In the wake of ‘ask the brit’ and canuck eh, I feel obliged to offer everyone the chance to address the stereotypes, generalisations and perceptions of life down under.
I’m here if you have a question.
Do you have a “Barbie?”
If so, do you have her “Dream House?”
Not personally. But my sister did.
I got stuck with the Lone Ranger and Tonto (and Silver and Scout of course).
Hmmmm… what marketing could you use for a Down Under Barbie?
So, how do you feel about the upcoming Sydney Olympics? Too much bother for what it’s worth? Or are you getting some good sport, publicity, tourist dollars, and infrastructure upgrades out of it?
We in Toronto may be in that boat soon…
Does Kangaroo taste good? I bet it does. I would just love to eat some roo!
Hmmm… wheres mega when you need her? 
Sorry… dont kill me. hehe.
The first question that came to mind would not be a good idea for me to ask you. At least not when Mr Bear might show up in this thread! 
So, what else can I come up with? 
How different is the Aussie accent from one area of the country to another? Or is there much of a difference? What is your favorite part of Australia, to live in and to visit?
<wishing I could go there someday…>
B_Line! That’s not nice!! Unless…you really meant… :eek: Shame on you! Do you know mega that well? 
downcast eyes …No ma’am…I’m sorry… hands in pockets pout
[bad B]…sure wouldn’t mind though. [/bad B]
Hey, B_Line, I’m not that old yet! My birthday’s not til…oops! Never mind, I ain’t tellin’. Don’t call me ma’am like that again or I’ll have to…well, I don’t know, but I’ll think of something!
And, quit pouting. Makes me wanna hug you or something. :rolleyes:
Oh, ok. Fine. Here. Now stop pouting!
{{{{{B_Line}}}}}
And, dpr, 'nother query for you. Where did the term ‘Waltzing Matilda’ come from?
Awww… thank you!! grabs purplebears butt with both hands during the hug HeHe!! runs away, arms flailing
OH!!! :eek:
Hey, B_Line, that could be a dangerous thing to do to a poor sex-starved woman like me. I mean, Hubby won’t be back for at least another 6 and a half months!
<whispers in his ear> Tell you what, you can do that again on my birthday, 'k? If you want to, that is.
<and you all thought the Chief was getting bad!>
Well a seemingly innocuous question with a countless number of possible answers…
The Olympics have been great for the country so far and they haven’t even started yet. The financial benefits have been amazing as tourism numbers have already boomed and look to do increase further come September. Most countries competiting have established camps throughout the country to acclimatise their athletes and, depending on the sport, have quite a number of people here already. The University I used to work for signed up the Norweigan contingent for example. These benefits obviously snowball and probably won’t feature in any financial wrap-up but will be significant both financially and socially.
The media have already done their best to get us in a “get it over and done with already” mood. The hype isn’t as bad as the phantom menace but it could become so pretty easily.
Probably the most interesting pre-Sydney issue is the bumbling efforts of SOCOG: the official committee in charge of organising the event. So far they’ve managed to stuff nearly everything they’ve touched up. In typical beauracratic manner they’ve managed to get caught playing favourites in both the torch relay and tickets (both supposedly random draws for the general public), chase away a $100 mill sponsor (claiming a different definition of eclusive), upset local schools and bands and so on. Fair dinkum: they’ve done more backflips than some of our gymnasts. I could go on and on about SOCOG and their petty, self-serving efforts but I’ll spare you all.
Suffice to say that physical preperations are on-target (despite SOCOG).
It will be worth it eventually of course. The infrastructure benefit to Sydney alone (transport shake-up and stadium Australia) would justify it. The tourism dollars alone would justify it. The fact that it gave us a very funny satirical TV show (The Games who constantly mock SOCOG) alone would prbably justify it.
Suffice to say, we’re looking forward to them. Aussies are sport-mad at the best of times. When we’re hosting we pass obsessive and move into a zone where the rest of life just fades away…
Actually - and I mean no offence to Mega - kangaroo doesn’t taste that interesting. It’s a bit stringy and even the tender stuff doesn’t compare to other meats. Crocodile is bland (and doesn’t even taste like chicken) - it’s even blander than snake. And our buffalo doesn’t taste as good as the US buffalo I had last year.
And did you know kangaroos are considered pests?
PB: while I’m curious as to what the original question was, I’ll take the one you actually proferred. No, there’s not a great deal of difference between regional accents (and no I’m not getting into the accent/dialects argument here).
Some country people speak a bit slower. Most don’t. Some claim to be able to differentiate between Victorians and Queenslanders and sandgropers (West Australians) but I think they’re clutching at straws. There’s certainly no documentation on the subject.
The fact is we have a small population (just under 20 million) on an island not much smaller than the US. We’re quite spread out but have a telecommunications network the envy of most countries in the world. We love our gadgets to death and in fact Aus is the major testing site for electronics because of our appetite for them. We also have more mobile phones (translation: cell phones) per capita than any other country. Added to this we’ve got only five free-to-air TV channels (only 3 of them commercial) and Pay TV hasn’t been around in a big way for long.
My point? We keep in touch well and haven’t really developed geographic linguistic differences. Long-winded answer huh?
Cool! Thanks, that’s the kind of info I was looking for, dpr.
As to the original query… I’ll email you, if you really want to know.
On the second question… geez that’s a toughie. Fave place or fave place to live?
There’s so many great places. I spent most of my formative years in the outback in a gold-mining town called Kalgoorlie (in Western Australia). The desert is great and despite being seemingly desoltae is a haven for strange wildlife and raw beauty. The Twelve Apostles are a series of rock formations jutting out from the ocean floor off the SOuthern Victorian coast and are quite majestic. On a windy day, with the surf throthing and foaming, they take your breath away. The beaches of Queensland are superb and apparently were recently voted the best in the world. While this is unsubstantiated - and I can think of one beach I’d prefer - as a generlisation it’d be close to the mark. Then we have the Great Barrier Reef and the tropical islands of central and north Queensland. I lived on Great Keppel Island for awhile (working as the activities officer for the 18-35 yo’s - tough life huh?) and it was wonderful.
But living? Hmmmm… Melbourne’s great fun. Very diverse. Very passionate. Ugly river but heavy sporting and arts emphasis. Sydney is beautiful but a bit too expansive. Tranpsort can be a hassle and reeks of rat race at times. Lovely place to visit, wouldn’t live there. Adelaide is pretty but a bit boring. Wonderful history and churches (it’s known as the city of churches) and is the gateway to a large percentage of the wine-growing areas of the country. Perth is… well… distant. A long way away. It’s what we call a clayton’s city. The city you’ve got when you haven’t got a city. It’s the capital by default but is a great place. Darwin is a drinker’s paradise (ask me about a darwin stubbie sometime) but you can be eaten by a crocodile within city limits. Tasmania is the butt of many jokes (US citizens: think of your southern stereotypes and inbred jokes) but is a lovely green island. Unfortunately it’s also damn cold!!! Brisbane is a big city without the big city feel. Not as rat racey and quite charming. As the capital of Queensland it’s near the beaches and is the fastest growing city in the country. It used to be in the top three largest cities (geographical only) in the world. I live here.
It’s hard to top Great Keppel but at the end of the day it’s Never Never land and not the real world.
SO where would I live? With my friends…
/rave off
Have to disagree with you there DPR.
I can distinctly tell the difference between a South Australian and a Victorian accent. If you ever get 2 in the same room together, ask them each to say the word “river”. Listen to how they pronounce the end of the word. There’s definitely a difference.
Well we’ll just have to disagree DippyMonger (can I call you DM?). I don’t think we’ve got enough of a population to be a distinct - and more importantly consistent - difference. I can get three people off the street and they’ll probably have a different pronunciation of river. Our multi-cultural background - especially with the ethnic emphasis in melbourne and sydney - only make the issue even more convoluted.
Or maybe it’s just because Qld (my home state) is a melting pot and the destination of most people changing states and I hear them all day in day out.
But we could make mention of regional word usage. Ports vs cases (when talking of schoolbags) and the like. We def. have ** them **.
Thanks again, dpr. Now, if I ever get to visit, I’ll have a good idea of where to go or not go. Much appreciated.
“I can get three people off the street and they’ll probably have a different pronunciation of river”
Maybe slight, but not obviously noticable. I lived in Victoria for 9 years and when I went to SA to see my relatives they ALL pronounced words like ‘river’ differently. Victorians tend to say “RIV-U” as in cUt or bUtter, South Australians tend to say “RIV-UR” as in ‘bURmingham’ or ‘pURse’.
There is a definite difference, if you still don’t believe me ring up 10 South Aussies and then ring up 10 Vic’s and ask em. i think you’ll be pleasently suprised.
And if I ring 'em all up will you pay the bill? Or are you just a Telstra worker in disguise?
I agree there are differences (I’m living with a former croweater (South Australian for the voyeurs)) and he does say a few things differently but I’ve heard Victorians use the same pronunciations as him on somethings.
I guess the question is: when does it become distinctly geographical?
I’m willing to concede the point though, as I’ve already admitted my exposure to the different amounts and may not have noticed.
Now US accents I can usually distinguish within a few sentences and while I may not get the exact state, I’ll only be a state or two off.