The earlier thread, started by an Aussie about misconceptions about the US, got me thinking. A couple of days ago some friends and I were in an Aussie theme pub for lunch, and we all ordered the kangaroo steaks. The Australian barman commented that he had never in his entire life eaten kangaroo. We were surprised at that, but when I thought about it, I realised I’d never eaten venison or pheasant, two very “English” meats, so it wasn’t that odd really. So that got me thinking about other prejudices we have about our Antipodean cousins, such as:
You all say things like “G’day” and “Bonza!”
There are only about 30 people in the entire country.
At some in their lives, each and every one of those will turn up in “Neighbours”, or some other Aussie soap.
You make really good bar men/maids.
You are all really chirpy and cheerful. Actually, you’ll have a job dissuading me on this one, as every Aussie I’ve ever met has proved me right. I think it’s great though - misery is kinda the base emotional state of each and every Brit, so it makes a nice change.
An Aussie friend of mine forwarded me an email which purported to be the question-and-answer page from an Australian tourism website. My two faves:
Q: I have never seen it rain on Australian TV. How do your plants grow? (from the UK)
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
Q: Can you send me the schedule of the Vienna Boys Choir? (from an American, of course)
A: Au-stri-a is that quaint little country next to Ger-ma-ny, which is…oh forget it. The Vienna Boys Choir performs every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.
They certainly do. Since i moved to the US, i’ve been asked innumerable times what part of England i’m from. People get rather embarrassed when i say “The Australian part.”
It’s important to realise, however, that this is not very much more surprising than an Australian who doesn’t know the difference between a Brooklyn and a Baltimore accent. Some Aussie accents do, in fact, sound rather similar to some English accents, especially for people who don’t hear such accents every day.
