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[y2jdingo]

Hiya guys -

What do you think are some of the funnier/most widespread cliches or in-jokes about Aussies?

(I'm sending care packages to various people in America shortly, and would like to write a note to each of them either debunking/affirming some cliches or explaining something else about the Great Southern Convict Land.)

Comments

[greytweed]

As an American, here are the only three I've heard more than once:

1) "A dingo took my baby!"
2) Riding kangaroos.
3) Drop bears and their renowned ferocity.

Edited to add: I suppose that there's a stereotype about Australian men all looking and acting like Steve Irwin, or straight out of a Paul Hogan movie, but I'm not sure how many people actually believe that. :-)

[longlongwaytogo]

That you come here and instantly get killed by/have to fight off spiders, snakes, sharks and crocodiles.

[y2jdingo]

As a foreign comedian (whose name escapes me) said:

"You tell us about all these nasty creatures that will kill you and it turns out you can kill a crocodile with a pen?"

[hanopycanopy]

Hey, you watch Good News Week? =P

[y2jdingo]

Oh, yes. Gorgeous show. Am sure I butchered that quote, but that's the general gist of it, isn't it?

[cecism]

The fact we don't even call them "shrimp"?

[longlongwaytogo]

Oh gosh yes.

[greytweed]

Aren't they prawns?

[cecism]

Exactly.

[thewowser]

It really bugs me when people call Koala's 'Koala Bear's'.
They are not, nor have they ever been, a part of the bear family. They are marsupials.

[longlongwaytogo]

People in the olden days used to call them 'native bears' though and I think that's where that came from. Like how the kookaburra was 'the laughing jackass' etc.

[cecism]

That's when I roll out "Please Don't Call Me A Koala Bear" by Don Spencer. ;)

[longlongwaytogo]

haha me too!

[scatterbeetle]

I hate it how some foreigners think that because we have a small population, we're a small country. And that driving from Melbourne to Sydney for lunch, then onto Brisbane for dinner before driving home to Melbourne again in time for bed is do-able. People - you can fly for five hours and still be in the SAME COUNTRY.

I once had a 40-odd year old English lady (while I was living/working in the UK) tell me that Australia has a smaller land mass than the UK. Wha...? World map, anyone? We have cattle stations bigger than the UK! *laugh*

[shamshit]

I agree with this. When I went travelling with my family we'd say "Yeah, we're from Australia" and they'd be all "OMG, do you know (insert name here)?" WTF?!

[scatterbeetle]

It's funny you say that, because I think the same applies within Australia when you are in a major city. I'm from Brisbane, but now live in Melbourne. I get people asking me 'Did you know so-and-so in Brisbane?'. *laugh* Brisbane may be small compared to Melbourne and Sydney, but there's till more than a million people there. :o)

[reasonjo]

I'm from Darwin - and whenever I go back 'home' to my Dad's place in Toowoomba I always have people ask me "Do you know so-and-so?" - and Darwin is actually small enough that sometimes I do actually know (or at least know of) the person they're asking about! :)

There's about 140 000 people within 50km of where I live - which is a lot of people, but it's a damn site smaller than the other capital cities.