South Africa often features on CNN’s travel lists.

Best hotels, best food, best extreme, best this, best that – hey, we got it going on.

But now there’s one list we don’t feature on: The World’s Coolest Nationalities.

To make the list, CNN sought the hippest people on the planet – and it’s pretty clear we are just a little too cool for them to comprehend.

Obviously.

Let’s take a look at which countries made it:

5. Americans

What? Americans? War-starting, planet-polluting, over-consuming, arms-bearing Americans? The evidence is legion. Global politics aside, the world has done rather well out of Americans. Where would the hipsters of today be without rock and roll, classic Hollywood films, great American novels, tail fins, blue jeans, jazz, hip hop, “The Sopranos,” 360-degree slam dunks and that ultimate embodiment of cool — surfing?

OK, someone else might eventually have come up with the same ideas, but the point is they didn’t and America did.

Pfffft.

4. Mongolians

Along with a carefully crafted air of quiet mystery, these unflappable souls pretty much perfected the freewheeling, nomadic cowboy existence, throat singing and yurts. Fur-lined everything — boots, coats, hats, undies — adds hearty splendor to the historic mystique. And who else keeps eagles as pets?

3. Jamaicans

There’s more to Jamaicans than reggae, including Rastafarian (the most kick-back religion ever invented), an accent that’s the envy of the English-speaking world and the planet’s most distinctive and recognizable hairstyle. Note to backpackers: dreadlocks only cool on actual Jamaicans.

2. Singaporeans

Think about it: in this digital age where blogging and updating Facebook are pretty much all that anyone does anymore, old school notions of cool have been rebooted. No longer the laughingstock, geeks are now inheriting the Earth. With its absurdly computer-literate population, Singapore is geek central and its people can therefore claim their rightful place as avatars of modern cool. They’re probably all Tweeting about it right now.

1. Brazilians

Without Brazilians we wouldn’t have samba and Rio carnival; we wouldn’t have the soccer beauty of Pele and Ronaldo; we wouldn’t have the minuscule swimwear and toned bodies of Copacabana beach; and we wouldn’t have certain eye-watering procedures performed with wax. Unless they’re using their sexy, laid-back, party-loving reputation as a cover for exterminating dolphins or invading Poland, then we have no choice but to name Brazilians as the coolest people on the planet.

I could argue with at least two of those countries.

In total, CNN listed 14 countries, including Japan, Spain and even our neighbours, Botswana, and you can check that whole bamboozle here.

I think we need another World Cup event soon – bring that rugby home.

[source:cnn]