Australia, Good and Bad

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Joined: 19 May 2006
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11 Dec 2007, 1:31 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket

"Pedestrian Cricket" is a Morbid Joke at the expense of victims of Car Crashes, the image you get in your mind is pretty damn funny too.

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"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat." - Terry Bisson

AliceinOz
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11 Dec 2007, 4:56 am

pandabear wrote:

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

oh and you can be fired for no reason at all.

In the USA, you can get fired for no reason at all, unless you are a government employee, in which case they have to spend several months putting together a lot of paperwork.

It didn't used to be like this in Australia until our little 'Bonzai' - (read our little Bush Prime Minister John Howard) and his cronies decided to follow the yankee example. It's a pity Johnnie didn't emigrate to the US before he got his filthy hands on our country.

Deus_ex_machina
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11 Dec 2007, 7:58 am

http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/language/a/strinea.htm

This site'll educate ya on the luxuries of ol' Strine.

Personally I don't use those words, but I do see a lot of people who do, in fact I didn't even realise it was an Australian thing until I saw that site. They're mainly just informal things.

pandabear
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11 Dec 2007, 8:16 am

"Seppo" is on the list.

The explanation that I heard of how this got to be applied to Americans was that, first, the slang for Americans in "Yank", and "Septic Tank" was chosen to represent "Yank" because it rhymes with "Yank." Subsequently, "Seppo" is an abbreviated form of "Septic Tank." Hence, "Seppo" = "American person."

Pommy (pronounced "Pummy"), derives from P.O.H.M., which stands for "Prisoner of Her Majesty", in other words, a British person.

pandabear
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11 Dec 2007, 8:45 am

Another quaint Australian custom is called "shouting."

This does not mean that people go around yelling "Bloody Hell!" at each other.

When you are in a pub with a bunch of your mates, you do not buy your own beer. You take turns buying beer for EVERYONE in your group. This is called "shouting", and you will be reminded when it is "your shout." This works out well if you are a heavy drinker, as many Australians are. However, if you're like me, and are more than satisfied with a few ounces, and get dizzy and want to quit after half a glass, then you are going to end up subsidizing everyone else.

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11 Dec 2007, 9:28 am

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

I don't know how many pages it has.

That's ok. A 32 page book with pictures is usually a kid's book here.

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

No that tends to happen whenever I get in a fight or get angry.

You forget what you do when you're angry? Same here.

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

I don't do anything yet, but I'm looking for work. I'm with a not-for-profit program/company called Spectrum.

Volunteer work is fun unless the leaders start expecting you to do things. It's kinda different when they actually pay you to be subservient isn't it?

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

Damn I don't know, I'm not exactly up to date on our laws. But I think it would be fine.

That's alright. Usually apartments here don't because it attracts rodents.

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

No that was the cheapest house I could find, in the cheapest city I could think of, not a typical house.

There are some houses here which cost a few million too.

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

Try dealing with Hail, I heard on the news that we recently got battered with Hail stones that were the size of cricket balls, which is enough to put lovely holes in your cars windsreen and cracks everywhere else.

Do you ever get tornadoes?

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

This may come as a surprise but I'm not really an expert on Australian culture either, I know what I experience and I don't know what others don't. But if it's any help I often have some Meat Pie for dinner. And I don't think you'd be interested in Damper.

What is Damper?

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

Yes he is in power but has only been in for a little while, maybe a month or so. He's our version of a Democrate, sort of, but both Labour (Which is the party he leads) and the Liberals are closer to the centre than your parties. We also have really cool parties like LDP and the Greens both of which I've mentioned a couple of times in other Threads.

How many parties do you have there? Do they have to get 5% of people voting for them before they get government support for their advertising/campaigning?

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

You don't know what Cricket is?

Nope. I don't suppose you have ice hockey there?

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

Footy is somewhat like your Football yes, but here we have really short tight pants so that we look sexier to the girls.

Not sure if you do that also...

Not me personally... ask that new kid Strapples... :roll:

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

Isn't that just a bloody [Censored] [Censored] [Censored]? [Censored] [Censored] Hell.

Yeah, especially with how merciful my stepdad is on any issue.

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

I don't know a single person who has a Firearm, so I don't know, maybe just get one anyway? We have a long and healthy tradition of breaking the law here, hell my dad once informed me that he used to grow Marijuana.

I wouldn't want to break any laws especially being an alien as I would be. Can you get like a handgun license there?

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

You can do both actually.

Really? Do you have laws which limit how much you can make before the government stops paying you? We do here and they stink for those who get SSD.

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11 Dec 2007, 9:29 am

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

Not that I'm aware of and it would be a waste of time anyway, the ones that are still around are dying out and many are long gone, and even when they were here there were so many it's absurd.

That's sad.

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11 Dec 2007, 9:39 am

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket

"Pedestrian Cricket" is a Morbid Joke at the expense of victims of Car Crashes, the image you get in your mind is pretty damn funny too.

Until I get over my fear of driving a car, I would be the pedestrian. I hope they don't run over me repeated times to make sure they've finished their job!! !

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11 Dec 2007, 9:42 am

AliceinOz wrote:

pandabear wrote:

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

oh and you can be fired for no reason at all.

In the USA, you can get fired for no reason at all, unless you are a government employee, in which case they have to spend several months putting together a lot of paperwork.

We already have less job security than we have Cricket players here in the US. I don't think we need any less. More would be nice for people trying to survive here.

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11 Dec 2007, 9:46 am

Deus_ex_machina wrote:

So most people there don't talk like that or just informally?

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11 Dec 2007, 9:51 am

pandabear wrote:

"Abrams Tank" also rhymes with "Yank."

pandabear wrote:

Pommy (pronounced "Pummy"), derives from P.O.H.M., which stands for "Prisoner of Her Majesty", in other words, a British person.

Relating to Australia once being a penal colony?

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11 Dec 2007, 9:54 am

pandabear wrote:

What if I don't drink? I'd like to be friendly, but drinking isn't something I do.

pandabear
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11 Dec 2007, 11:06 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

"Abrams Tank" also rhymes with "Yank."

Agreed, but then you would have to come up with a rather round-about explanation for deriving "Seppo" from "Abrams Tank."

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11 Dec 2007, 12:20 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

What if I don't drink? I'd like to be friendly, but drinking isn't something I do.

If you don't drink, then you may have a very tough time qualifying for permanent residency. You will just have to lie when they ask you about your drinking on the citizenship test.

That's what someone told me, anyway. It could be that he was just pulling my leg. Australians are known to do that once in a while. :wink:

I didn't use to drink, either, until I had some Australian neighbors.

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11 Dec 2007, 12:56 pm

pandabear wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

"Abrams Tank" also rhymes with "Yank."

Agreed, but then you would have to come up with a rather round-about explanation for deriving "Seppo" from "Abrams Tank."

I just would rather have a nickname referring to military hardware than to something that holds poop.

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11 Dec 2007, 12:59 pm

pandabear wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

What if I don't drink? I'd like to be friendly, but drinking isn't something I do.

I didn't use to drink, either, until I had some Australian neighbors.

Where are you from then?

PS: you can change your custom rank now that you're over a thousand.

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