OT: New Aussie Tourism Campaign Strikes Controversy

[Ash]

Yeah...when I was in Australia, everyone would say "Cheers" instead of saying "Thanks".

I bought some beer/grog at the "bottle shop"...the cashier said, "Cheers!"
I showed my I.D. to the bouncer at the door of a nightclub and he said, "Cheers!"

"Cheers" definitely means "Thank you" in OZ.

[Mitch McAfee]

Hey Dean - yeah my friend Dan is a writer & performer on the Ronnie Johns show, so no need to shoot your friend! Cheers!

[plan9superfan]

"The thread where everybody knows your name"...

[Rombles]

I have heard "numpty" used a few times recently (In Australia, of course), however the last time I heard it used it prompted a discussion about "What the bloody hell is a numpty?"
So yes, has been used, but no, not often.


I also use Cheers to sign off my emails because I don't like the formality implied by "Kind Regards" or whatever other professionally dictated version my company wants me to use.


And Dean, I LOVED the Chaser's take on this, but then I love everything they do.


And while I'm at it, "bugger" gets used lots here in Oz, however it was really popularised by a Toyota Hilux ad from a few years ago, where things kept going wrong and people (and babies and a dog) all said simply "bugger".  There was actually a court case here by some boring farts who thought the ad was offensive.... they lost.  Yay!    What most Aussies probably didn't realise was that the ad was actually from New Zealand, and wasn't Australian at all.  Bugger.

[dean]

Rombles Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And while I'm at it, "bugger" gets used lots here
> in Oz, however it was really popularised by a
> Toyota Hilux ad from a few years ago, where things
> kept going wrong and people (and babies and a dog)
> all said simply "bugger".  There was actually a
> court case here by some boring farts who thought
> the ad was offensive.... they lost.  Yay!    What
> most Aussies probably didn't realise was that the
> ad was actually from New Zealand, and wasn't
> Australian at all.  Bugger.

You know what, that does make a twisted sort of sense.  All the good 'Aussie' things, like Jimmy Barnes, Sam Neil or Russel Crowe are widely accepted as 'fair dinkum Aussie' when in fact they hail from the land of  the Kiwi.  Quite funny really.

[plan9superfan]

That because Americans couldn't tell Australians from New Zealanders if their lives depended on it...

[dean]

No plan9, I don't mean Americans telling the difference, I mean people here in Australia.

We seem to have a trend of stealing talent from New Zealand and claiming it as our own, sometimes time goes by for so long we almost forget where they came from in the first place.  Not that it matters really: If you find your fame in one country and make it your home, it should pretty much count as your country, I just find it an amusing occurance that happens somewhat a little too often over here: New Zealand talent comes to Australia and finds fame and is accepted as own etc.

[Rombles]

Um, actually Jimmy Barnes is Scottish, not a Kiwi!

Mind you the list of "Aussie" Kiwi's is extremely long....

[AndyC]

Kind of like the long list of Canadians who are, or have been, stars in the US. Some are a little bit more vocal about where they're from, but others could be easily taken for Americans if you know little of their backgrounds.

I remember seeing a mockumentary called The Canadian Conspiracy some years ago, that highlighted all of the talent we've exported south over the years, but presented it as a deliberate plot to infiltrate American society. Pretty funny.

If you want big mainstream success, you go where the industry is.

[dean]

Rombles Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Um, actually Jimmy Barnes is Scottish, not a
> Kiwi!
>
> Mind you the list of "Aussie" Kiwi's is extremely
> long....

Scottish?  That does make sense [I am remembering things now] but I do know he has some strong ties there.  Maybe that's where he grew up [meh, I may be thinking of a completley different 'celebrity']

Either way, it is nothing more than an amusing fact: when a country adopts some foriegn talent and basically sells it as a 'look at us we're fantastic' and sort of forgetting that they aren't from around here anyways...  

Like AndyC mentioned, you go where the industry takes you and that's fine, and sure you don't have to be vocal about your roots, but yeah... funny.