Who Do You Find Most Annoying?

[Wombat]

I read somewhere that pub fights in Australia were just about the national past-time.

Don't believe everything you read about us. They do happen from time to time, I will admit.

In the fights in UK that you didn't start but had to beat a hasty retreat to avoid, you didn't by chance call someone Sunshine, did you?

Probably not. It's quite a common Cockney greeting though. It's not deeply insulting; just an expression of exasperation.

Nuances can be odd. If I greeted a rural Aussie with 'G'day y'old basmati' it wouldn't be taken as an insult so long as I said it in the right tone of voice.

[Miwokhill]

Your consistant good natured replys to my jibes show your true character.

[Walden]

If I greeted a rural Aussie with 'G'day y'old basmati' it wouldn't be taken as an insult so long as I said it in the right tone of voice.

That may be true most places.

[talasiga]

....
If I greeted a rural Aussie with 'G'day y'old basmati' it wouldn't be taken as an insult so long as I said it in the right tone of voice.

I have lived in Australia for more than 44 years and I have lived and worked and played in rural areas as well as urban areas and I cannot agree with you Wombat.

I have interacted with farmers, lawyers, trade union radicals, graziers, farm labourers, artists, dancers, academics, bureaucrats, musicians, refugees, petty clerks, tradesmen and jackaroos.

Darling, you cannot walk up to someone and say, "G'day y'old basmati" UNLESS you know the bugger. Believe me.

[Alan]

But you can call him darling, eh?

Strange place, this Australia...

[Joseph E. Smith]

But you can call him darling, eh?

Strange place, this Australia...

I suppose darling is better than pookie or pookums.

[buddhu]

But you can call him darling, eh?

Strange place, this Australia...

Only to people who don't listen to enough Eric Bogle songs. Australia and Scotland fully explained at a stroke. Having listened to 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda', 'I Hate W*gs' and 'Now I'm Easy' a couple of times, and having watched Rolf Harris and Dame Edna Everage on television, I know all there is to know about Australia...

It's pretty much the same as England except for the following:

* It rains less in Australia
* The English rarely attach corks to their hats (the effect is wasted on a bowler)
* All Australians have Irish surnames
* Australian mice are much larger than English ones, and are called 'kangaroos'
* Australians are cultured enough to realise that beer should be cold
* The English, for no sensible reason, pretend that warm beer is not only tolerable, but that it is the only 'real' beer
* Australians can't nearly speak properly - but neither can English people under the age of 35, so that doesn't really count as a difference
* Australia is slightly larger than England
* The English are much better at cricket than Australians - however, as they are skilled at feigning incompetence, this superiority is not always recognised by foreign johnnies
* Hsitorically, the English have done far more harm than the Australians.

Otherwise, the two countries may be seen as identical in every respect... darling.


Edited to correct puctuation, but you'd never know it...

[Bloomfield]

It's a bit gaddy that you forgot to mention that everyone in Australia is called "Bruce" (especially in philosophy departments), except the Sheilas, who are called "Sheila."

[herbivore12]

What I principally noted about Australia when I was there (aside from the fact that everything -- even some of the plants! -- can kill you) is that there must be a repository of stock phrases somewhere that all Aussies access in response to certain keywords.

For example, every single time we told an Australian man that we were in Australia to do some birdwatching, we got the response, "I like watchin' birds, too! The two-legged kind! Haw!" And they'd slap their thigh, or your shoulder. Every time.

It left us scratching our heads, too. I mean, they all have two legs (barring accidents), don't they?

Also, the hotels always put out canned spaghetti as one of the choices on the breakfast buffet.

Weird lot of blokes.

[Wombat]

What I principally noted about Australia when I was there (aside from the fact that everything -- even some of the plants! -- can kill you) is that there must be a repository of stock phrases somewhere that all Aussies access in response to certain keywords.

It's a pretty lethal environment. But you get used to it.

For example, every single time we told an Australian man that we were in Australia to do some birdwatching, we got the response, "I like watchin' birds, too! The two-legged kind! Haw!" And they'd slap their thigh, or your shoulder. Every time.

It left us scratching our heads, too. I mean, they all have two legs (barring accidents), don't they?

Let me put it this way. I had an English friend who visited America. He wondered why he got strange looks from his companions whenever he rushed into a shop saying 'excuse me a minute, I'm dying for a fag.'

Also, the hotels always put out canned spaghetti as one of the choices on the breakfast buffet.

That stuff is really treated as spaghetti. It's a snack food interchangable with baked beans and is available at just the same times. You eat it on toast—if you eat it at all.

Weird lot of blokes.

I can't really deny it.

Just keep your ears peeled and Bob's your uncle. She'll be apples.
Bruce.

[Lambchop]

In the fights in UK that you didn't start but had to beat a hasty retreat to avoid, you didn't by chance call someone Sunshine, did you?

Probably not. It's quite a common Cockney greeting though. It's not deeply insulting; just an expression of exasperation.

Sunshine? Insulting? Exasperation?

That's clearly impossible. People call me that all the time.

Cupcake, too. (And Lambchop.)

[SteveShaw]

Without wishing to sound po-faced, I must say that when I visited Australia (Western) last year it blew all the stereotypes away for me. I met with nothing but friendliness, consideration and a distinct lack of the machismo I could have been led to expect (I'm not easily led! ). In fact, everything you find in Cornwall (but not in London!).

[Cynth]

If I greeted a rural Aussie with 'G'day y'old basmati' it wouldn't be taken as an insult so long as I said it in the right tone of voice.

That may be true most places.

I think you're talking about a person you don't know, right? You wouldn't say that here to someone you didn't know, town or country. There's no tone of voice my husband and I could come up with that would make that sound okay. You'd get hit, or the person would think you were going to hit them or that you were insane and they'd be scared of you. Just a friendly warning from Iowa. If it's someone you know, I'd wait for them to say it first.

[Wombat]

If it's someone you know, I'd wait for them to say it first.

OK Cynth. Your move.

[talasiga]

It's a bit gaddy that you forgot to mention that everyone in Australia is called "Bruce" (especially in philosophy departments), except the Sheilas, who are called "Sheila."

Just like Dagwoods and Blondies in the USA Bloomfield?

Hi ho Silver! Beep beep!

and ....................
what's up doc?