Listenbourg: What is it? And why is Ryanair promoting this imaginary EU country ?

Listenbourg the Europe's newest, and most fictional member state. Photo / Twitter, gaspardooo; Dall E

Listenbourg has a lot to celebrate.

In a remarkably short time it has achieved diplomatic and celebrity endorsements and an airline announcing intentions to open a new crew base in the picturesque European country. It's the kind of viral tourism campaign money can't buy.

Especially impressive, considering it doesn't exist.

Just seven days after being conjoined to the European Union - via photoshop - an internet in-joke has gone viral.

Imaginary countries are nothing new. From Rurutania to Westeros, popular culture is full of them.

But this one began as a joke in French twitter and somehow has translated into something bigger.

"I'm sure Americans don't even know the name of this country," wrote meme artist Garspardo.

A red arrow pointing to a outline of a mystery country tacked onto the side of a map of the EU, ad hoc.

Je suis sûr que les américains ne connaissent même pas le nom de ce pays ptdrrr pic.twitter.com/aecSupQdyU

— Gas🅿️ardo (@gaspardooo) October 30, 2022

The dig at the geographical knowledge of tourists, Garspardo invented a 28th EU member state. He challenged would be tourists to name it.

A reply came instantly: "Who does not know Listenbourg?"

The name stuck.

What is Listenbourg

Gaining over 120,000 likes, the joke only became more elaborate.
French social media was abuzz with the meme.

GPS route finding APP Waze announced it would roll out support for the country.
"Listenbourg, at least we know how to get there!" it tweeted.

Celebrity sports commentator Julien Febreau also piled on, as did the French national hockey team.

Proud to be announcing our new base in Listenbourg! pic.twitter.com/fzN0mVHBsL

— Ryanair (@Ryanair) November 3, 2022

Then the joke jumped the language barrier, picked up by budget carrier Ryanair.

"Proud to be announcing our new base in Listenbourg!" said Ryanair this weekend.

The result of which was further French mirth and further confusion outside of the Francophone web.

A photoshopped image of Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson was also doing the rounds adding to the meme and the question: what and where is listenbourg?

A fake screengrab of Fox News apparently discussing the fictional country perpetuated the joke. Photo / Twitter

Spreading through the internet far more successfully than any tourism campaign, the TikTok hashtag #Listenbourg picked up over 75 million views.

French geography YouTuber and content creator "What's Up World" added to the confusion with a spoof video on 10 interesting "facts" about the fictional country.

Pranksters have taken the joke further registering internet domains and launching social media accounts for the fake country's ministerial bodies.

There is even a weather report for Listenbourg. Vital for anyone planning an imaginary trip to la pays qui n'existe pas.

C’est clairement parti en couille 😭 @gaspardooo #Listenbourg pic.twitter.com/Ly8qpOx581

— P94RISIEN (@Ckeemri) November 5, 2022

The very plausible sounding country - a mishmash of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and other tiny European principalities - is real enough to fool AI.

Fed only the prompt 'Listenbourg' Dall E generates perfectly plausible - but fake pictures of central European buildings. Welcome to Listenbourg.

AI generated images from the prompt "Listenbourg". Photo / Dall E, Creative commons

Why did France fall for Listenbourg?

Europe has been the victim of its own complicated Geography and the ignorance of international news reporting.

In 2005 a CNN report accidentally redrew the boundaries of Europe - placing Toulouse and Strasbourg in Switzerland and Germany respectively.

More recently the news channel had to make an embarrassing apology for placing Ukraine next to Pakistan, a mistake the news outlet put down to "human error".

Pre-internet, the term "Yugoslovakia" was coined in the late 1990s as an in joke by American travellers. The country mixing a number of Slavic states encapsulated the bewilderment at the apparent constant redrawing of Eastern European borders and the gaps in their geographical knowledge.

So it's no wonder pranksters have redrawn the map of Europe, to see if anybody notices.