That probably means nothing to anyone who doesn’t live in Sydney, but for my entire adolescent life (ie, since 1993 - when Samaranch said that “synney” was the winner) I have heard the word used at least once a day - generally in a news bulliten (“and it looks like it’s going to rain in the Olympic City this afternoon”).
I have to admit that I feel somewhat at a loss… I was 12 when we ‘won’ it, and since then part of my world has been focused around the olympic games. Every evening the TV would announce that there’s only 462 more days to go 461…460… Every time some athelete did well they were on the front page as an “Olympic Hopeful” and not one politician/political activist made a point without using the phrase “the eyes of the world will be on Sydney…” I grew up expecting the games like Judgement Day, and they’ve been gone for 3 months and now I’m suffering from withdrawls… Any suggestions as to what could possibly fill this void in my life??? Preferably one that is not Proudly Brought To Me By Coke or Kodak.