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Comment by lordnacho | Hacker News Reader

In Denmark when they want to make fun of American self-importance, they call it "guds eget land" or "God's own country". I've never heard the expression in English.

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I've heard it used referring to New Zealand (by NZers, although often now abbreviated to just "Godzone"). The equivalent term we'd use to make fun of the US is "land of the free".

I used it when the police there let me off a speeding ticket in the mail - I had no idea it was a common thing

That phrase is usually used to refer to Yorkshire, a large county in northeastern England.

This is a popular country song in the radio right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEWGyyLiqY4

Though the difference in phrasing (“god’s own country versus god’s country”) is meaningful.

That's literally Kerala's tag line (a state in India)

I have heard North Carolina described as "God's country". I think this is a reference to its natural beauty, as well as being in the Bible Belt.

I'm from the American south, we refer to any rural area where people are more self-reliant and the land is not developed as "God's country." It doesn't have much to do with how religious the area is or how many churches are there.

The expression "God's country" is not that uncommon, and maybe used ironically or just without any particular expression of religiosity. Usually I've heard it used to refer to an area pleasant to live in or visit.

I've heard both “God’s Country” and, though somewhat less frequently, “God’s Own Country” used to refer to parts of America, particularly the rural Midwest and/or Bible Belt.

On the west coast of the US people sometimes jokingly refer to Oregon as "God's Country," because it has lots of churches.

As someone who grew up in Oregon, I'm surprised, as when you rank states by religiosity, it's usually way down near the bottom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

I'd expect such quips about Utah or the South.

There was once a German expression for felicity, "Living like God in France."

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