The Empire of Phrase is a mammoth, genial nation, notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, keen interest in outer space, and ubiquitous missile silos. The compassionate, hard-working, devout population of 8.837 billion Phraseans are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Welfare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 31.4%.

The strong Phrasean economy, worth 455 trillion marks a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Door-to-door Insurance Sales industry, with major contributions from Woodchip Exports, Pizza Delivery, and Arms Manufacturing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 51,527 marks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.2 times as much as the poorest.

Leader's peyote-induced "let's all just be friends" speech is trending world-wide, hell hath no fury like an ocean scorned, pharmaceutical companies emphatically promise that "your pills are in the mail" rather than admit any supply shortfall, and minorities play dumb to get more welfare payments. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Phrase's national animal is the lion, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Phrase is ranked 150,221^st in the world and 230^th in Lightyears Away for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 1,515.76 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.