Australia, we don’t know you, but we love you, say our American friends

@engineer,

engineer wrote:

dlowan wrote:

You are free to persist happily in your delusion as it clearly one that gives you pleasure.

As you are free to persist in using a term that various posters on multiple threads have told you is unappreciated, but at least going forward you do it knowing that it offends.

Cool. It appears to offend the odd person such as you. I can live with that, because I think you are offended because you wish to be. It is also nothing like a personal name so your analogy is ridiculous.

I also don't intend to refer to god as he, to use he as though it includes she, or man as though it includes woman, to use the axis of evil as though it was anything but a sick and dangerous travesty, to ask god to bless america, australia or anywhere else when fighting wars and continue to commit numerous linguistic errors in the eyes of others if I see there as being good in doing so and no rational basis for offence.

1 Reply

@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

It seems hard to remember, though.

I'm going to try to remember that "Aussie" is pronounced "Ozzie" (I thought it was "ossie" too), not sure if I will. Appreciated the tip though.

Profoundly do not get the upset over USian. (I pronounce it "You -ess-ian" also.)

Ossie is the more rational pronunciation, if you don't know how to pronounce it, I guess.

I always find it cute when US sports announcers use it....it just sounds very funny to Australian ears.

I didn't get to have any fun with it in the US......most people think I'm British of some sort.....usually say "You a Limey then?" Or the polite ones...."You're from England?". But then the goddam kangaroos come out and PAUL HOGAN!!!

Now, THAT'S truly offensive...that's cause for war, that is, since you guys took him, made him into plastic and took away his humour. Mind you, he was willin', dammit.

Yes, I know....bloody Murdoch....but we can't crawl forever about that.

It was great meeting the odd Usian who had been to Oz, or otherwise knew about it, though.

0 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

My grandfather, actually. The funny thing is, when I picked Robert for my name (I was around 9) I knew him as "Grandpa Bob" but didn't know that Bob was short for Robert.

I HAVE an Uncle Bob, so I was very puzzled by "Bob's your uncle" as a weelowan.

Well, I HAD an uncle Bob.

1 Reply

@dlowan,

BTW Robert, I knew about Brazil, India and China....I didn't know Russia was picking up so much.

Gonna be a different world.

I'm wondering if China has already passed the US economically for the foreseeable future? (Beyond the current dramas...however long beyond takes.) Clearly hasn't militarily as yet.

2 Replies

@dlowan,

What's this about currant dramas? Chinese currants no good? Elaborate, pls.

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

"Seppo" on the other hand is clearly an insult, and anyone who uses it in referring to or addressing Americans is a very large bit of a jerk. It no different than Chinks, Gooks, Beaners, Wops, Frogs etc.

I have never heard of the term "Seppo" ... which is why I guess I wouldn't know that I should be insulted if I were ever called one.

What's wrong with "Frog"?

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Don't mind being called a Yank or a Yankee.

Nor do I. Or Cracker. Or Honky.

1 Reply

Here in Hawaii, I'm used to being known as a haole (generally pronounced "howlie".)

3 Replies

@Lustig Andrei,

The GFC. You know....that thing that's buggered a bunch of countries....(and my superannuation, but I guess that's not important right now.)

You made me worry I really had said currant!

0 Replies

@Lustig Andrei,

What's a howlie? We got yowies.....allegedly....but I ain't heard of no howlies.

1 Reply

The Australian National Anthem. All together now!

1 Reply

@Lustig Andrei,

Oh....I've been meaning to ask you.....have you ever read Michener's "Hawaii"?

I read it when I was a kid, and it's really my only source for Hawaiin history. Is it total bullshit, historically speaking, do you happen to know?

1 Reply

@wandeljw,

ROLF HARRIS!!!! There's another deeply offensive epithet!!! This means war!

0 Replies

@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

Here in Hawaii, I'm used to being known as a haole ....

The more typical mainland spelling for that is "a-hole."

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

Ok...I'm out of my cultural depth. That's a joke, right?

1 Reply

@dlowan,

Hostile again - someone takes on what you say, and those who would, would be odd or about to melt.

Naming areas of the world is the basic question, which could get interesting if we actually talked about it.

0 Replies

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Oh....I've been meaning to ask you.....have you ever read Michener's "Hawaii"?

I read it when I was a kid, and it's really my only source for Hawaiin history. Is it total bullshit, historically speaking, do you happen to know?

It's not total bullshit but it smells badly enough to be close to the real thing. Michener's problem is taking real events and real people and then changing the names and fictionalizing the events out of all proportion. There are granules of fact in Hawaii but they're not all that easy to locate.

1 Reply

@Lustig Andrei,

Oh. Thank you.

I guess I know nuttin' then.

But the howlie?

0 Replies

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

What's a howlie? We got yowies.....allegedly....but I ain't heard of no howlies.

If you consult a dictionary, you'll find that haole simply means 'stranger' or 'newcomer' in Hawaiian. But over the years the word has come to be applied almost exclusively to white people of European descent, especially newcomers not born in the Islands, and has a somewhat derogatory connotation. Locals with no wish to offend will frequently eschew using the word haole in favor of caucasian or something similarly inoffensive.

1 Reply

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Ok...I'm out of my cultural depth. That's a joke, right?

Yes, rabbit. At least an attempt at one.

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

Well, it was pretty good, I thought. I like anusgrams.

1 Reply

Australia, we don’t know you, but we love you, say our American friends

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know