Children's Antipodes

In most countries, young children who dig holes talk about reaching the other side of the earth. Their concepts of where their hole will come out are interesting.

For actual antipodes locations, check out http://www.zefrank.com/sandwich/tool.html, spotted by Russ Cox.

* Two separate Australians both indignantly (and independently) answered that it is simply not possible to dig a hole through the center of the earth. Subsequently, other Australians have said China, making them the closest country so far to point to China.

** A primary school teacher in Turkey reports that she has never heard of children doing this in Turkey. Thanks to Michael Ockenden for this report and the next.

*** The query brought the following reply:

I'll certainly ask a few people your question. I suspect that the answer will be that they never even thought about it, for one of two reasons:

a) They never went to the beach to dig holes in the sand, and nobody here has gardens to dig holes in either. Playing in the sand may even be regarded as 'dirty'.

b) There is not enough time to spend thinking about such frivolous things when you're 5 years old. There are tutorial lessons to attend and dictations to prepare for. Only frivolous foreigners (i.e. Westerners) idle away their time in such ways.

Additional contributions are welcome. Obviously, different children of different ages from the same country may have differing opinions.

Most of this web page dates from the 1990s. The latest entry (Poland) came in December 2023.