# Aussie in England suing for racial abuse **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588 "2011-01-22T18:39:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/1 "2011-01-22T18:39:54Z")
Geoff Stephens, a community warden in Dymnchurch Kent , originally from Adelaide but who has lived in the U.K. for 26 years is on a cocktail of anti depressants because of the constant abuse which he claims will “eventually kill him”. The racist comments that he has to endure, almost on a daily basis,include “Is your g/f called Sheila”, jokes about kangaroos and being greeted with “G’Day sport”. This is an actual news item ,not a joke . Now personally I’ve always thought that Australians don’t bathe enough, often look at me in “a funny way” and NEVER buy a fucking round when its their turn. But being serious,this whinging pom would like to hear Aussies opinions about this. If this actually was racism does this mean that Geordies and Brummies can bring court cases? How about Scousers? Its well known that they never use toilet paper. And the Welsh… Just don’t mention sheep OK. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/2 "2011-01-22T19:06:00Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > nd NEVER buy a fucking round when its their turn. That’s because they are all working behind the bar. Seriously, nobody needs to hear constant abuse, but this guy’s situation sounds like there’s other things going on. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/3 "2011-01-22T19:07:40Z")
“Australian” isn’t a race; it’s a nationality. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been called a “limey” or seen jokes about bad teeth or what-have-you. Every nationality has jokes and stereotypes made about it by every other nationality. There are no exceptions. Besides - \*who \*is he suing? “Everyone”? His employer? The UK government? Skippy the Kangaroo? Do you have a link to this article? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/4 "2011-01-22T20:28:27Z")
If we didn’t have crazy people suing over crazy things, this world would be a much more boring place. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/5 "2011-01-22T22:40:26Z")
It depends, I mean I can kinda understand where this guy is coming from. If it’s once in a while when making a few jokes, however, constant harrassment he has had may of been a way in which to bully him or shut him up, I know I’ve had situations where people would latch onto a particular word about you and then repeatedly use it to hurt you for enjoyment. I didn’t like getting called rat, or ratface, or rat features, and this was by my ‘friends’ who took delight in the way in which it hurt me. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/6 "2011-01-22T23:07:29Z")
Well I think the guy is an idiot however I am sort of a Pom. I was born in England and although I have lived in Australia since I was 2 I only have a British passport. When I went to live in London for a couple of years in the 70s I fancied that I was going home to revisit my roots. I would tell people (luckily not the real estate guy) that although I sound like an Aussie I was born in Yorkshire. Then an endless tirade of slinging off about Aussies and Australia would begin. I would sit there quietly thinking, “how can these angry, chronically depressed bastards think they are better or better off than Aussies?” I became so sick of it that I stopped considering myself anything other than 100% Australian and never mentioned my birthplace again. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/7 "2011-01-22T23:09:50Z")
Agreed, I am British but Australia to me not to be too dramatic is some kind of paradise. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/8 "2011-01-23T01:51:59Z")
If being addressed as “G’day sport” is the worst thing that’s happened to him, then this expat Aussie thinks Mr Stephens has led a very sheltered life. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/9 "2011-01-23T08:14:51Z")
I get worse than that. In Australia. I might sue someone. ---
**Author:** ![BeggersBelief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f1d935/32.png) [@BeggersBelief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeggersBelief)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/10 "2011-01-23T10:55:17Z")
Australians, chips, shoulders come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/11 "2011-01-23T11:13:29Z")
> [@BeggersBelief](#): > > Australians, chips, shoulders come to mind. That would explain his 20 plus years in the UK? Not just that he has some problems? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/12 "2011-01-23T11:34:35Z")
I’m a New Zealander in Australia. He needs to grow a thicker skin. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/13 "2011-01-23T11:49:04Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’m a New Zealander in Australia. Now that’s an oppressed minority for you! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/14 "2011-01-23T12:02:34Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Now that’s an oppressed minority for you! We actually like our Kiwi friends even though we pretend not. I agree with the comment about growing a thicker skin. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/15 "2011-01-23T13:34:32Z")
The Defense should go the Oscar Wilde route. “Yes your honor we intend to prove our that implying the claimant has sexual relations with Kangaroos is not abusive speech, by proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that Aussies are, indeed, Kangaroo Fuckers” ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/16 "2011-01-23T13:45:48Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > “Australian” isn’t a race; it’s a nationality. All he has to do is hyphenate himself as an Australian-Jew, and the problem is solved! 😃 wait ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/17 "2011-01-23T14:00:42Z")
Here you go **Candyman74**![A cite about the poor little Kent](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349269/Australian-sue-council-colleagues-racist-greeting-depressed.html) It’d be the reference to “prawns” as “shrimps” that would have _me_ on that cocktail of anti-depressants. He might have to up his dosage now that he’s open to world wide derision. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/18 "2011-01-23T16:16:02Z")
Normally having an Australian accent in the U.K. is a chick magnet, personally I think that the bloke is a tosser. And I would say that if he was English, so I’m not being er, Aussies are basicaly Brits who moved house, so its not racist… I think that he’s a tosser and I’m not being regionalist, or perhaps geographical locationist. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/19 "2011-01-23T18:39:13Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > “Australian” isn’t a race; it’s a nationality. Racism isn’t defined as purely prejudice based on race and frankly I am fed up of people claiming otherwise in a handy way to wave away racism. Seeing as we are talking about the UK, it might be useful to know that the Race Relations Act of 1976 defines “racial grounds”, in the purpose of defining “racial discrimination” as: > **[Race Relations Act 1976 (Repealed)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/74)** > > An Act to make fresh provision with respect to discrimination on racial grounds and relations between people of different racial groups; and to make in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 amendments for bringing provisions in that Act relating to its... > [@](#): > > “racial grounds” means any of the following grounds, namely colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins; > “racial group” means a group of persons defined by reference to colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins, and references to a person’s racial group refer to any racial group into which he falls. Thus, in UK law “race” isn’t used purely as a biological classification. Nationality is very much part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588/20 "2011-01-23T18:47:30Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Racism isn’t defined as purely prejudice based on race and frankly I am fed up of people claiming otherwise in a handy way to wave away racism. > > Seeing as we are talking about the UK, it might be useful to know that the Race Relations Act of 1976 defines “racial grounds”, in the purpose of defining “racial discrimination” as: > > [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/74](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/74) > > Thus, in UK law “race” isn’t used purely as a biological classification. Nationality is very much part of it. Cool. Then all my American friends are being racist when they talk to me. Now, who can I sue? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussie-in-england-suing-for-racial-abuse/568588.md?page=2)