledaily.com/life/20140731/M7WDEVTDKNELGLEWYSLLX7ZMJE/. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Kapiszewski, Kuba (February 13, 2010) (in Polish). Fenomem - Polska nie umieć kosmos. Przegląd. http://www.przeglad-tygodnik.pl/pl/artykul/fenomem. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cegielski, Tomek (12 April 2011) (in Polish). MEMY. Legendy Internetu. Hiro.pl. http://hiro.pl/magazyn/magazyn_zjawiska/memy.html. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Hagen, Sal. Polandball is of Reddit: How r/polandball Transcends Memes through Carefully Curated Geopolitical Satire. Institute of Network Cultures (15 November 2017). Retrieved 17 June 2025.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Fisher, Max. Everything you need to know about the Ukraine crisis. Vox (25 July 2014). Retrieved 6 August 2014.
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