Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
According to my calculations this morning Australia has one medal per 629,217 head of population which makes them in the lead so far. South Korea is second with 1 medal per 2,132,382 people and GB is third with 1 medal per 2,170,580 people.
However, if you measure it by total number of medals then Australia has 33 medals and is about 4th. Not counting any medals won today.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I am yet to check this morning Ben. Yesterday when I checked
the UK were 1 Gold ahead of Australia. An interesting statistic I
noticed yesterday was that the Aussie women had an equal amount of Gold to the American women, coming from a country with about 1/15 of the population of the other. That tells me very clearly that you don't mess about with Aussie women.
Our country does do well in sports but as I have kindly pointed out on numerous occasions to my Irish in laws , we have a distinct weather advantage as far as training goes, compared to a lot of countries. Anyway, its far from over yet. I just wish they'd have 20/20 as an Olympic event.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Either one would take Gold and/or Silver in that event. Also Gold for the Brits in pint chugging and Silver for the Irish men's pulling in nightclubs team. Italy would take Gold in that event of course.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Its not just the weather - we treat athletes much more importantly than movies stars or famous singers...you cant get higher glory than being an athelete who wins gold at the olympics here....so there is alot of pressure.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Do you know whats even funnier- that here Great Britain is getting all excited and stuff because they may beat Australia for the first time in 20 years....A country that has 1/3 of their population. I mean - thats good an all...but I wouldnt be getting too exctied about it. I mean - we still beat you at everything else...plus everyone has a bad olympics from time to time. You cant just erase 20 years can you! I mean - 20 years! I was too young to even remember when we started slaughtering you.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You have to tip your hat to the Aussies - they have about the same population as the state of California but compete as well as countries 20 times their size in swimming, basketball, and a host of other sports. I love that sports mad country.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well - we've all been sitting here completely agog over Michael Phelps - Ive never seen anything like it. He is amazing, the most amazing athlete of all time they are saying....its wonderful stuff he is doing. So we tip our hats to you
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes bb, Australia is great at sport. So easy to gloat about how well your country does at sport when you're slouched in front of the TV watching "Friends" and eating Ferrero Rocher. Anyway, apart from achievements at sport, has Australia ever contributed anything to the world in other areas. The one thing I can think of off the top of my head is some scientists in Melbourne might have found a cure for the common cold. So I'll have to admit that at least you're useful for something!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hahhaaa! Again Dow - noone asked *you* to move here. If its sooooo terrible and lame compared to your mother country then why did I get a text from you saying you wanted to be a citizen of Australia???
Anyhow - I'll have you know that an Australian woman invented the bullet proof vest -and from what Ive been reading about all the violence in England...you may just need one. And what has Your country ever done for anyone.....no wait - Ive got it. You spread the Black Plague - well done.
Jusa- I wouldnt worry - I dont think that Phelps is a drug cheat - I think he really is just amazing. Of course we've had athletes been accused of being a drug cheats. It happens every where
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
hey Dow - I didn't know I had to win 8 gold medals at one Olympics to qualify as someone who can appreciate sport. If that this the case then where are your fleadh medals seeing as you always go on about how much you like tunes.
;-}
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Er ... what violence in England?
I suppose the point about Oz lagging behind in the medal stakes is more about the swagger with which they went into the games - a touch of hubris there.
Anyway, we love our Ozzie chums, however well they're doing.
Meanwhile, back to 'Tossing the Chanter' (Scotland favourites for gold in this one).
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Make that 13 - although this figure includes some non-nationals who undertook a considerable amount of their academic research in Australia. Australia is one of the leading Nobel Prize–winning countries in per capita terms. There are 10 laureates who are generally regarded as being ‘Australian’, with a number of other awardees with close links to Australia. http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/nobel_prize_winners.html
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hmm, Australian-born graduates from Oxford and Cambridge universities, England, win Nobel Prizes. For Australia. How lucky they were that we made them what they were by taking them out of Australia and giving them a chance to be somebody
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Wow - poor Dowsie, you must really be missing Oz. Look at you flailing about trying to point out every reason why you think UK is better than Oz. Dont worry sweetie only a few months to go until you back
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, I'll be honest, so far while I've been here I've only found one thing about UK that's better than Oz, and that's the standard of the roads. The roads here are so fantastic. I marvel at the quality and smoothness and blackness of the tarmac, and the fluorescent whiteness of the road markings. They're such a pleasure to drive and be driven on. Brits should be proud of their brilliant roads. Of course there's a reason why they're so good compared to Oz, and that's probably that the road maintenance is paid for through the high tax on petrol (Aussies think they pay a lot for their petrol but it's nothing compared to UK), but anyway, that's not the point, the roads are fab. Everything else is... um... sh1te. Especially this stupid business with the rubbish collection and stuff like that. How ridiculous.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh I like the birdsong here too. Beautiful. Better than flocks of cockatoos waking you up squawking outside your window in the morning. The only thing I hear at night is the gentle hooting of Tawny Owls...
And there's more trad here. There's even a choice of who to play tunes with. It's not like you go: "I feel like playing some tunes. Now who should I play with. Oo, I know. Why don't I play tunes with bb, just like I did last time and the time before that and all the other times too". Good job I like playing tunes with you Beebs
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Er ... what about those castles you were mentioning, Dow?
Then there's the moorlands, fens, the Lake District, the Beacons, the beautiful mixed deciduous/coniferous forests of native trees, Buxton, Wells (!!!!!) ... now, THAT'S stopped me short. Wells cathedral is one of those buildings that, when you see it, it's SO beautiful, it's hard to believe it actually exists, even when you;re stood in front of it.
... Glostonbury Tor, Polzeath (where Ozzies come for some *real* surf), Ironbridge, the Cerne Giant ...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia has given us Roy Harris, Emu, Barry Humphries. It has also nurtured the behind of Kylie Minogue, reputedly the shapeliest on the planet, though I am in no position to confirm this. It wouldn't have been a contender if she'd been brought up next to a chip shop in County Durham, that's for sure. But the vegetation there looks hideous and actively hostile, not to mention the creepy-crawlies - my rather under-powered computer couldn't follow the Immigration thread when it got onto this subject.
For all that, the Aussies can probably do their thing and practise sport outside most of the time, which must be a big advantage for those who go in for top-level competition. (But how do they play rugby if it's a long-term drought and the pitch is baked?) Contrast this with Britain right now - dark, p*ssing down hard every day of the month, and it's meant to be summer, and the higher number of Aussie victors, in relation to their population, than British ones makes sense.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
How the bloody hell can we Brits be any good at outdoor sports like cricket and tennis when it p*sses down all bloody summer for two summers in a bloody row? There is not a Brit here who would gainsay that! Just carry on watering your vast soddin' lawns, Aussies, in spite of your drought, and we'll just have to content ourselves with worthwhile wet-weather pursuits such as brewing drinkable beer (unlike the Aussies) and appreciating real wine as opposed to jammy, Ribena-like fluids. No wonder you're all so aggressive and bad-tempered. And you're sh*te at the Olympics. Fact.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You have a point about the beer, Steve. There's such a great selection of bottled brews in normal supermarkets here. I love being able to pick up beer with my groceries instead of having to go to a bottle-o.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It's so bloody expensive here though. My brother and I took my parents out for their wedding anniversary to a pub for a bar meal. Normal pub, nice... pretty average food actually, beer was ok. I put the whole lot on my credit card at the end and was presented with a bill of 80 quid. I almost died. I mean, admittedly my brother and I had each had a starter, and we'd all had a couple of drinks each, but still, 80 quid? I'll make sure I'm in Australia for their next anniversary, that's for sure!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Its nice to know that you are not the absoute worst. Also - we dont water our lawns in a drought - we are on water restrictions and you get fined if you go against them - you should get your facts straight before you start slagging steve....you just come across as ignorant.
And " But the vegetation there looks hideous and actively hostile, not to mention the creepy-crawlies - my rather under-powered computer couldn't follow the Immigration thread when it got onto this subject" - hmmm, yes. check this out...very hideous..Not!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I lost the first part of my post - it said this
Steve, if you are talking about that warm fruity ale then I'd rather drink snake venom. Better than aussie beer my foot. Also no matter how bad Australia is a sports - you will always be worse, its nice to know that there is always going to be someone underneath you.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh - and for those who have never been to Australia and thinking Australian beer is gross - youre almost certainly talking about Fosters right? Yes, famous in Australia as a beer we wouldnt never drink ourselves but that we export to those who are stupid enough to drink it. Its almost exclusively exported.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey bb, I did go to Perth for a while a couple of years ago and they did all have massive lawns that they all watered according to some weird rationed overnight sprinkler system! And I do admit to prejudice about yer beer because I didn't actually drink any whilst I was there, contenting myself with the same Aussie wines we get here only at half the price. It was a family thang. Bloody good stuff if you can avoid the 14.5% fruit juice! This end, I wouldn't know a can of Fosters from a bull's foot to be honest. Allow a bloke a bit of unalloyed prejudice, willya! But I will contest your own dreadful prejudice about about the beer this end. You've clearly never tried Doom Bar or Chalky's Bite. And try not to be be so soddin' intense!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh - perth....Hmmm, I have no idea about perth because Ive never been there. Its on my list though. I wont be so intense...its the olympics that have done it
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia gave the world the lawn mower and the "black box" flight
recorder. And we'll send over a really good synchronised drinking team for the London Olympics. All sports are covered here in Oz.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia's performance at the Olympics this time round is about the same as it usually is, around fourth or fifth at this stage, but even if it was in the first 10 medal countries that is phenomenal for a place with only 20 million people up against the masses in places like China. (I rate Australia's performance up against places with populations like that and maybe Russia and the U.S., not toby p*ss pot places like pommyland.)
You forgot that Australia invented the hills hoist clothes line - that's what we used originally to hang out the poms to dry - you know, just peg em up and watch em go round and round - and round. Very amusing. It's good for drying clothes too.
Oh yeah, an Australian discovered antibiotics (although the poms always try to take credit for it); Australia also invented the preferential voting system arguably the greatest reform to democracy in history (England took it on to replace that system they had which ensured that only the elite ever ruled the place). That's not to mention on a more sombre note, I guess, Australia having to dig the poms out of trouble in world war 1 when they were being killed in their tens of thousands in their muddy ditches in Europe.
But go ahead guys, it's an Australian national pastime to watch the poms try to find something wrong with Australia to make themselves feel better about pommyland.
And btw, if hot weather had much to do with the production of world beaters in just about every single sport known to the world (like Australia has been for oh, around 100 years or so - just as soon as we kicked out the poms from ruling the place), then somewhere like India would be hauling in all the gold medals.
It's about mental fortitude and courage - and well, sheer talent. (Like Australians have.)
Australia has been flogging the poms at just about everything for much of its history - you gotta be happy with that.
Steve Shaw, you obviously don't know much about wine do you.
The stuff you drink in England at "half the price" isn't quite the same as the stuff we get here. You get the dregs and pay about double for the privilege. If you were drinking a wine here that cost double, then you were probably drinking a good drop, but you didn't know it. Don't be a wombat.
Better stick to warm beer cobber.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
They are only taunting us Duijera. Rise above them young
fella. Although I like your sledging style, a bit Warniesque in flavour, it is what they want. Steve Shaw is probably down at the pommie bottlo now buying his bottle of Brut de Brut as we speak, chuckling to himself and gloating about winding up the
aussie's.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I know, I know, chune, it is a windup. I just can't resist an opportunity to clobber the poms though when they start this caper. I know they try to laugh it off, but it really p*sses them off, because they don't think Australians have the right (or capabilities) to put them in their place - which is way down below Australians. (There I go again, sorry.) They go quietly and gradually red with anger about it, which makes a nice colour contrast actually - maybe that's where the colour of the St George flag comes from eh!
Yeah, fancy even having to tell an Englishman they know nothing about wine - that's a sort of tautology isn't it. It goes without saying.
I've always thought it amusing too, how the English are traditionally known as "pirates" in part of Europe. That must really p*ss em off.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Speaking of Kylie. Who can forget that famous pie shot at the
start of the 2000 olympics. A truly great moment in television,
totally wasted probably on the stretcher bearers , who were all probably recruited from the Newtown hotel. Slim.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"they don't think Australians have the right (or capabilities) to put them in their place"
Dead right. And I think you managed to prove it, DD, by completely failing to understand the English language and managing to interpret Steve's words exactly opposite to what they meant.
... no, I'm probably being unfair. I shouldn't expect you to understand English ...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Pull your head in, ya wombat. It's your problem you're a pom, and never will match up to an Australian - and you'll never be able to change it.
(See how the poms get really really angry...works every time!)
Good value.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Wow - it always gets to this point when aussies and English people start arguing over which is better. But in fairness -we may have a sharp tongue reaction - but only cause we are used to alot of bitching from the other camp. A friend of mine used to ask me all the time if I felt bad living in a country full of criminals....sigh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Dead right. And I think you managed to prove it, DD, by completely failing to understand the English language and managing to interpret Steve's words exactly opposite to what they meant.
... no, I'm probably being unfair. I shouldn't expect you to understand English .." - benhall
Youch dude - that was very harsh....but as long as it made you feel good then what is the harm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yeah, it was a bit. Sorry, bb. It's just that it amuses me that a country that prides itself on slagging - above other things, it sometimes seems to me - is so bad at it.
One thing I am interested in though:
"the English are traditionally known as "pirates" in part of Europe"
Are they? I've never come across this before. Also, what's particularly bad about being called a pirate?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That's not harsh, bb. Benhall is a teddy bear - all wool and no...ahm...growl.
I just wanted to illustrate the point - dig down into an Englishman and you will find...an Englishman!
You haven't heard Europeans along the French and Spanish coasts ever refer historically to the English as pirates?!
That might be because you're English - don't you think.
Frightfully simple really - the concept, I mean, not you.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Most of the best pirates in the world were English - you know, Bluebeard, Blackbeard, Forkbeard too I suppose, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake. The English government licensed them to be pirates, then when they realised they'd got out of control, they hunted them down and hung them all.
Some of them were so good at what they did - plenty of gold medals for them - that's why they got knighted and called "Sir". Commendable isn't it. English pirates - where would the world have been without them!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
There are still pirates around today of course, all around the world - they tend to board ships on the ocean, rob everyone, then either shoot them or throw them overboard or both. Sounds familiar.
Is there anything wrong with that, benhall?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
See, here’s the logic, bb – if you were of a certain class in England in those times, and wanted to suck up to the establishment and could demonstrate that you could be a good pirate and gets lots of money for the government from foreigners, you could actually get a license to be a pirate out on the ocean, and if you were really good, you could even get a knighthood and be a peer of the realm (a peer of the realm note, not a peer of those poverty stricken downmarket plebs living in squalor and disadvantage in those marvellous English cities). Then you could knock about with the hoi polloi.
Now, here’s the thing, if you were just one of those poor plebs with nothing to eat and you were forced to pinch some food to stay alive, you were sent out on the ocean too, except that in that case you’d be a convict and transported to America…until the yanks whopped the poms right out of American, then the poms had to find somewhere else to send their economic victims – hence Australia. Convicts didn’t get licenses to be pirates unfortunately, that was reserved for the upper English classes apparently.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Duij. I do sense your a charming bloke but I do think your recent job application for Australian Ambassador to Great Britain was a complete waste of time at this point. Slim.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I've just back from my holidays at Coruña, NW Spain.
There is a popular feast every year in August where we commemorate the victory over Drake (el pirata Drake), who sieged the town in 1589.
There were other important battles at Coruña, though. In 1809 the English fought against the French during the independence war, so this time the English were in our side. Sir John Moore died in that battle and is buried in Coruña.
So people from the 16th century probably thought all the English were pirates, but now we mostly see them as people who come in summer to get sunburns and cheap beer.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
El Pirata Drake! Love it. But there you go, our English friends here say they have no idea that Europeans ever did think of them as pirates. Never heard of it!
Wasn't referring to Lord Haw Haw, ben, but did he sound English?
What's all the above got to do with music, DonaldK? - Australians play Irish music a whole lot better than poms - that's what it's got to do with music.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Australians play Irish music a whole lot better than poms"?
I suppose that's the sort of research done at Australian Universities, then.
I remember some years ago a colleague of mine took a job in New Zealand. She had a twelve (or so) hour stop over in Australia. Queuing up at immigration, the man in front of her was asked, "Any criminal convictions?", to which, in a moment of weakness, he replied, "Oh sorry, I didn't know you still needed one". His visa was denied. My friend, because she laughed, also had her visa denied.
Nice to know Australians have a sense of humour too.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I remember queuing up at the immigration desk at Heathrow in transit to Ireland, when the pommy bloke sees my passport and says in a down-your-nose tone "And how long do *you* think you'll be staying in England". I asked him the time to which he kindly replied. I said I'd be there for around forty five minutes until my plane left for England, so could he please hurry up and get on with his job, thanks very much. I got the visa, and promptly left England.
Every time since then that I have travelled to Ireland, I now transit through Amsterdam and smile with relief as I look out the window while flying well over pommyland.
That's funny isn't it?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Donough, when we visited Perth (which we loved to bits BTW) I was in the middle of that dark night of my self-imposed exile from TheSession, so I didn't know you were there else I'd definitely have made contact. I have a good friend who lives in the Carlisle district called Bernard Carney who was in my class at school in Bolton in the 60s and we've recently happily renewed our friendship. He's a great singer-songwriter-guitarist in a folk style (though not Irish). He makes a living out of it so you've probably seen him around. Salt of the earth he is. It might be a couple more years before we can go again but we certainly will one day.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey, don't be slagging Barry Humphries.
The man is honorary head of the Friend's of Arthur Machen & wrote the inroduction for Robert Aickman's posthumous collection "Night Voices".
Sure I can leave his Dame edna & the drunk geezer far enough. But his taste in literature is impeccable. (Ok I'm biased, Machen & Aickman being my two favourite authors)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey, Steve, when you get to the visa desk, make a joke and ask if you still need a criminal conviction to get into Australia. Say it with a pommy accent like DonaldK's friend probably did, then laugh...see if it still works.
Go on, I dare you.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Duijera Dubh,
my friend didn't actually say anything; she laughed.
Perhaps it wasn't a fair reflection of Australians. My experience of immigration officials (outside the EU) tends to be fairly universal. I once got my luggage searched on a visit to Canada. the customs man asked me if I knew what they were looking for. I said I had no idea. He said they were looking for beef (around mad cow time). Yeah, like I normally go on holiday with a bit of silverside in my suitcase.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What never ceases to intrigue me about all this bullsh*te is how the poms never seem to try to give out this sort of stick to anyone else but Australians. They don't seem too courageous when it comes to slagging the Spanish, French, the Germans (whoaaa! don't mention them), the Japanese, Chinese or anyone else as far as I can see. The irony is that no-one will give the poms a harder kick up the backside than Australians will - will you never learn?! Are ye masochists or something?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I wonder how many times Australian customs officers have heard the line about whether you still need a criminal conviction to get into Australia. It'd only be poms asking that for sure. Good way to get your a*se in a sling I'd say.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, bad case of woodworm in my knee.
I'm sure if we had deadly spiders like the Aussies we'd all be much better runners too. There's just not enough lethal stuff in this country to run and swim away from.
I've seen our team members out training in all weathers, they work hard and they are doing well. I'm happy with that.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, DonaldK, the Canadian guy probably thought you were a pirate or something - you know, Long John Silverside or so, something about stuffing things down your long underwear over there. I dunno, it's probably right though.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Pity they don't win much after all that effort isn't it, bow. Now, if they were Australians, they'd be winning. It's all in the mind mate. Poms need an attitude adjustment as far as I can see, it would do them the world of good.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Now I have a question? We have all been conditioned to
be anti - pom by our mothers, father's, grandparent's etc. I can remember those days back in the sixties and seventies, the family gathered round the telly , watching the Kangaroos play the English Rugby League side and my father expressing his
opinion of each and every player on the English side, complete with adjectives. Ah, they were great old times. My question is, Do (say for instance) the Singapore Chinese
hate the mainland Chinese, do the South Africans slag the Pom's, or the Dutch for that matter. does the Maori slag the Hawaiin, does the Brazilian express distaste for the Portuguese, does the Mexican make jokes about the Spanish cricket team, or is this complete rejection of the motherland purely an Australian and from what I've seen New Zealand phenomenon.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I may be borderline (10 miles or so as the crow flies) but my ancestry is definitely on the Jock side.
(Don't tell me that when Ausralians use the term English (=pom) they mean anyone from the United Kingdom.)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, DD, the very worst part of our long haul to Oz was the hour we inexplicably stood still in the arrival area of Perth airport crowded with everyone else from our flight. The 32-degree heat and humidity was no joke for the kids and the wrinklies in the queue and there was apparently no reason for the delay. Still, we soon forgave Perth for the less than hearty welcome. Forgave everything, that is, except for those revolting kangaroo scrota that every shop seems to sell. I'd never keep a blues harp in one of them.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ok, you don't want me to tell you that.
I dunno; lowland Scotland - you tell me.
Nah, chune, it's a pommy thing. Poms usually need to be flogged for around a couple of hundred years before they stop trying to slag off. I reckon they're slow learners.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Only 32 degrees?! You got off lightly. That's not very hot mate.
Anyway, the customs officers probably knew you were poms and were keeping you in there so they could take bets on how long it would take you all to start vomiting or something.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Sorry Ramiro. Regarding AC/ DC, Angus and Malcolm Young
are poms. Mark Evans and Bon Scott were Aussies as far as I know. We can only claim half of them I believe.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Angus and Malcolm Young were not bl**dy Poms!! They were from Glasgow in Scotland. Bon Scott was from Kirriemuir, Scotland - his replacement (whatever his name is) was from Newcastle though - so he was a Pom.
Anyway, what is all this about England's Glory in the Olympics? Last time I checked Chris Hoy, winner of 3 GOLD MEDALS was from Scotland. The last "Brit" to win 3 golds was swimmer Henry Taylor in the London Games in 1908!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
So, you're going to tell me about warm water are you? As in, comparison with Australia and our lovely warm sunny soft beaches bordering the Pacific Ocean, in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes are you? Thousand of kilometres of them.
Ok, go ahead.
The Queen will do what we tell her to do. Don't you worry about that.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Personally I don't see the difficulty I am facing. Scotland will be getting its own Independence soon enough.
Anyway I don't know why the Queen wants to bother with a bunch of lager-swilling beach-bum layabout crims anyway. She has enough problems with her own family.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ahm, Australia has been peopled for around, what is the research up to now 40000 years, or is it 70000. Anyway probably for longer than pommyland has been above water.
Wine's probably a global beverage by this point in time. Whining and whinging on the other hand seems to me to be a pommy pastime mainly. But you're welcome to it too, if you like.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Anyway Duijera Dubh, I wasn't aware that you were aboriginal yourself. In that case I apologise for all the reprobates that we sent over to your land that seem to have taken it over.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
No, mate, I'm not an aboriginal Australian. Wish I was, they are very in touch with the land I think, but I might be getting there.
Don't worry about the reprobates, most of them stayed in pommyland. You have a lot of people there don't you.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I'm only mildly surprised that the concept of the "whinging pom" hasn't been brought up yet. It's about as insulting as it gets in NZ/Aot. Canadians don't really understand the concept 'cause they still lovingly refer to their former colonial masters as Brits, completely insulting all the Scots and Welsh.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, with strong ties to both UK and Oz, I feel I am unbiased enough to resolve this once and for all. This is how it looks from where I'm standing: People in the UK never even think about Aussies or Australia. The place just isn't important enough to be of concern, and the Aussies hate that. The only time people in the UK ever think about Aussies is when sports are involved, and only then, they think "ah yes, of course, it exists, that far-off world where it's sunny and they're good at sport", and that's as far as it goes.
Aussies, on the other hand, crave attention. They desperately want to be as important on the world stage as the UK, so they make a scene in whatever way they can. Since they can't do so politically, they try and do it through sport.
Aussies have a massive inferiority complex, so that's why they trot out the same old stereotypes in interactions with Poms. For example, ever heard the one that goes something along the lines of:
"you don't even know what long-distance driving is. Ah yeah mate I drive for 8 hours just to get my kids to school in the morning".
I live in Oz so I can tell you this is rubbish. Aussies aren't driving for hours across red, sunbaked desert every time they use their car, the furthest they get in their Toyota Landcruisers on a regular basis is the local, suburban shopping centre. Average driving distances per annum are roughly the same as the UK. They want the British to think that all Aussies are tanned, beautiful people who swim like dolphins and know how to catch crocodiles. The reality is that most people in Oz have never even seen a crocodile and, far from being tanned beautifui people, your average Aussie is a pallid and overweight pub-goer just like the Poms they so despise. The reason they hate the Poms so much is that they see themselves reflected in Poms, and when you slag an Aussie, the vicious retort you get (you know, that mocking "mate we're so much better than you") really exhibits their own self-hatred. Unfortunately for them, Poms can sense this inferiority complex, and use it to their advantage when they slag Aussies. The problem for Aussies is that they repress their true feelings, and every time they get slagged by Poms, they might give a show of bravado, but their failure to deal with it psychologically only serves to reinforce their individual inferiority complex vis-a-vis Poms, and that in turn worsens the inferiority complex that plays itself out on a macro-, societal level. I know, I live in Oz, and I see it all the time. It's sad, really.
Maybe all Aussies need to see psychiatrists to sort the problem out once and for all. It might help bolster their collective self-esteem. Poms should be aware of the damage they're causing too, and be a little bit more sensitive towards Aussies as people. I mean they're human beings too, and deserve to be treated with dignity and not stigmatised.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Fair enough Dow - I have taken your comments on board and will cease making fun of our unforunate Antipodean Cousins.
(Although I am not a Pom and, other than being good at sports I also think of Australians as the producers of many a 'fine' soap opera such as Neighbours or Home and Away)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dow, you swine, I was reading down this thread thinking of posting, but you have said it much more eloquently ... the average Brit/Pom/whatever spends ooh ... seconds ... in a lifetime .. worrying about what the Aussies think of them. Get a life
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just read your longer post above, Dow. Very eloquent, and much as I was thinking. Only I couldn't be arsed to say it.
But ... you see I was already there (until they showed their weak side again and it became too good to resist). I started this thread in genuine sympathy for our Ozzie chums. Only to have it thrown back in my face. What can you do, eh?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Does "Team GB" annoy you as well, Ben? I cringe every time I hear it on the news. A cold shiver flashes down my spine right to the soles of my feet.
On a related note perhaps, I've noticed a recent change in the style of TV news reporting over here. Not only do presenters use much more dramatic intonation than they used to, but they must also have been told to use their hands and gesticulate more in order to involve their audience. Unfortunately, they gesture in inappropriate points in the report; rather than using gestures to enhance functions such as emphasis, they gesture wildly all the time, regardless of whether or not there's anything that requires emphasis. The result is that the bits that do need emphasising lose their impact, particularly because you're constantly distracted by their relentless fidgeting. It's very annoying. Must be an American thing
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I agree about its being annoying. It is a novelty here too. It came from somewhere else. But more importantly: How comeTunisia in the1500, and not Australia?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, it does annoy me, Dow. The 'Team GB' thing, I mean. I was beginning to think I was the only one. I thought we were fielding a UK team, and it struck me that the way they're describing it would make me feel like a hanger-on if I were from Northern Ireland. I was thinking of writing to the Beeb ... but then I realised they wouldn't get what I was on about ...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Too right, bodhran bliss. Where someone is born, and to whom, is just random chance, isn't it ? A quote :
"I was listening to the news on the radio the other day; it was an article about the UK armed forces in Afghanistan losing soldiers because of a lack of decent armoured vehicles. The phrase that struck me was the same one that some other writers have picked up on, “Our armed forces”. I don’t remember being asked permission for my armed forces to fight in Afghanistan, nor did I realise that I even had any armed forces that I could ask to fight on my behalf. It turns out that my sister has some armed forces too, and my best friend, and my neighbours who go everywhere by car.
We all have to share the same armed forces, of course – well, at least if you are in the same country as me. But then who are those other people in Afghanistan, the NATO lot? And there are lots of United Nations forces trying to sort out problems in West Africa. Are they all mine? Which ones belong to me? I’m getting confused. The problem with trying to ascertain which culture you belong to is that there seem to be so many different ones to choose from. I could easily put myself in the following social / racial / religious etc. groups:
Earth dweller
European
White
Non-religious
British
English
All pretty standard stuff, and none of them contradictory – or are they? Britain is a Christian nation, according to various religious people I hear on the radio. I can be an Earth dweller and White, for sure, but does this recognition of my global position mean I’ve opted out of any regional or national geographical identity? In fact your cultural identity is a mix of just about anything you want it to be: football team, favourite brand of cola, sexual orientation, hair colour.
However you position yourself amongst others, though, you probably feel you belong in one of the few dominant cultures on the planet, and almost certainly the one you have been born into. Someone born in North America, Europe, Australasia, certain states in Asia, South Africa and many other parts of the world, would have been dominated from birth by a culture that is predominantly Christian (at all points along the belief spectrum) and which is centred on the acquisition of money and property through the production of goods. This culture has a tendency towards high-consumption, high-pollution, the private ownership of land and property, representative democracy, the English language, and a relatively free press and media. This culture is usually known by a combination of the words “industrial”, “Western” and “capitalist”, though there are many other names for it. There are variations on the predominant features, especially in the use of language, but in general that’s about the size of it."
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Typical cowardly effort while all the Aussies are in bed.
Mr Dow's ranting's are typical of a lot of new English migrants to Australia. His bitterness is so obvious everytime he enters a post like this. I get this image of him whining and guffawing everytime he watches Aussie TV. He sits and slags people in his mind , ready to pounce on every little discrepency he hears
in a conversation or an event, immediately inputting it into his mental database under a file heading "Things I observe to reinforce my bitterness about being away from home." Then he goes home, and doesn't like that either, and probably brags
about what he's doing in Australia. I love coming back to this country, I love Australians, whether they're from the city or the country. They are my favourite people. We do have some unusual nationalistic practises, including wanting to get recognition on the world stage, a national insecurity which is apparent, unfortunate, but unwarranted, that has been driven by a less than tasteful media at times. But if I weigh up the pro's and con's though, "give me a home among the gum trees". or even better, my Irish wife's favourite, "we watch the lightnin'
crack over canefields, laugh and think that this is Australia."
(Written by an appreciative Irishman, that's the difference.)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Fair enough. Point taken. Sorry. Some of us were cheering for Grant Hackett, whom we thought 'owned' the event. His winning the Silver is still impressive. Ousamma Mellouli won Gold in the end. The gentleman is from Tunisia, which fielded a much smaller (in numbers) Olympic team. No scorn or derision here, only sadness at a lost bet.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
See what I mean? That inferiority complex just shines through like a beacon. It screams out at you like a set of uillean pipes played badly. This falseness of an imagined in-group; the "all of us, as one, against the rest of the world and especially the Poms" attitude. The trotting out of rubbish like "I love Australians, whether they're from the city or the country. They are my favourite people". I mean, I know some Australians who I love as well, but I certainly don't love all of them. Like anywhere else, like Pommie-land in fact, there are nice Australians and some downright horrible ones. Loving a horrible person just because they're Australian seems to me to be a bit... well... silly?
Aussies are also incredibly easy to wind up. The reason for that is that they like to portray an image of themselves as extremely laidback with a laconic sense of humour when the reality is that they're really rather uptight. Only they can't reveal that to the Poms can they, because the Poms could then go "you can hardly call us whingers - listen to YOU!". So please, Aussies, can you be a bit more difficult to wind up? I like at least a bit of a challenge...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The Olympics can indulge, or enrage one's sense of national chauvenism, if one has a sense of national chauvenism. If like me, you haven't got that chauvenistic spirit, then you take delight in the surprise outcomes of some of the events. Lost bets withstanding, the victories that no one predicted are the real pleasure of the Olympics.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Must be Dow's gorgeous skin? I'd heard he was spotted in Norham recently. That sounds painful. Maybe he's taken something for it.
I just love how any sorts of threads about the poms wanting to have a go at Australians seem to break all records for the number of threads posted. You only have to hint that the poms can't measure up to Australians, and they can't help themselves. Works every time.
Don't kid yourselves, Australians don't live their lives wondering what the poms are doing. As far as I can see, most people here don't give them any thought at all - except when we're flogging them at sport.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, as you know, I live in Oz, and can report to all Poms on the board that the above statement is untrue. Aussies are always concerned with stuff that's happening in the UK and the US. Most of the TV in Oz seems to be stuff taken directly from UK and US channels. The news is full of stuff that's going on in US and Europe, simply because nothing ever happens in Oz. I'm afraid that's not the case the other way round though. To your average Pom, Australia is just a hot holiday destination for people who can afford the flight. That's why the whole "we want nothing to do with the Motherland" thing is so puzzling to a Pom. The Pom is thinking: "um, yeah no that's fine you go ahead and not have anything to do with us ever again. Just make sure to keep the holiday visa arrangement nice and simple for when I feel like catching some sunshine outside of Europe".
Yeah, not much happens over there really. I mean, c'mon Poms, when was the last time you noticed something major about Oz on the news? The 2000 Olympics?!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Duijera Dubh after about 65 posts about "poms" tells us he/she is not interested in "poms". Priceless.
Karate thinks money is all that matters. He/she is obviously a moron, who should be pitied, but you can only be pitied if you are prepared to help yourself.
I see no evidence to suggest that Karate is even aware that they have a serious problem. Just as well he/she wasn't around 2,000 years ago. That Israeli prophet, who never worked or earned money, wouldn't have made it to 33.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
There isn't necessarily a logically correlation between Dow living in Oz and what he says being true. But I guess that doesn't really need to be said. Dow's view of the "average" Australian is of someone spending their life in the pub. Notice how Dow uses the concept of the "average" to make his points, the "average" Australian, the "average" pom, etc. A cursory reference to a statistical tool to make it sound like objective evidence.
Pubs were on the verge of extinction in this country not so many years ago, disappearing at a huge rate. Nevertheless, Dow thinks that the average Australian is in a pub. Correlation - Dow probably spends a good deal of his time in the pub playing at sessions or whatever and watching soaps on TV. That's where the view comes from I suggest.
And it's not as if most of the UK isn't sitting around watching Australian TV soaps now is it? How many years have TV producers been making big money out of poms like that?
Australian global news coverage is huge, and covers what is happening in any part of the world. Consequently, Australians (who stay up with the news), have a pretty good knowledge of what is happening around the world. I think that's a healthy thing actually.
Much better than being kept in the dark and fed bullsh*te - like mushrooms and poms.
Australians live all over the world these days, many in Europe, heaps in Asia. Some people might have an England-centric view still, but anything beyond an interest in defeating the poms at sport would be regarded as eccentric.
On the other hand, poms, including Dow still apparently, seem to have this fossilised view of Australians which they cling onto to make themselves feel comfortable. Very narrow indeed.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Dow probably spends a good deal of his time in the pub playing at sessions or whatever and watching soaps on TV. That's where the view comes from I suggest."
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia is a key reason the Brits are doing better in the 2008 Olympics. After their disastrous showings in Sydney and Athens they revamped their approach and invested huge amounts of money in the UK Olympics team. They based the funding model largely on the Australian model and took on a number of Australians as coaching staff, including the head of the British Olympic cycling team. So say thankyou nicely guys...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I honestly feel (unlike maybe many of my fellow Australians, I don't know) quite sorry for newcomers caught between their "motherland" and their adopted country. It is obviously a painful experience for them, but one which probably every newcomer must go through to some extent. They seem to live, unless they actively deal with the issue, a sort of truncated existence, torn between two countries.
In these days of ready international travel they then exacerbate the problem by travelling between the countries trying to find out where they are really happy, where the perfect place is, the one without any shortcomings.
I have literally seen people in this situation reduced to tears because of their dilemma. I have heard people say, after a lifetime living in their new country, when they return to their "homeland" regret that everything is different there now, they don't know anyone, it is not like the place they were brought up in. Things move on, things change. That's why when I hear fossilised views, it is a danger signal, I think, for that person.
Apart from all the bullsh*te that gets posted here, I genuinely feel sorry for poms who are caught out (pardon the pun), having to live their lives in pommyland. Anyhow, I hear a lot of them get out and go to live in France and Spain these days, no doubt creating an interesting spectacle for the locals.
How's the immigration to pommyland the other way round?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You've got it wrong, DD. I'm happy in Australia. I love Australia. It's a great country. The only problem is it's full of hand-wringing Aussies with an enormous inferiority complex. I just want them to be happy. I want to help them. If I could, I'd pay for psychiatric treatment for the whole population
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
dow, what i don't get is you complain about us being easy to wind up (which we are, more so than the Irish but no more than the english and WAY less than the yanks) but i always seemed to be constantly conselling YOU to not take this silly mustard board that seriously as you'd sit their in the pub brooding over the latests eejit's post - half of which were BLATENT wind-ups. (don't be fooled, outside of the interweb, dow's a meek little insecure bunny. just without the cute ears. or cottontail (as far as i'm aware).
Australia does indeed have an inferiority complex, which manifests itself as bravado, yes, uyes, i agree... yawn.
Though i will say, as a passport carrying pom who's lived most of his life in Oz, that australians, like the english, spend almost NO time thinking of england or the english outside of the sporting arena (not even as a holiday destination, i mean, it's right next to france). Our sad national obsession is with the bloody yanks, which is far, FAR sadder.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well said, SirNose. I am sure that Dow is a pleasant enough chappie, despite the facade that he seems to want to create on this board about himself. SirNose is right - I meet no one who is ever talking or apparently thinking about England. They regard it as some old world place totally irrelevant to Australia, where it rains all the time, and where the people are called poms. That's about it.
It is probably too obvious to say, but people would probably do well to remember that Australia as an independent political entity is only some 107 years old. I mean, it has been in my lifetime, within living memory of millions of people. Despite that brevity, Australia has made huge progress and achieved much. In fact the rate of progress may have even outpaced the rate at which the national self-perception is changing too - which some people might define as an "inferiority complex".
There is very little about this country to feel inferior about, but one sure fire way to tap into any such residual feelings among Australians in this regard is to regard them as inferior, which unfortunately for the poms, they, almost uniquely among the nations of the world try to do to Australians.
You deal with this very simply: you tell the poms, if you can be bothered for the craic, that they are poms, and inferior to Australians. Poms can't deal with their own feelings of inferiority (vis a vis Europe for example), so they react pretty readily to that. And so it goes on. Very simple really.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
DonaldK - Sorry dont believe a word of your immigration fairy story....Ive worked there for more years than I care to remember and I'm telling you, we cant just deny entry because people laugh or because they make a joke- she is obviously not telling you the whole story. Sorry to burst your bubble.
and sigh...sigh.....sigh - when you have been on this board for long enough - you will realise that after a while its nice to talk about something other than music....also if you just want to talk about music -then why even bother posting on this non music thread+
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Sir Nose. I'm sure that's pretty offensive to the American people on this board, who would be innocent bystanders in this debate between England and Australia.
But that aside, I see that Dow's mates even have concerns about his brooding nature. " Sad that ".
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Anyway I don't know why the Queen wants to bother with a bunch of lager-swilling beach-bum layabout crims anyway. She has enough problems with her own family." - no cause for alarm...
My my the claws come out.....I think its hilarious that you accuse every Australian as Being a crim when in fact - as Danny was saying the other day *Scotland* Has the highest crime rates in Europe!!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I have a British Passport. Does that mean that I am one of you Dow? god I hope not....not because I am jealous - dont feel like having my throat slit by a 17 year old thank you very much. And I have seen a crocodile - many in fact....which I'm pretty sure you havent. And as for the UK not thinking about Australians - then why do 100,000 of you insist on coming over here every year long term? really? We wouldnt mind if you didnt.......honest....we'd even hate to bring you down to our level....poor poor brits.....
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I thought you would have known Dow, duijera , coming from Sydney and all. Oh well.
By the way, you have a tenacity that I admire greatly. I've been reading your posts thinking " this young fella, is good, damn good."
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Chune, I thought SirNose was just talking about the absorption of American culture in Australia, like a lot of other countries. Some people bemoan the trend, lless so these days because there are so many fewer old Anglophiles out there, but it is probably inevitable given the similarities between Australian and American history and development.
I remember when the Union Jack flag was still flown outside public buildings and the little Australian flag was flown to the side and at a lower level. That p*sd me off even as an 8 year old I think. Australians were also made to stand for God Save the Queen when you went to see a movie at the theatre - the movie probably being American. They canned the standing up decades ago when they say people were getting really p*sd off about it.
Australia, I think, will become more and more like America as time goes on. We left the poms behind years ago. It's just that the poms don't realise that yet.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Thanks, chune, I try. I also wish I was as young as you think I am, which I'm not.
Dow came along to the session scene after I had moved on a bit, so I've never actually met him.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey Quigley - in Fairness Grant is almost 29 - apparently about to retire.....getting second among all those young ones is still pretty special. It wouldve been nice to see a gold...but ah well - cant win them all....Unless your name is Phelps!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I heard it reported that Phelps has a "wing span" when he puts his arms straight out side to side is about 7 feet!! That's phenomenal. He'd be able to move very fast through the water because of that, but as the report said, he'd displace a lot of water in front of him - which is heavy. Hency, he'd also have to be very muscular and do a lot of gym work probably to deal with that. Phelps is probably a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, we may not see his likes again for a long time.
Just think how Eamon Sullivan feels having his best shot for an Olympic medal up against Phelps. You'd have to feel unlucky wouldn't you. Didn't Sullivan beat his own best time as well as the world record and still came second to Phelps.
What can you do? Congratulations Phelps is about it.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hands up all the americans offended by my comments? probably too busy crying into their global cultural hegemony to respond
hands up all the Aussie's who get offended when NZ complains about how 'australianized' their media etc is... (gosh, they may even call us 'bloody aussies')
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yeah - I got that Sirnose was more going in the direction that we are becoming more American as a nation - free trade agreements and all that...less like the British - which may make them feel a little inferior come to think of it.....
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The poms will hang on to their stereotypes about Australia for an unbelievable period of time. They'll probably still be doing it in a hundred years.
See, they aren't really game to try it with the yanks, they're about 200 years further on than Australians in their own self-perception. Don't forget, American fought a war with England in the 1770s and kicked the daylights out of them. That was a long time ago. Poms respect overwhelming numbers and power, that's what we've got to know about them. Get stronger than them, keep kicking their butts, that's how you have to deal with them. Simple as that. They're nice people, don't get me wrong, just keep them behind you in the queue or they get uppity. You know the go.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
How could anyone begrudge that spunky guy from Tunisia winning the 15 hundred metres. I mean if I was 40 years younger I'd be swooning he is sooooooo ... soooo .... (I nearly did anyway when a friend and I watched it on the big screen last Sunday in the Sportsman's Bar with a glass of white and a warm beef salad). Really gorgeous. Hackett is a great sport and gave his all, it just wasn't good enough to win on the day ... and Olympic swimmers can't remain Olymic swimmers forever ... like gymnasts their competitive years are young and short (generally). Hackett is a great Aussie and did us proud anyway. Yay!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes exactly. But what a fine example of an Aussie girl eh. Positive, positive, positive. She probably doesn't know what a pom is. No inferiority complex there eh. (I reckon she'd be a killer at scrabble too, eh?)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... I personnally wish that slagging other countries was not such a national pasttime ... in Oz and elsewhere too. It is staggering to think that languages other than English are spoken in some 66% of Sydney households. There are something like 146 Ozzy motherlands and it seems counterproductive to slag them all. Oh I'm wasting my breath ... slag away! I'm going to take the dogs for a walk and leave youse to it.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
do you know what's better that slagging other countries?! slagging aussie regions!!!!!!! (you bloody central australian)
I hearby wish all crow-eaters, cornstalkers, two-headed tassians, chair-sniffers and mexican's (in the slang-for-"victorian" sense) would sod off and just accept the shear, unadulterated brilliance of the CANBERRAN!!!!!!!!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That's the thing, no one else seems to want to slag Australians except the poms. The poms start it. Just look at who started this thread - a pom!
Do the poms understand that a good part of the world has always thought they are a bunch of up themselves twits?
Australians, I find anyway, are much better liked as people who don't regard themselves as superior to anyone else (except poms of course, can't forget that.)
SirNose, what do people drink in Canberra these days?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
interesting aside for dow, looking through the (english, of course) Guardian online (which i obviously read religiously to find out how important countries think) JUST TODAY i found an article about the ructions going on behind the scenes at Opera Australia AND 2 (yes TWO) articles about the mildly pathetic sexist remarks of the mayor of Mt Isa in Queensland.
When was the last time ANY aussie paper devoted articles to the behind-the-scenes goings-on if english arts bodies or comments from mayors of little british towns?
God i feel important now - real people OVER THERE think about us - as sexist and arrogant maybe, but at least through there thoughts we REALLY EXHIST!!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
cut-and paste headline from the guardian:
"Australia: Outback mayor goes walkabout after insulting local women"
HA! I know it's SEEMS like they're being lame with they're obvious aussie-isms, but actually it's just a sharp, witty form of post-modern IRONIC lameness - man we aussie's SO don't get it.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just a small refelction - doesn't bother me - but it is interesting how it's taken as acceptable to use what I suppose is meant to be a racist insult - "Poms" - it is meant that way, isn't it? Or is it just an 'affectionate' term? Makes me think the same person probably has opinions about niggers, spicks, wops and dagoes as well ...
Anyway, I expect that most Brits, Irish, Americans and people generally around the world are shaking their heads slightly at the paranoia displayed by one self-appointed representative of Oz. Fortunately, I, like most Brits, don't roll out the stereotype and assume it's the same for all Australians. Most seem nice, in my experience. But then, most people from anywhere seem nice, to me.
One thing that was mentioned - ages ago, up the thread - was the implication that Welsh and Scottish people would be offended to be called 'Brits'. I can't speak for the Scots, but I'd be surprised if that was true of anyone Welsh. I have spent most of my life in Wales, and currently live just on the English side of the border. When I was growing up in Welsh Wales, we thought of ourselves as Welsh, and British. It was only the English we had a problem with.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Calling someone a pom is about the same degree of flame as calling someone a wombat - like I called you earlier, benhall.
And you think it might be a racist term? Geez how paranoid can you get. Funny poms, silly old wombats.
My forebears came from the Marches as well, benhall. Don't live too close to that Welsh border will you...stay on the English side, that'd be English Wales - or British Wales would it?
So you thought of yourself as Welsh and British, but not English. That's not racist is it?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Geez, that was a grand migratory move, benhall...you moved from Wales to England (sorry British Wales). That'd be a spectacular move by British standards wouldn't it? Must have given you a hugely expansive world view.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That was my feeling too, about Eamon Sullivan's having to swim against Phelps. The man got given an un-enviable job, and he did it in style, by topping his personal best. ALL those athletes are in their glory. Phelps is hopeless on dry land, by the way.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Good on ya, Quig. He'd be a nice guy too, Eamon Sullivan, judging by his demeanour. See, Quig's an American and he's the first non-Aussie to post like that about Sullivan. The poms wouldn't do it, they'd probably just say something like "oh well, Sullivan didn't win because he's just not good enough - an Australian, you know".
We'll be making you an honorary Aussie at this rate, Quig.
Anyway, here's a present for you:
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Aw gee shucks. Just thought something should have been said on Sullivan's behalf, and so I said it. All those athletes are in their glory, every last one of them from all the 200 odd nations! Anyway, time is tucker, and Americans must sleep.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Cruella, you can believe what you like - it is your right.
However, I would still believe my friend - she had no reason to lie - she wasn't staying in Australia anyway.
Apologies for my post causing such obvious irritation.
Personally, I find all this slagging rather distasteful.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
And, DonaldK,isn't it distasteful to say something as insulting as what that fellow said at the customs desk? I mean how narrow minded - how many times do you think smart-ar*ses have said that sort of thing coming into Australia? And where do you think they be from?
It's about as insulting as asking about British washing habits when you're asking for a visa at the pommy immigration desk at Heathrow.
Why do you consider it funny for the poms to say that to Australians, but if an Australian was to do it to the poms, then it would be regarded as anything but a joke by the poms?
If you want to dish it out, be prepared to take it.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I think sometimes that the "Pom" is a stereotypical entity that purely exists in the imagination, a product of childhood endoctrination perhaps. Like the evil "Hun" of the first World War, the image of the "Pom" is branded into our psyche as a potential threat to our personal contentment, a bearer of great
irritation, and a destroyer of our self esteem. This is largely untrue, except of course in the case of Dow, who emerges from the page like a nightmare, and like the British athletes at
the present Olympics, he is very good at what he does. So on that note I would like to say congratulations to Britain on their success. Slim.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Let's see if you get return compliments, Slim.
Dow just tries to make people feel bad it seems, very negative vibe. Why would you want to do that I always wonder?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Pom or Pommie is the same as calling us 'Ozzie' "
Fari enough, bb. Although I would have thought that 'Brit' and 'Ozzie', or 'Aussie' would be more equivalent.
However, it's pointless, childish and downright disrepectful to keep going on about "they're Poms, that means they're inferior" blah, blah, blah ... I just wouldn't do that sort of thing. I would never say, and have never said that Austalians are inferior. How could that be? Folks is folks. But the way DD has been going on *is* racist. And I don't like it. Doesn't bother me personally. It's just an inherently distasteful human characteristic that I'm disappointed to see rear its ugly head here.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What a load of crappers, benhall - racist - bullsh*t. The word pom has been around for over a hundred years or more and you know it. You've just been talking about the British as different from the English, don't come the bullsh*t racist slur, when you've just done it yourself. So why isn't the term 'yank' racist? Pull ya head in. Who do you think you are.
Anyway, here's a list of all the terms for poms (according to wikipedia anyway), I am sure there are some less polite ones around:
“In December 2006, the Advertising Standards Board of Australia unanimously ruled that the word "pom" was a part of the Australian vernacular, and was largely used in a "playful or affectionate" sense. As a consequence, the board ruled that the word did not constitute a racial slur, and could be freely used in advertising.”
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Donald - whatever - but the fact of the matter is that it is against the law to refuse entry to someone cause they laughed at something. The only irritating thing is that you are spouting nonsense about something you know nothing about. Newflash - Australia does not refuse people entry because they laugh.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Benhall I know what you mean, when british people find out my dad is Welsh they call me 'Taffey" or somesuch - I'm sure it was not meant in the nicest way...although I am also sure they didnt see the harm in it either, kind of jokey but kind of putting me in my place.... If you noticed I never even said the word pom - nor did I slag off the UK, but I admit I did get my back up when posters on here started going on about how stupid we australians are..but the funny thing is - and I'm guessing this...most of you probably havent even been here and are basing your presumtions on Home and Away and Rolf Harris. So of course you are going to think we are lame.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, DD, OK ... As I say, the term doesn't bother me. It *does* bother me when anyone tries to say that one race is "inferior" - your word - to another. That's just wrong.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ok, just in case anyone out there was taking me seriously in my comments, please don't. This is, or at least started off as, a light-hearted thread and should remain as such.
Whilst I have never been to Australia I certainly don't draw any conclusions on the country based on your cr*p soaps or Rolf Harris (not that there is anything wrong with Rolf!).
In truth I don't have very strong opinions about what Australians are like having not been. My opinions will be formed from watching programmes about Australia on the TV (there was a very good tour of Australia done by Billy Connolly), watching their sports people (although I am not that into sport) and talking to folk on here.
Maybe I will get to Australia one day - although the furthest I have been is Spain.
I guess I have a generally positive view of our Australian Cousins.............
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It's a good job Australia isn't in the Eurovision Song Contest, that's all I can say - we'd never get any bloody votes! And bb, whilst I share your dislike of tge kind of prejudice that may be based on such slender evidence as life as we see it in Aussie soaps, I really must demur in the case of Rolf Harris. He's a wonderful man and a national treasure (this end or yours, who cares!) - not exactly up my alley maybe but an all-round good egg nonetheless!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
He was born in Perth to parents who'd emigrated from Wales. You have an awful lot of closet poms in Oz if you're going to be that strict! He's no Pom. Hey, what the bloody hell am I saying!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Like Ben, I don't think the word "pom" is in and of itself offensive, but it certainly can be seen as pejorative in the context DD is using it. In fact, other than Alistair's *obvious joke* (basically giving as goo as he was getting) the only person on this thread unceasingly generalizing about and slagging one country is DD.
Australia at any rate is a beautiful country and most of the people there are sound. I'd love to go back myself at some point.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
And for your information, Ben's first post wasn't slagging anyone. He was asking how Australia was fairing in the Olympics. Strange how these threads evolve......
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes. Steve . I always thought he was a pom, but I've since
discovered that I"ve been misled. Well picked up and I stand
corrected. I suppose he could be called a borderline pom, fringe pom, pomsie, pom with a chaser, or a sand pom as opposed to a lapsed pom. Anyway he's a great bloke in my opinion as well, all jokes aside.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I got into horrible trouble for calling Americans "yanks" once on C&F. These are pejorative terms only in certain contexts. It got worse when I innocently referred to backwoodsmen and hillbillies. They are not racist terms because, along with "Pom," "Brit," Yank" and the rest, they all refer to members of the same race. Context is everything when you're out to insult someone or merely have an affectionate dig.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dear me, just checked this for the first time today, and sure enough, as expected, all the Aussies get defensive and go "rraaaarghh" at the Poms. I can imagine all the Poms reading this going "omg Dow's actually right about the inferiority complex and them all needing psychiatric treatment". Poor dears
Now now Sirnose I'm not that much of a cutsey little soft bunn am I?. I seem to remember one argument we had where I infuriated you so much that you left the room in a huff and would hardly speak to me for a day or so. Something to do with Aussie plastic paddies? I wonder if bb mentioned that we met another one at Kelly's recently - a really scary one. That's two weird-a*sed Aussie plastic paddies at the one session in the one pub. And that must be a tiny proportion of their population. You ask bb about it. Even she said "maybe you're right Dow - maybe it's just that I've never noticed it, or maybe I blocked them out, maybe it's just that I've never had cause to talk to them". The jury's still out on that one!
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"australians, like the english, spend almost NO time thinking of england or the english outside of the sporting arena (not even as a holiday destination, i mean, it's right next to france)."
But Poms don't CARE what you're thinking. To a Pom, Australia is about as politically important on the world stage as Mali. Most Aussies would know who the President of the US and the PM of UK were, but most Poms wouldn't know who the Aussie PM was, not just because they're ignorant, but because most people don't bother learning the names of leaders of politically insignificant countries like Belarus or Mongolia. People might have heard of Keating from years ago cause he was in the papers for touching the queen. In fact I'm thinking he might have done that deliberately for the attention so that people abroad would know who he was and remember his name.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I suspect Duijera Dubh witnessed his mother having some sort of experience with a "pom" when he was a child and that as a result he has an obsession with them, which he denies. Obviously an English "pom",(I know all poms are English, DD doesn't) as he seems to feel very inferior to English people.
Hard enough being a Barclay's Banker but being in denial as well?
Now this obsession affected his ability to learn, and so his reading skills are suspect. You will not find England third in the medals table at the Olympics, indeed they are not listed at all.
However given DD's mental state and his massive inferiority complex in respect of English people, it is quite possible that to DD the written word GB spells England.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Now bodhran bliss - there is surely a line in all of these conversations and I suspect you have just strayed a tad over it. I can definately see the line. It is right in front of me and.... yes.... that would be you in the distance there. I can tell from the thudding noise.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
dow, playing the man not the ball - I never said i don't get passionately involved in real life discussions with real people. I know you like to think that you come across like a witty, above-it-all voice of cutting clarity on this board of froth and bubble and that nothing really gets to you but i've seen you being eaten-at by stupid posts on this board, even after hours at the pub actually PLAYING music. with real people.
(and you reckon england doesn't know much about aussie politics? of course they bloody don't, why would they - i'm more concerned that most *Aussies* are so politically disconntected they probably wouldn't even remeber who paul keating was.)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
(actually, thinking back to the discussion (that Australian-Irishness express itself diffently to US-Irishness) i "left in a huff" with dow, It had nothing to do with the point of view he had - something i think he still hasn't got yet - but more that he once again conned me into thinking he may actually want to discuss something seriously. As is often the case, what p*ssed me off was dow was more interested in argueing for the sake of it and provoking a reaction than discussing the issue at hand - which makes you feel like a heel for treating dow with the intellectual respect to put forward your thoughts in the first place.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Lots of druggies winning".
Wow, that's a relief then.
No other word for it. BB, you’re a complete wombat. A GB wombat – a Great Big one.
Hey, BB, wombats have really good skins for bodhrans; they’re really, how can I say this – *thick*. That’s it. You’re not a very imaginative writer either.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"i've seen you being eaten-at by stupid posts on this board, even after hours at the pub actually PLAYING music. with real people."
That may have happened once or twice when I've been trading harmless slagging comments with someone on the discussion board only to find that someone else comes in, takes it badly, and starts getting personal with me for no good reason.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I like Australia. I bought a house there. Much cheaper than this kip, and the weather is much better.
The only thing I don't like, is its full of people like DD.
I don't like generalising about a place, but its true. There are loads of them.
When I lived abroad in many places, Peru, Spain, America, Japan, they dominate EVERY conversation with pointless facts about their country. Fair enough, country pride is great, and its a beautiful country, but other people don't need to hear that ALL THE FECKIN TIME.
We used to joke about thiem thinking, if Australia is all they talk about here, what do they talk to each other about?
The only time DD posts any thing relevent is to wind people up, and talk about Australia.
Its scary. I'm convinced he's either between 12 and 16 or a complete and utter lunatic, or some kind of Neo Fascist.
Is this you DD? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPucVtepTgI
At least my handle is a p*ss take - but you, you are dead serious aren't you? (see the way I finished a question with a question mark? - go on, try it...)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, there are a lot of people in Australia who don't like attitudes like your's, that's very sure.
You blokes just don't like to be told do you. Wear it, wombat.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ok. Steve Hooker, Australian pole vault just won the olympic gold medal - and broke the Olympic record. Good eh!
That's what this thread was supposed to be about wasn't it? - Australia getting flogged at the Olympics?
Keep reading, Hugo, you have all day.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You'd think the Irish equestrian team would have figured that one out after Athens, when their gold medalist showjumper was eliminated after the horse tested positive for drugs.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It wasn't smack so much as a chilli pepper-based substance called capaiscin. In one form it can work as a painkiller, and the general rule is that if you need to be giving your horse a painkiller to compete, you should not be competing that horse. You're not even allowed to compete a horse on horsey-aspirin (aka bute).
The other form of capaiscin is, I think, a lot more insidious. As it is chilli-based, it will sting like a b*itch if thwacked with something hard, like a jump pole for example. Less scrupulous trainers and riders rub it on the horses' legs so they are extra careful to not hit any poles as they're jumping over a fence.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just saw an interview with Steve Hooker – yep, as I thought – what you see is what you get. A real nice guy, straight down the line, unassuming, honest, non-egotistical, but confident, empathic, and would probably do anything for you.
All round winner. Nice to know there are still people around like that. We ought to be grateful.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Is that making sense???
Of course.
But I don't really care.
I agree Ireland ought to be hiring Australian trainers and training structures. Is it only Australian though??
Trapattoni isn't from Leixlip you know....
I'm not denying any of the your Country's talent.
I think its marvellous.
Its just you!
YOU'RE BONKERS.
NUTS.
You don't get it though, so thats why you entertain me.
I know for a fact there are loads like you too.
That sucks.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Jesus Christ.
I knew it was Capiscin. Its been all over the news.
The 'smack' was illustrating my lack of interest.
'yep, as I thought – what you see is what you get. A real nice guy, straight down the line, unassuming, honest, non-egotistical, but confident, empathic, and would probably do anything for you.
All round winner. Nice to know there are still people around like that. We ought to be grateful.'
GOOD - I'd well believe it. THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF YOU. AMADáN.
I bet he wouldn't contribute to a public internet forum about sport, and talk about being Australian and how great it is ( but at the same time, cause he's such a nonce, make it sound like a repressed fascist paradise) all the time.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
GB brought in an Aussie to coach the relay teams. Outstanding success.
Ireland could do with a horse trainer, the likes of that Aidan O'Brien is useless.
I think my favourite moment in sport is when the Irish HORSE failed the drugs teat after winning gold. Only the Irish could do that.
And finally. Are you telling me that Australia is full of people like DD, Hugo? Well if we allegedly went to war to stop Hitler, I think Oz must be next. I think 12 is his IQ rather than age.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Verrrry clever, bodhran bonker, you're improving out of sight.
Maybe GB ought to bring an Aussie to coach the GB coaches - oh, yeah, they've probably done that already haven't they.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
'Are you telling me that Australia is full of people like DD, Hugo?'
Jesus no. Christ. Imagine that?
I've met a fair few like him though. Its pretty scary.
They keep going too. Talking about themselves, I remember one time in Japan, this guy had me pinned at the bar telling me about Barry Lindon or someone like that. For ages.. I Even asked him to stop, then he got really ratty.
WIERD
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hugo. As much as have personally inputted to this slagging match between England and Australia, I( I realise you're Irish, by the way). I would like to think that it is only a slagging match.
I can even find it in my heart to forgive Dow for his vicious, viscous outpourings of mockery. ( I'm still brooding ).
Having said that , I agree with your comments about some Australian tourists and residents for that matter being complete embarrasements whilst overseas and its a thing that I have been cringeing over for at least 20 years. As I have said in a previous post, there is no need for it, its unwarranted,
we live in a nice country, but so do most of the other people in the world. I haven't read all of the posts but I think I was the only one to actually congratulate the U.K. on their success.
So once again well done, it must feel great.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... gee I wish my sistar was here to defend him. I'm sorry guys, but this slagging has, over night, gone right over the top! Where is ITM when the going gets tough in the Aussie bush? Do any of you care a stuff? Well he does! ... and fair play to him ... so there.
Instead of fighting (very negatively and personally at that) amongst yerselves, you could be out there bringing Irish trad to the masses, lifting spirits, promoting community, and raising money and awareness where its needed ... so why aren't you?
... oh yer all too bluudy radical fer that ... trad music should be about community and friendship and makin beautiful music tagether ... and look at youse! I'm goin' fer a walk before the steam starts whistling out me ears. Toot toot! Chu chu chu
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hmmm - Hugo...if there are loads of DDs about - I havent met any. But then again, i live in the inner city and hang out at cafes and bookshops...maybe there just arent any around here?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Tragic, really, considering that even the Russian and Georgian participants in the women's air gun competition at the Beijing Olympics were able to congratulate each other, shake hands, and hug, despite the stupid fighting back home. Geesh, if *they* can get along, its just sill that posters here are so ugly to each other.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
chuneboi slim, Australia - along with many other countries, New Zealand included - sent a small but effective army of firefighters to California. Let that counter-balance your embarrassment.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
For a little while there, I was tempted by the idea of being made 'an honorary Australian' til I realized the distinction wouldn't make for any improvements in the local beer. I might even get called up for national service, and pull Olympic duty with so many others of your countrymen. Or, owing to my age have to pull home guard duty with you, Duijera, and the rest of what must be askeleton crew. Yes someone has to stay home, and mind the store, man the pumps, and slag the English. Rather you guys than me.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Here's a little play, just for a bit of fun and an extra poke in the Aussies' ribs (in an unsour way). It personifies our countries so that "Australia" and "Britain" become individuals with attitudes and emotions.
-----------------
Britain is on the phone to US:
Britain: Let's exercise some caution here. We don't want to provoke Russia too much. Just send the 4 Hercules in for the moment and then we can maybe send more tomorrow if we haven't annoyed him enough. I keep leaving rude messages on his answering machine but he hasn't even texted me back. I'll have a word in Czech's shell-like too... pull some puppet strings, eh? He, he, he.... Uh-huh. OK. Yeah speak to you soon then m'love. OK. Love yoooou! I'll send you a cheque for the rockets...
[the conversation is interrupted]
Britain's secretary: Sir?
Britain: (to US) Sorry, just hold on a sec. (to secretary) Yep?
Secretary: It's Oz on the phone.
Britain: Who?
Secretary: Australia?
Britain: Oh for f*ck's sake. (to US) Sorry I've got some stupid stuff to do. Catch you later. I'll call you tonight in fact. Bye bye. Love you. Mwah! Bye Bye! Bye... (picks up phone) Hello, Britain speaking.
Australia: G'day it's ya mate Ozzie here, how ya goin?!
Britain: Yes. I'm fine thank you.... Um, how are you?
Australia: Good mate, yeah......... Um, yeah.
Britain: What can I do for you?
Australia: Ah matey I just thought I'd call you up for a chat, hey. We haven't spoken in ages and that? so..
Britain: Actually, I don't mean to seem rude, but I'm just a bit busy at the m......
Australia: Ah look mate I won't keep ya, I'm just wondering if there's been any goss, you know? How's OUR mate US?
Britain: Fine.
Australia: I've had my photo taken with him heaps of times? and I shook his hand and everything?
Britain: Wow. That's. Um. Yeah, wow.
Australia: Look I'm a bit worried about North Korea and other problems in MY backyard? which, as you know, is like the WHOLE of ASIA and that?
Britain: (laughs) I don't think you need to worry about anyone attacking you, Oz, really.
Australia: No this is really an issue for me because apparently I'm within their range? I could be a target at any moment? They could blow me up now, right this minute!
Britain: (mumbles) If only.
Australia: What?
Britain: I said "phone me". As in, "phone me if there are any danger signs or whatever".
Australia: Oh. Yeah anyway mate, I've got something to say to you? It's quite important?
Britain: Fire away, just make it quick, I'm in a hurry.
Australia: I just wanted you to know that I'm doing fine without you? I don't need you anymore? I'm my own person now? I feel much more on your level now, with my experience? and I'm making quite a bit of money too, doing well for myself? I feel as though I'm at the peak of fitness? I'm at my prime and I'm youthful? I'm strong and awesome?
Britain: I keep telling you, that's quite alright. You've flown the nest now. Of course you don't need me anymore - you're a big boy.
Australia: But what I mean is, I really, really don't need you? I don't want you in my life? I actually don't really think much of you?
Britain: That's fine. You were costing me a bloody fortune anyway. It's much better this way. I'm really not offended. You go and do your own thing.
Australia: No but I just want you to know that I rarely even think about you, and all the times we had?
Britain: Yeah no that's fine. Look I've really got to go. I've got things to do.
Australia: OK. Um. Look I'm sorry mate. I didn't mean to come over too harsh? Can we still be friends?
Britain: Yep, whatever.
Australia: Good on ya! I was thinking maybe I could help you out and send a few troops to help out with what you're doing? Would that be good?
Britain. Yep, every little helps.
Australia: OK good, I'll send those troops right away! Um, yeah.
Britain's secretary: It's Germany on the phone. Shall I tell him you'll ring him back?
Britain: (covers mouthpiece) No no no keep him on the line. (to Oz) OK look I've got to go. I've got very important things to be getting on with, and important people to speak to. Say hello to the Kiwis for me and tell them thanks for the Christmas card. And by the way can you please stop using that annoying question intonation on every single phrase? It's extremely distracting. I didn't give you our language just so you could go and ruin it like that.
Australia: OK bye then Britain! Can we keep in touch more often? I mean, I seem to be always the one ringing you? You never ring me?
Britain: Sure. OK now p*ss off (slams phone down)
Australia: OK sorry, bye! (looks at phone forlornly)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dow - How very clever of you. I think your talents are wasted as a bus driver. Maybe you could be a playwrite or something. I can see it now - "Dow on Broadway"...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hugo - hahha, irish people do that all the time. I know heaps of Irish people whove been out here for like 40, 50. 60 years and much less - 1, 2 etc and most all go on about how Ireland is the best, most beautiful, culturally stunning cournty in the world. How the beer is better, the tunes (obviously) are better etc etc. I think everyone just does it because when youre away from home you get homesick so you talk about the country youre from.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The most brilliant writer I ever knew as a close friend drove a taxi for 10 years. Many years later, he now works as a well paid technical writer for Microsoft. IMHO, he's still driving a cab....
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes Cruella, a phenomenon I've seen before this. Someone with high academic skills / IQ or whatever it takes to do a PHD,
working or existing in an irrelevant environment in relation to the application of their talents. The result is that they exist patting themselves on the intellectual back for getting a reaction in a forum, such as this, being a good outlet, whilst
they would be more courageous by (1) as you said, using their energy to do something worthwhile, or (2) do their winding up
indescriminately in public, which they seldom do due to a lack of ticker.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Congratulations to Oz on the diving gold - that last dive looked amazing.
I am just looking forward to seeing how Tom Daley develops between now and the next Olympics. To finish 7th in an Olympics final when just 14 years old is incredible.
Still, well done Aussie chaps, you really did very well. And, per capita, as has been pointed out (by Brits up above) you beat us. Here's to next time.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ben ,"per capita" is only a statistic that is of interest against say a huge population like USA or China. You did us fair and square.
Might teach some of us humility. Well done to the athletes.
Can't wait to see Kate Ellis' face go red as she does that. Although, she lives in Adelaide so she's probably three quarter
pom anyway. All the best. Slim.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
bb People who have been out there for 40, 50 60 years etc are called Ex Pats! I was in Japan for 2 years both times. Both times, to get away from people who we've discussed in the past.
There's a big difference, with being homesick, and being oppressive. I went to Japan to learn about Japan, and forget about Ireland. I talked about Japan when I went to Japan.
I don't know who Barry Lindon is. I don't care.
Do you know who Jerry Kiernan is? Do you care?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What about the I think its like 50,000 Irish one year visa holders that come out here to see Australia...and hang out only in Irish pubs singing the fields of Athenry, who join Gaelic Football or Hurling teams while here, and who get jobs in businesses owned by irish ex pats, all the while going on about how great ireland is and how much better it is than Australia - they arent ex pats - they are Irish people on holidays, you are an excpetion to the rule. Everyone does it.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
as an aside, here's something i just found that i thought was interesting, on he subject of 'pom'....
Flipping through 'the QI Book of General Ignorance' by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson - a little spin-off book from that 'wit-com' panel show 'QI' with Stephen Fry hosting - I found this intruiging entry under the question "What is 'pom' short for?"
"... Folk etymologists seem to be drawn to acronymic explanations, which are almost never right.
There are almost no examples of words of acronymic origin before 1900. Indeed, the very word 'acronym' wasn't coined until 1943.
In the case of 'pom', most reliable authorities agree it is a shortening of 'pomegranate'.
In his 1923 Australian novel "Kangaroo", D.H.Lawrence wrote:
' "Pommy" is supposed to be short for pomegranate. Pomegranate, pronouced invariably pommygranate, is a near enough rhyme to immigrant, in a naturally rhyming country."....
...The older term 'Jimmy Grant' used for 'immigrant' became 'Pommy Grant', which was irresistable as the fierce Australian sun turned turned their 'new chums' skin 'pomegranate red' "
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
lol, i guess so, but the emphasis seems to be on the fact your not from *here*, not one of us... bloody hippocritical if you ask me, seeing as 98% of the Oz population are relatively recent 'Jimmy Grants'
(though, seeing as you could argue that Australia is an immigrant nation, doesn't that then make the *Aussies* the 'poms', and the brits in england, well, not...)
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey, Sir Nose, I had thought Pom was short for "Pomeranian" ... and the reasons, therefore, more related to mad dogs and certain people going out in the midday sun! ... and their mode of dress "dressed up like bluudy pomeranians"... but hey I'm open to anything, even from a ring in who declared himself a 'berran then turned out to be a pom! Core, what is the world commin'ta?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I like that theory...
and you bet dow - just wait 'til the Irish do something good in sport so we can trot out '70%-of-Aussies-have-Oirish-ancestory', or when Greece does well we can go straight for the 'melbourne's-the-second-biggest-Greek-city-in-the-world" line... not to mention every single kiwi who's done anything significant on the world stage - aussies through and through they are. (funny thing is, we've never claimed Mr. Dow though... )
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... and with the Six Degrees of Separation Theory thingee ... we, as a group, on the auld yellaboard could easily conceivably name drop as knowing just about anyone on the world stage. A group hug, Poms or not, I recon, is definitely in order (cough sputter) Well, some of ya anyway ... I wouldn't want to give any of youse the flippin flu.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
There’ll be plenty of water -
Excerpt:
“It is estimated that Antarctica, if fully melted, would contribute more than 60 metres of sea level rise, and Greenland would contribute more than 7 metres.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
But it's salt water, DD, no good for drinking or agriculture.
What's more, it'll be toxic, from algal blooms, and give off hydrogen sulphide, so nobody'll be able to go near the coast unless they want to be gassed to death.
Multiple factors combine to create a climate in the oceans that is almost totally lacking in oxygen, including--
*rise in global temperature (warm water holds less oxygen than cold, and also causes many critters to die off, which become food for algaes and other life forms that consume even more oxygen as they go through explosive "blooms" and then they die, and their decomposition uses up even more oxygen)
*fertilizer run-off (kills, and feeds the same alga blooms/die-offs)
*shut-down of the big "conveyer" currents which normally help to keep the temps down and to stir the water up and add oxygen (big increases in glacial melting are what mess this up, also decreases salinity when it melts too much too fast)
*acid rain and excess CO2 which increase the acidity of the oceans, killing off coral reefs, plankton, and other friendly oxygen producing creatures (again, feeds those algae blooms/die-offs)
what you eventually get is one of these:
Anoxic events occur when the Earth's oceans become completely depleted of oxygen (O2) below the surface levels. Although anoxic events have not happened for millions of years, the geological record shows that they happened many times in the past, and may have caused mass extinctions-including some of those which geobiologists employ to serve as a time marker in biostratigraphic dating. It is believed oceanic anoxic events are strongly linked to lapses in key oceanic current circulations, to climate warming and greenhouse gases.
the toxic critters can even begin to colonize the sand and soil around such bodies of water. if you get enough of them, the water can't hold all that poison (to us) gas and it starts to bubble up and head inland. yum!
*more than 400 oxygen-starved dead zones in global coastal waters
*Compared to prehistoric times, the level of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere has declined by over a third and in polluted cities the decline may be more than 50% (no wonder we do such dumb things now!)
*Around 10,000 years ago, the planet's forest cover was at least twice what it is today, which means that forests are now emitting only half the amount of oxygen
*Nasa reports that in the north Pacific ocean oxygen-producing phytoplankton concentrations are 30% lower today, compared to the 1980s. This is a huge drop in just three decades.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I wasn't implying you are stupid or uneducated, DD. The ice is freshwater before it melts, as you know.
I do whatever I can, DD, because the only people who can do anything to forestall or avoid the catastrophes, is us, now.
In a decade or so, it'll be too late.
Those who did nothing will have to face their children and grandchildren, who'll be in the middle of the mess, and who'll ask "What did you do ? Why didn't you do anything when you could ?"
I was very shaken by Prof. Jackson's presentation on the state of the oceans. I knew it was bad, but not how bad. It causes me grief.
Also the rivers and the species we share this planet with...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I know it causes you grief, wolf, and likely for some time now, as it does many people. As you have pointed out, Australia is among the places that stands to be hit very hard, and possibly irretrievably by this. There is a rapidly growing awareness of this danger here now, but I am still shocked at the extent to which people here are unaware of it.
"in a decade or so, it'll be too late" as you say - it might already be too late. I have heard years ago from some early scientific observers (here) that it was already a done deal back then. Maybe it is just the logical end result of the way the world has gone for a very long time. We inherit the worry, our descendants may inherit the consequences.
Mitigation - if it is possible given the extent of the problem - may be part of the answer. I think there will be one or a number of answers, but not before some significant change.
Try not to worry about it so much.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I don't worry, DD, same as I don't get depressed about it, both responses are pointless.
I'm angry, because most people don't give a sh*t, and it's MY world that's getting wrecked, as much as anyone else's.
And this is not something vague in the future - it's happening now.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
My - admittedly crackpot - theory goes as follows:
1 It's already way too late
2 Things will get worse at an accelerating rate, leading to global catastrophe some time this century
3 This will lead to a very rapid 'adjustment' of populations, both human and non-human
4 These adjustments will, in turn, lead to further rapid shifts in climate, flora and fauna
5 There will be a new equilibrium, in which humnakind may or may not survive ... but ...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
How bad it gets, and how soon, depends upon what we do *now*.
Obviously, the rocky planet and water in the oceans will continue. They've been through far worse things, like Snowball Earth, and bombardment by asteroids, etc. Bacteria and cockroaches and slime will be happy, whatever.
What we need to worry about is the biosphere, the thin layer where we live, like the skin on an apple. That's what we're messing up, and doing it so fast that there's no time for creatures to adapt, including us.
We need to switch away from oil, to renewable energy, leave all the coal in the ground, insulate houses, use solar power, all that stuff. Put pressure onto politicians and companies.
CO2 is at 385 ppm. It's going to keep going up, 2ppm every year, for a while, whatever we do. But if we can stop it getting too high, and then reduce it, then there'll be less disaster than if we do nothing...eventually, things will get so bad that everybody will be screaming that something must be done, like when London is under water, but then it'll be too late...
Interesting that someone could see this coming in 1935. It's not like there's been no warnings, just that people don't want to hear. James Lovelock's been going on about it for decades too.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Wolf, this might make you feel better about it...then again, somehow I doubt it. (Copy the link in case the post isn't here later; if you want to read it. You don't have to play the video, if you don't want, the transcript is there:
"DAVID EVANS: Now since 1990, western governments have spent about $50 billion looking for evidence that carbon causes global warming and they haven't found any
(according to David Evans, is since 2001 temperatures around the world have stopped rising. And that's despite increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the air. So statistically, in the last seven years, the flattening and perhaps even slight cooling of temperatures - is that significant?)
DAVID EVANS: Yes, yes it is significant. Once it gets up to five years or so it’s really quite significant. Whatever was driving the temperatures up has taken a break for a while and meanwhile carbon emissions have continued and the level of carbon in the atmosphere has gone up about 5% since 2001, yet we see no more warming…I urge them to look at the modern science, the evidence isn't there. There is no evidence that carbon emissions cause a significant amount of global warming."
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, DD, I come across that sort of remark all the time, people saying it's all a hoax got up by Al Gore, bla bla.
James Hansen is THE guy, the most respected climate scientist, (respected by other scientists, that is). Five years is NOT significant (statistically) because we are talking about climate, not weather.
The agreed significant period re climate is 30 years. The global temperature trend has been going up steadily, as CO2 levels have risen, for i50 years. Over that period, it's wobbled, up and down, effected by things like WW2, volcanic eruptions, and so on.
The problem is that Bush and ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal pay people to plant disinformation in the media, because they don't want any legislation to limit CO2 emissions, which would harm their profits.
They actually employ some of the same PR guys that tried to claim that tobacco was harmless, blabla, to fend of anti-smoking legislation.
The way CO2 causes the atmosphere to warm is quite complicated, so it's difficult for the layman to understand, and easy to mislead the public with lies, such as this one..
"There is no evidence that carbon emissions cause a significant amount of global warming."
You have to be careful who you trust in this game. I trust the guys who have made climate science their chosen careers, have PhDs in the subject and have spent decades researching the subject.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You would have noticed then that the Australian Prime Minister agrees with you. Thanks for the links I will read them with interest.
I must away. All the best to you, if I do not catch up with you again.
The denialists, (mostly funded by coal or oil interests), want to claim that there's two sides to the argument, because that'll delay any effective limits upon their industry for as long as possible.
However, among climate scientists, and the wider scientific community, there is NO argument, nor has there been for a long time. Like, 99.9 % of scientists are completely in agreement that we have man-made global warming caused by CO2 from fossil fuels and that it is a disaster that's coming our way like an avalanche...
I guess some people dream about building their own home, but never get around to actual practical steps towards doing it...but if there's someone reads this who thinks they'd be serious about it, I'd be willing to provide a site to do it. PM me if you're interested.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I'd love to do it, Mr Wolf. I just can't see me getting round to finishing it. Now, there's a friend of mine - bouzouki player - who, if he put his mind to it, would get it done in no time. You should see him clearing trees! Does the heart good.
[In case anybody misinterprets, clearing trees is a *good* thing - it helps maintain healthy woodland.]
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, there's just been a change in the planning rules in Pembrokeshire, just a few weeks ago, so there's new opportunities opening up here to allow that kind of dwelling.
I have 25 acres, which is more than I can cope with because of health and getting old, so shareing with someone would probably be a mutually beneficial arrangement. I have the timber already, highest quality oak that's been cut 20 years.
Main problem, as far as I can judge, would be compatibility. As some here may acknowledge, I'm prone to have opinions
But an interest in Irish trad would probably be excellent common ground to keep things on a cordial basis...I'm confident the right person or persons will turn up sooner or later...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It just keeps getting longer...
bb Cruella d v, there's no point in being depressed about it, doesn't help. Be happy ! But care, and do anything you can that moves in a good direction, no ?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Most of the time I care a little bit. Maybe not as much as some would like, but some nonetheless. I reckon if everybody cared 'a little bit' it would make things a lot better.
Of course, it's not going to happen. Still, no harm in trying, eh?
"Ridiculously long"? Pas de tout, me ol' mustard, pas de tout.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Basically, my head says, we's all stuffed, (because of Bush and Exxon and Peabody coal and China's boom and overpopulation...and...and...) but, that's not the point.
I fight, not because I expect to win or lose the struggle, but because it's the right thing to do. I love this planet, and hate to see it getting trashed by greedy human idiots who don't understand or care what they are doing. I think this guy has got the analysis just about right, IMHO
Incidentally, although I don't suppose anyone is interested, I've had a reporter emailing me all day about that idea to provide a site for a roundhouse. He wants to know if he can do a story about 'free land', erm, I could be getting into some nasty uncharted waters here....I decided to sleep on it, but now I woke up wondering what to do. I'm a very shy man, with an extremely reclusive life. The prospect of interviews and tv crews brings dread and horror. But on the other hand, I'm sick of waiting for someone else, or the Gvt., or anybody, to show a lead and do something...maybe it has to be me ? Clucking bell, I'm a solitary old man, in poor health. I don't have any army of supporters to back me up in a battle with officialdom and the authorities. If I say I'm going ahead and it's in the paper, next day all hell will be knocking at my door....sheeesh...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What are you actively doing about it, wolfie? I know you've said you are getting on a bit and not in the greatest of health (at least I don't *think* I've made that up) , but I was wondering if there was still something you could be doing and, in fact, are?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ha, yes, benhall, I'm coming up to sixty and have a health problem and generally a burned out old wreck...and I'm thinking about the future and particularly the future of this place. I'm on as many forums as I can manage, trying to wake people up and share ideas. I live a low impact lifestyle myself, but that doesn't solve the larger problem. I put a feeler out here
and I've had a busy time replying to emails I've had from some interested people. It's all ongoing at this very moment, so I don't know where it will lead...If I think of something inspiring, I'll post it later...mostly I seem to be reading doom and gloom from every quarter...maybe time to learn how to make your own shoes ? there's some nice ones here
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dear me - I looked in on this thread but gave up about quarter of the way down.
However, I have learned that Dow is now in the UK. Or was then in the UK.
And that anyone who really believes that you get asked about criminal convictions at the point of entry into Australia or that they would refuse you entry for laughing at a terrible English joke , or that they actually give a stuff about what the latest A380-load of poms has to say for themselves, is credulous beyond belief.
Especially so since such a large proportion of Immigration officers in Australia are recent immigrants themselves.
Like the London-spoken Immi official at Perth airport trying to act all suspicious and security-conscious in the wake of WTC and Bali. "Colac" she says, narrowing her eyes, referring to the humble town of my birth as noted on my passport "That doesn't sound very Australian"
To which I retorted "It's a bloody sight more Australian than Pairrrrrrth"
Now, that *was* funny, even if I was the only one laughing.
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Is it actually quite nice in Austalia? 'Cos, cutting back due to credit crunch etc, I can't actually afford to go there .. but it sounds quite boring from everything I hear ... ?
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Not to worry, I'll be down there in a couple of weeks.
Of course it doesn't exactly excite the spinsters of Australia to find that that nice young pommy lad who seems to be available prefers to spend his evenings playing concertina
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Tee hee BB! How was your holiday in Mayo? ... and Ben, you'll never know if you never go ... and Wolfbird, I'm impressed by the stuff on permaculture ... way to go. And Bren, welcome home ... and DD, don't say you come from Colac too! I think this thread turned out okay, well lately, anyway, hey. Yay, the Aussie women! ...
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dont worry Benhall - you are missing nothing, australia is lame - really really boring and bad and ...lame...You arent missign a thing....honest. Its lame.
These reports imply substantial warming of the Arctic.
That will have secondary impacts:
1) Climatic shift.
If you warm the Arctic, and increase humidity due to higher temperatures and more open water over 0deg.C, then you will changed the relationship between the polar and tropical regions.
This changes what happens in between the pole and tropics, that is, our climate in the northern hemisphere. Such changes will be in the large scale relationships, such as jet stream tracks affecting precipitation.
2) Methane clathrate outgassing.
Removing the ice increases storminess (due to water vapour) and storms assist vertical mixing, and with less ice this happens over a wider area. There is already evidence of methane clathrates being potentially unstable and there being more risk of rapid outgassing than from land permafrost .
But how much methane will be released and how quickly ?
That's possibly the scariest prospects of all.
3) Greenland and Sea Level Rise.
Remove the sea-ice from the North Greenland coast and you will warm the northern flanks of Greenland, which have been cooled by the expanse of ice across the Arctic Ocean. The ice cap has been large enough in the summer to effectively develop it’s own climate, keeping it markedly cooler than in the wider Arctic Basin. Warmer temperatures in the north of Greenland are sure to lead to a greater contribution to sea level rise.
By how much and how fast will sea level rise?
Each of these three secondary impacts, will in turn produce their own secondary impacts, which then cascade throughout the climate system.
All of the above were already known risks of climate change anyway, at some future point. They are no longer possible risks in the *future*, they are now things that are commencing and once started will continue to proceed.
Anybody understand what a tipping point is ?
When a seasonally ice free Arctic in 2050 was expected, we’d have had time to learn more to adapt and perhaps reduce our emissions severely enough to slow the process.
Seems we’re looking at an ice-free Arctic by 2018, so we have barely any time to do anything before consequences hit.
The only attainable option we may have now is to try to avoid a catastrophe by massive emissions reductions, reductions we will have to achieve as we struggle to cope with an unfolding disaster.
Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I've been too busy, what with work, car crashes, and, um music, to figure out where everyone is in the Olympics ...
I know Oz was supposed to do well ...
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
According to my calculations this morning Australia has one medal per 629,217 head of population which makes them in the lead so far. South Korea is second with 1 medal per 2,132,382 people and GB is third with 1 medal per 2,170,580 people.
However, if you measure it by total number of medals then Australia has 33 medals and is about 4th. Not counting any medals won today.
Geek? Moi???
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bowburner
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Er, I think GB has 1 medal per 1,818,181 people. But I was only going to count the winners
... anyway, there isn't a medal for burning bows ... though I think there may be one for firing them ...
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey! I've just had an idea! How about a medal for synchronised reels? Jig sawing? (geddit?) Men's single fling?
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
My count was based on July 2007 British population figures of 60,776,238 and 28 medals. Lies, damn lies and statistics hey?`
I'm sure we can think of some good olympic Trad sports...
Shaky egg and spoon race anyone?
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bowburner
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Low whistle throw??
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by whistler gan ainm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
major hornpipe relay?
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by airport
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I think the above suggestions are as good as synchronised diving, yachting, dressage, and a host of others.
Ireland are doing well at fighting, as usual. No wonder we get stereotyped.
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I am yet to check this morning Ben. Yesterday when I checked
the UK were 1 Gold ahead of Australia. An interesting statistic I
noticed yesterday was that the Aussie women had an equal amount of Gold to the American women, coming from a country with about 1/15 of the population of the other. That tells me very clearly that you don't mess about with Aussie women.
Our country does do well in sports but as I have kindly pointed out on numerous occasions to my Irish in laws , we have a distinct weather advantage as far as training goes, compared to a lot of countries. Anyway, its far from over yet. I just wish they'd have 20/20 as an Olympic event.
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
So, based on the weather, the Brits and Irish should beat the Aussies in the Welly Wanging (rubber boot throwing) then?
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bowburner
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Either one would take Gold and/or Silver in that event. Also Gold for the Brits in pint chugging and Silver for the Irish men's pulling in nightclubs team. Italy would take Gold in that event of course.
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Its not just the weather - we treat athletes much more importantly than movies stars or famous singers...you cant get higher glory than being an athelete who wins gold at the olympics here....so there is alot of pressure.
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
True.
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Do you know whats even funnier- that here Great Britain is getting all excited and stuff because they may beat Australia for the first time in 20 years....A country that has 1/3 of their population. I mean - thats good an all...but I wouldnt be getting too exctied about it. I mean - we still beat you at everything else...plus everyone has a bad olympics from time to time. You cant just erase 20 years can you! I mean - 20 years! I was too young to even remember when we started slaughtering you.
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You have to tip your hat to the Aussies - they have about the same population as the state of California but compete as well as countries 20 times their size in swimming, basketball, and a host of other sports. I love that sports mad country.
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well - we've all been sitting here completely agog over Michael Phelps - Ive never seen anything like it. He is amazing, the most amazing athlete of all time they are saying....its wonderful stuff he is doing. So we tip our hats to you
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes Cruella, but in this age of sports cynicism I keep praying under my breath - please let him (Phelps) be clean!
I just can't take another drug scandal and watch another star fall.
Funny - I can't imagine an Aussie cheating with sports enhancement drugs - is that foolishly naive or just too cynical of my American sports athletes?
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes bb, Australia is great at sport. So easy to gloat about how well your country does at sport when you're slouched in front of the TV watching "Friends" and eating Ferrero Rocher. Anyway, apart from achievements at sport, has Australia ever contributed anything to the world in other areas. The one thing I can think of off the top of my head is some scientists in Melbourne might have found a cure for the common cold. So I'll have to admit that at least you're useful for something!
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hahhaaa! Again Dow - noone asked *you* to move here. If its sooooo terrible and lame compared to your mother country then why did I get a text from you saying you wanted to be a citizen of Australia???
Anyhow - I'll have you know that an Australian woman invented the bullet proof vest -and from what Ive been reading about all the violence in England...you may just need one. And what has Your country ever done for anyone.....no wait - Ive got it. You spread the Black Plague - well done.
Jusa- I wouldnt worry - I dont think that Phelps is a drug cheat - I think he really is just amazing. Of course we've had athletes been accused of being a drug cheats. It happens every where
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
hey Dow - I didn't know I had to win 8 gold medals at one Olympics to qualify as someone who can appreciate sport. If that this the case then where are your fleadh medals seeing as you always go on about how much you like tunes.
;-}
# Posted on August 19th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Er ... what violence in England?
I suppose the point about Oz lagging behind in the medal stakes is more about the swagger with which they went into the games - a touch of hubris there.
Anyway, we love our Ozzie chums, however well they're doing.
Meanwhile, back to 'Tossing the Chanter' (Scotland favourites for gold in this one).
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Speaking of Fleadhanna, how long before they start drug testing at those things? I can see the headlines now -
"U21 Accordionist stripped of medal - tests positive for HGH and steroids..."
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Tested positive for cocaine you mean
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dow - Australia has generated 12 Nobel prize winners.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by zepherin
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Make that 13 - although this figure includes some non-nationals who undertook a considerable amount of their academic research in Australia. Australia is one of the leading Nobel Prize–winning countries in per capita terms. There are 10 laureates who are generally regarded as being ‘Australian’, with a number of other awardees with close links to Australia.
http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/nobel_prize_winners.html
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by zepherin
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hmm, Australian-born graduates from Oxford and Cambridge universities, England, win Nobel Prizes. For Australia. How lucky they were that we made them what they were by taking them out of Australia and giving them a chance to be somebody
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Wow - poor Dowsie, you must really be missing Oz. Look at you flailing about trying to point out every reason why you think UK is better than Oz. Dont worry sweetie only a few months to go until you back
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, I'll be honest, so far while I've been here I've only found one thing about UK that's better than Oz, and that's the standard of the roads. The roads here are so fantastic. I marvel at the quality and smoothness and blackness of the tarmac, and the fluorescent whiteness of the road markings. They're such a pleasure to drive and be driven on. Brits should be proud of their brilliant roads. Of course there's a reason why they're so good compared to Oz, and that's probably that the road maintenance is paid for through the high tax on petrol (Aussies think they pay a lot for their petrol but it's nothing compared to UK), but anyway, that's not the point, the roads are fab. Everything else is... um... sh1te. Especially this stupid business with the rubbish collection and stuff like that. How ridiculous.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh I like the birdsong here too. Beautiful. Better than flocks of cockatoos waking you up squawking outside your window in the morning. The only thing I hear at night is the gentle hooting of Tawny Owls...
And there's more trad here. There's even a choice of who to play tunes with. It's not like you go: "I feel like playing some tunes. Now who should I play with. Oo, I know. Why don't I play tunes with bb, just like I did last time and the time before that and all the other times too". Good job I like playing tunes with you Beebs
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Er ... what about those castles you were mentioning, Dow?
Then there's the moorlands, fens, the Lake District, the Beacons, the beautiful mixed deciduous/coniferous forests of native trees, Buxton, Wells (!!!!!) ... now, THAT'S stopped me short. Wells cathedral is one of those buildings that, when you see it, it's SO beautiful, it's hard to believe it actually exists, even when you;re stood in front of it.
... Glostonbury Tor, Polzeath (where Ozzies come for some *real* surf), Ironbridge, the Cerne Giant ...
Obviously just scratching the suface here ...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia has given us Roy Harris, Emu, Barry Humphries. It has also nurtured the behind of Kylie Minogue, reputedly the shapeliest on the planet, though I am in no position to confirm this. It wouldn't have been a contender if she'd been brought up next to a chip shop in County Durham, that's for sure. But the vegetation there looks hideous and actively hostile, not to mention the creepy-crawlies - my rather under-powered computer couldn't follow the Immigration thread when it got onto this subject.
For all that, the Aussies can probably do their thing and practise sport outside most of the time, which must be a big advantage for those who go in for top-level competition. (But how do they play rugby if it's a long-term drought and the pitch is baked?) Contrast this with Britain right now - dark, p*ssing down hard every day of the month, and it's meant to be summer, and the higher number of Aussie victors, in relation to their population, than British ones makes sense.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
How the bloody hell can we Brits be any good at outdoor sports like cricket and tennis when it p*sses down all bloody summer for two summers in a bloody row? There is not a Brit here who would gainsay that! Just carry on watering your vast soddin' lawns, Aussies, in spite of your drought, and we'll just have to content ourselves with worthwhile wet-weather pursuits such as brewing drinkable beer (unlike the Aussies) and appreciating real wine as opposed to jammy, Ribena-like fluids. No wonder you're all so aggressive and bad-tempered. And you're sh*te at the Olympics. Fact.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You have a point about the beer, Steve. There's such a great selection of bottled brews in normal supermarkets here. I love being able to pick up beer with my groceries instead of having to go to a bottle-o.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It's so bloody expensive here though. My brother and I took my parents out for their wedding anniversary to a pub for a bar meal. Normal pub, nice... pretty average food actually, beer was ok. I put the whole lot on my credit card at the end and was presented with a bill of 80 quid. I almost died. I mean, admittedly my brother and I had each had a starter, and we'd all had a couple of drinks each, but still, 80 quid? I'll make sure I'm in Australia for their next anniversary, that's for sure!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Its nice to know that you are not the absoute worst. Also - we dont water our lawns in a drought - we are on water restrictions and you get fined if you go against them - you should get your facts straight before you start slagging steve....you just come across as ignorant.
And " But the vegetation there looks hideous and actively hostile, not to mention the creepy-crawlies - my rather under-powered computer couldn't follow the Immigration thread when it got onto this subject" - hmmm, yes. check this out...very hideous..Not!
http://www.kenduncan.com/gallery.php?ms=19&fn=prod&id=2247
http://www.kenduncan.com/gallery.php?ms=19&fn=prod&id=2302
http://www.kenduncan.com/gallery.php?ms=19&fn=prod&id=2880
http://www.kenduncan.com/gallery.php?ms=19&fn=prod&id=2676
http://www.kenduncan.com/gallery.php?ms=19&fn=prod&id=1599
Why - oh Why god!? Why did you have to make me be born in this horrible, arid, ugly country....why....sob....sob....why
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The only reason I haven't won 30 all Ireland fleadhs is because I always assumed they were drug tested.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I lost the first part of my post - it said this
Steve, if you are talking about that warm fruity ale then I'd rather drink snake venom. Better than aussie beer my foot. Also no matter how bad Australia is a sports - you will always be worse, its nice to know that there is always going to be someone underneath you.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
nicholas
your view of kylie's bottom is distracting you from the finer things in life.
Surely you mean Rolf Harris?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by cStu
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh - and for those who have never been to Australia and thinking Australian beer is gross - youre almost certainly talking about Fosters right? Yes, famous in Australia as a beer we wouldnt never drink ourselves but that we export to those who are stupid enough to drink it. Its almost exclusively exported.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey bb, I did go to Perth for a while a couple of years ago and they did all have massive lawns that they all watered according to some weird rationed overnight sprinkler system! And I do admit to prejudice about yer beer because I didn't actually drink any whilst I was there, contenting myself with the same Aussie wines we get here only at half the price. It was a family thang. Bloody good stuff if you can avoid the 14.5% fruit juice! This end, I wouldn't know a can of Fosters from a bull's foot to be honest. Allow a bloke a bit of unalloyed prejudice, willya! But I will contest your own dreadful prejudice about about the beer this end. You've clearly never tried Doom Bar or Chalky's Bite. And try not to be be so soddin' intense!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh - perth....Hmmm, I have no idea about perth because Ive never been there. Its on my list though. I wont be so intense...its the olympics that have done it
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia gave the world the lawn mower and the "black box" flight
recorder. And we'll send over a really good synchronised drinking team for the London Olympics. All sports are covered here in Oz.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Hup
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
If you don't like Perth, just remember it has the largest concentration
of English migrants ...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Hup
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The Fosters sold here is brewed in Canada.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia's performance at the Olympics this time round is about the same as it usually is, around fourth or fifth at this stage, but even if it was in the first 10 medal countries that is phenomenal for a place with only 20 million people up against the masses in places like China. (I rate Australia's performance up against places with populations like that and maybe Russia and the U.S., not toby p*ss pot places like pommyland.)
You forgot that Australia invented the hills hoist clothes line - that's what we used originally to hang out the poms to dry - you know, just peg em up and watch em go round and round - and round. Very amusing. It's good for drying clothes too.
Oh yeah, an Australian discovered antibiotics (although the poms always try to take credit for it); Australia also invented the preferential voting system arguably the greatest reform to democracy in history (England took it on to replace that system they had which ensured that only the elite ever ruled the place). That's not to mention on a more sombre note, I guess, Australia having to dig the poms out of trouble in world war 1 when they were being killed in their tens of thousands in their muddy ditches in Europe.
But go ahead guys, it's an Australian national pastime to watch the poms try to find something wrong with Australia to make themselves feel better about pommyland.
And btw, if hot weather had much to do with the production of world beaters in just about every single sport known to the world (like Australia has been for oh, around 100 years or so - just as soon as we kicked out the poms from ruling the place), then somewhere like India would be hauling in all the gold medals.
It's about mental fortitude and courage - and well, sheer talent. (Like Australians have.)
Australia has been flogging the poms at just about everything for much of its history - you gotta be happy with that.
Steve Shaw, you obviously don't know much about wine do you.
The stuff you drink in England at "half the price" isn't quite the same as the stuff we get here. You get the dregs and pay about double for the privilege. If you were drinking a wine here that cost double, then you were probably drinking a good drop, but you didn't know it. Don't be a wombat.
Better stick to warm beer cobber.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
They are only taunting us Duijera. Rise above them young
fella. Although I like your sledging style, a bit Warniesque in flavour, it is what they want. Steve Shaw is probably down at the pommie bottlo now buying his bottle of Brut de Brut as we speak, chuckling to himself and gloating about winding up the
aussie's.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Steve - you came to Perth and never looked us up :(
bb - why don't you try and come over for Fairbridge Festival next year after the National?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Donough
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I know, I know, chune, it is a windup. I just can't resist an opportunity to clobber the poms though when they start this caper. I know they try to laugh it off, but it really p*sses them off, because they don't think Australians have the right (or capabilities) to put them in their place - which is way down below Australians. (There I go again, sorry.) They go quietly and gradually red with anger about it, which makes a nice colour contrast actually - maybe that's where the colour of the St George flag comes from eh!
Yeah, fancy even having to tell an Englishman they know nothing about wine - that's a sort of tautology isn't it. It goes without saying.
I've always thought it amusing too, how the English are traditionally known as "pirates" in part of Europe. That must really p*ss em off.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What's the other thing they call em - "rosbifs" isn't it?
Ros bif and warm beer - eeeiiiiuuu.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
...and what about the mad cow bangers and mash!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
oh, wot a loverlee place!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just looking...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Speaking of Kylie. Who can forget that famous pie shot at the
start of the 2000 olympics. A truly great moment in television,
totally wasted probably on the stretcher bearers , who were all probably recruited from the Newtown hotel. Slim.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Don't be bashful, patkiwi.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Give 'em heaps, Duj!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by zepherin
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"they don't think Australians have the right (or capabilities) to put them in their place"
Dead right. And I think you managed to prove it, DD, by completely failing to understand the English language and managing to interpret Steve's words exactly opposite to what they meant.
... no, I'm probably being unfair. I shouldn't expect you to understand English ...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
C'mon fella's, this has been going on for two hundred and twenty years.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Pull your head in, ya wombat.
It's your problem you're a pom, and never will match up to an Australian - and you'll never be able to change it.
(See how the poms get really really angry...works every time!)
Good value.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Sorry, chune, I meant the wombat comment to benhall...as if he didn't know!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Wow - it always gets to this point when aussies and English people start arguing over which is better. But in fairness -we may have a sharp tongue reaction - but only cause we are used to alot of bitching from the other camp. A friend of mine used to ask me all the time if I felt bad living in a country full of criminals....sigh
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Dead right. And I think you managed to prove it, DD, by completely failing to understand the English language and managing to interpret Steve's words exactly opposite to what they meant.
... no, I'm probably being unfair. I shouldn't expect you to understand English .." - benhall
Youch dude - that was very harsh....but as long as it made you feel good then what is the harm
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yeah, it was a bit. Sorry, bb. It's just that it amuses me that a country that prides itself on slagging - above other things, it sometimes seems to me - is so bad at it.
One thing I am interested in though:
"the English are traditionally known as "pirates" in part of Europe"
Are they? I've never come across this before. Also, what's particularly bad about being called a pirate?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That's not harsh, bb. Benhall is a teddy bear - all wool and no...ahm...growl.
I just wanted to illustrate the point - dig down into an Englishman and you will find...an Englishman!
You haven't heard Europeans along the French and Spanish coasts ever refer historically to the English as pirates?!
That might be because you're English - don't you think.
Frightfully simple really - the concept, I mean, not you.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That last bit was for benhall, bb.
Ben, you've must have heard of the rosbif bit though surely.
Funny isn't it.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ahhm vurrry soourie , ah 'ave nevair urd tha unglissh refaird
to as thet. Le Slim.
( whoops, lapsed into kiwi at the end there)
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Most of the best pirates in the world were English - you know, Bluebeard, Blackbeard, Forkbeard too I suppose, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake. The English government licensed them to be pirates, then when they realised they'd got out of control, they hunted them down and hung them all.
Some of them were so good at what they did - plenty of gold medals for them - that's why they got knighted and called "Sir". Commendable isn't it. English pirates - where would the world have been without them!
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/famous-elizabethan-pirates.htm
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
There are still pirates around today of course, all around the world - they tend to board ships on the ocean, rob everyone, then either shoot them or throw them overboard or both. Sounds familiar.
Is there anything wrong with that, benhall?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
See, here’s the logic, bb – if you were of a certain class in England in those times, and wanted to suck up to the establishment and could demonstrate that you could be a good pirate and gets lots of money for the government from foreigners, you could actually get a license to be a pirate out on the ocean, and if you were really good, you could even get a knighthood and be a peer of the realm (a peer of the realm note, not a peer of those poverty stricken downmarket plebs living in squalor and disadvantage in those marvellous English cities). Then you could knock about with the hoi polloi.
Now, here’s the thing, if you were just one of those poor plebs with nothing to eat and you were forced to pinch some food to stay alive, you were sent out on the ocean too, except that in that case you’d be a convict and transported to America…until the yanks whopped the poms right out of American, then the poms had to find somewhere else to send their economic victims – hence Australia. Convicts didn’t get licenses to be pirates unfortunately, that was reserved for the upper English classes apparently.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Now, *that's* harsh.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Gosh, I *love* a good fairy story. Harsh! Pshaw!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Pshaw?! That'd be Haw Haw in English wouldn't it? Don't be getting above yourself mate.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Duij. I do sense your a charming bloke but I do think your recent job application for Australian Ambassador to Great Britain was a complete waste of time at this point. Slim.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Thank God for that, chune. Too many poms in Britain. Anyway, what's so Great about it.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
So how're the Irish doing? In the Olympics, I mean?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Slightly worse than the English.
Plus, there's too many rabbits in China, slim.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
So, just wondering, our pommy chums...how's it going? Having a nice day are we? LOL
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I'll always be in debt with Australia.
They gave us AC/DC!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Ramiro
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yay, AKA DAKA! Good stuff.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey, Ramiro, what about you? - Do you think the English were pirates? That's right isn't it?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
If you're referring to Lord Haw Haw, DD, he was American.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Erm,..... what has all of the above got to do with music?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by DonaldK
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I've just back from my holidays at Coruña, NW Spain.
There is a popular feast every year in August where we commemorate the victory over Drake (el pirata Drake), who sieged the town in 1589.
There were other important battles at Coruña, though. In 1809 the English fought against the French during the independence war, so this time the English were in our side. Sir John Moore died in that battle and is buried in Coruña.
So people from the 16th century probably thought all the English were pirates, but now we mostly see them as people who come in summer to get sunburns and cheap beer.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Ramiro
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
El Pirata Drake! Love it. But there you go, our English friends here say they have no idea that Europeans ever did think of them as pirates. Never heard of it!
Wasn't referring to Lord Haw Haw, ben, but did he sound English?
What's all the above got to do with music, DonaldK? - Australians play Irish music a whole lot better than poms - that's what it's got to do with music.
But then again, we didn't start the thread.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... or he was Irish, depending on what you want to argue. Not English, though, and didn't sound it - not to anyone English, that is.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh, so he did sound English then, or was meant to.
Haw haw haw haw haw.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Better than sounding like a pirate though eh -
har har har har har.
Like they sound in the west of England.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Australians play Irish music a whole lot better than poms"?
I suppose that's the sort of research done at Australian Universities, then.
I remember some years ago a colleague of mine took a job in New Zealand. She had a twelve (or so) hour stop over in Australia. Queuing up at immigration, the man in front of her was asked, "Any criminal convictions?", to which, in a moment of weakness, he replied, "Oh sorry, I didn't know you still needed one". His visa was denied. My friend, because she laughed, also had her visa denied.
Nice to know Australians have a sense of humour too.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by DonaldK
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I remember queuing up at the immigration desk at Heathrow in transit to Ireland, when the pommy bloke sees my passport and says in a down-your-nose tone "And how long do *you* think you'll be staying in England". I asked him the time to which he kindly replied. I said I'd be there for around forty five minutes until my plane left for England, so could he please hurry up and get on with his job, thanks very much. I got the visa, and promptly left England.
Every time since then that I have travelled to Ireland, I now transit through Amsterdam and smile with relief as I look out the window while flying well over pommyland.
That's funny isn't it?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Donough, when we visited Perth (which we loved to bits BTW) I was in the middle of that dark night of my self-imposed exile from TheSession, so I didn't know you were there else I'd definitely have made contact. I have a good friend who lives in the Carlisle district called Bernard Carney who was in my class at school in Bolton in the 60s and we've recently happily renewed our friendship. He's a great singer-songwriter-guitarist in a folk style (though not Irish). He makes a living out of it so you've probably seen him around. Salt of the earth he is. It might be a couple more years before we can go again but we certainly will one day.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey, don't be slagging Barry Humphries.
The man is honorary head of the Friend's of Arthur Machen & wrote the inroduction for Robert Aickman's posthumous collection "Night Voices".
Sure I can leave his Dame edna & the drunk geezer far enough. But his taste in literature is impeccable. (Ok I'm biased, Machen & Aickman being my two favourite authors)
- Chris
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey, Steve, when you get to the visa desk, make a joke and ask if you still need a criminal conviction to get into Australia. Say it with a pommy accent like DonaldK's friend probably did, then laugh...see if it still works.
Go on, I dare you.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Duijera Dubh,
my friend didn't actually say anything; she laughed.
Perhaps it wasn't a fair reflection of Australians. My experience of immigration officials (outside the EU) tends to be fairly universal. I once got my luggage searched on a visit to Canada. the customs man asked me if I knew what they were looking for. I said I had no idea. He said they were looking for beef (around mad cow time). Yeah, like I normally go on holiday with a bit of silverside in my suitcase.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by DonaldK
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What never ceases to intrigue me about all this bullsh*te is how the poms never seem to try to give out this sort of stick to anyone else but Australians. They don't seem too courageous when it comes to slagging the Spanish, French, the Germans (whoaaa! don't mention them), the Japanese, Chinese or anyone else as far as I can see. The irony is that no-one will give the poms a harder kick up the backside than Australians will - will you never learn?! Are ye masochists or something?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Poms aren't allowed to laugh in Australia, DonaldK. It's written into the constitution I've heard.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just as well I'm not a pom then.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by DonaldK
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I wonder how many times Australian customs officers have heard the line about whether you still need a criminal conviction to get into Australia. It'd only be poms asking that for sure. Good way to get your a*se in a sling I'd say.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Are you *sure* of that, DonaldK. I dunno, looks borderline to me, hmmmm?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You Aussies are just annoyed that we Brits are better Pirates than you. Now walk the plank Arr!
Anyway, Everyone knows that Johnny Depp was the best pirate and he's American.
I think we are seeing the competitive streak in the Australians which must be what helps them to win those medals.
As for the dope testing for The Session Olympics, they would have to be testing for Glucosamine.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bowburner
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You're not one of these who has a pommy passport, but reckons they're not a pom are ya?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What's that "Arr", bowburner. Is that the parrot on your shoulder, or your wooden leg is biting in a bit?
Ark ark ark ark ark.
Ya can't have poms beating you at the Olympics, bow...if that happens you have really hit the bottom of the barrel. I mean...poms...really!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, bad case of woodworm in my knee.
I'm sure if we had deadly spiders like the Aussies we'd all be much better runners too. There's just not enough lethal stuff in this country to run and swim away from.
I've seen our team members out training in all weathers, they work hard and they are doing well. I'm happy with that.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bowburner
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
How did that crack go about a well balanced Australian having a chip on both shoulders.....
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by TomB-R
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, DonaldK, the Canadian guy probably thought you were a pirate or something - you know, Long John Silverside or so, something about stuffing things down your long underwear over there. I dunno, it's probably right though.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Pity they don't win much after all that effort isn't it, bow. Now, if they were Australians, they'd be winning. It's all in the mind mate. Poms need an attitude adjustment as far as I can see, it would do them the world of good.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Gloucestershire! Ar har har har har.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What's the cuisine like there? Or shouldn't I ask.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Now I have a question? We have all been conditioned to
be anti - pom by our mothers, father's, grandparent's etc. I can remember those days back in the sixties and seventies, the family gathered round the telly , watching the Kangaroos play the English Rugby League side and my father expressing his
opinion of each and every player on the English side, complete with adjectives. Ah, they were great old times. My question is, Do (say for instance) the Singapore Chinese
hate the mainland Chinese, do the South Africans slag the Pom's, or the Dutch for that matter. does the Maori slag the Hawaiin, does the Brazilian express distaste for the Portuguese, does the Mexican make jokes about the Spanish cricket team, or is this complete rejection of the motherland purely an Australian and from what I've seen New Zealand phenomenon.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I may be borderline (10 miles or so as the crow flies) but my ancestry is definitely on the Jock side.
(Don't tell me that when Ausralians use the term English (=pom) they mean anyone from the United Kingdom.)
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by DonaldK
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Anyway, I'm off to watch the Olympics.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by DonaldK
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, DD, the very worst part of our long haul to Oz was the hour we inexplicably stood still in the arrival area of Perth airport crowded with everyone else from our flight. The 32-degree heat and humidity was no joke for the kids and the wrinklies in the queue and there was apparently no reason for the delay. Still, we soon forgave Perth for the less than hearty welcome. Forgave everything, that is, except for those revolting kangaroo scrota that every shop seems to sell. I'd never keep a blues harp in one of them.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ok, you don't want me to tell you that.
I dunno; lowland Scotland - you tell me.
Nah, chune, it's a pommy thing. Poms usually need to be flogged for around a couple of hundred years before they stop trying to slag off. I reckon they're slow learners.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Only 32 degrees?! You got off lightly. That's not very hot mate.
Anyway, the customs officers probably knew you were poms and were keeping you in there so they could take bets on how long it would take you all to start vomiting or something.
Same with the kangaroo scota.
Geesh.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Scrota, scrota...not scota...sorry, that's not meant to start slagging the jocks or anything.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Sorry Ramiro. Regarding AC/ DC, Angus and Malcolm Young
are poms. Mark Evans and Bon Scott were Aussies as far as I know. We can only claim half of them I believe.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Did they serve you chips with them?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
See what happens when you've got half the team poms.
Just look at the Olympics to see how poms go.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Didn't know that the Young bros were poms. Anyway, the band is undoubtely Aussie. And they got nyah
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Ramiro
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Angus and Malcolm Young were not bl**dy Poms!! They were from Glasgow in Scotland. Bon Scott was from Kirriemuir, Scotland - his replacement (whatever his name is) was from Newcastle though - so he was a Pom.
Anyway, what is all this about England's Glory in the Olympics? Last time I checked Chris Hoy, winner of 3 GOLD MEDALS was from Scotland. The last "Brit" to win 3 golds was swimmer Henry Taylor in the London Games in 1908!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
1908!
Long time between drinks isn't it. Poms aren't known for swimming though are they, something to do with the freezing water there is it?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Freezing water?
With the Gulf Stream flowing past the West Coast the waters here can get quite mild at times.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Anyway I wouldn't kick up too much of a stink if I was you. The Queen might decide to revoke your independence!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
So, you're going to tell me about warm water are you? As in, comparison with Australia and our lovely warm sunny soft beaches bordering the Pacific Ocean, in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes are you? Thousand of kilometres of them.
Ok, go ahead.
The Queen will do what we tell her to do. Don't you worry about that.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
At the moment we've told her to stay. If she wanted to revoke independence, we'd tell her to go...and she'd go.
Not that easy for you is it.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It's funny watching poms try to swim. They look so...I dunno...English or something. Like a fish out of water a bit.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Personally I don't see the difficulty I am facing. Scotland will be getting its own Independence soon enough.
Anyway I don't know why the Queen wants to bother with a bunch of lager-swilling beach-bum layabout crims anyway. She has enough problems with her own family.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"lager-swilling beach-bum layabout crims"
oh... how i dream of that lifestyle... one day... one day!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by davydd
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I had a feeling you'd say something like that, No Cause.
Predictable as a cattle prod I would have thought.
Australians don't drink much lager, mate, that's mainly a pommy drink.
And how long hasn't Scotland been independent for now? Ye must like the poms.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"lager-swilling beach-bum layabout crims " - how paisley-esque.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hmm - certainly longer than Australia has been a country that is for sure. Depends whether you set the date as 1603 or 1707.
And wine is a French/Italian/German drink. Which is ironic seeing as it is something the Aussies are very good at. Whining and moaning all the time.
You never stop!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ahm, Australia has been peopled for around, what is the research up to now 40000 years, or is it 70000. Anyway probably for longer than pommyland has been above water.
Wine's probably a global beverage by this point in time. Whining and whinging on the other hand seems to me to be a pommy pastime mainly. But you're welcome to it too, if you like.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Once again - like AC/DC I am not a Pom. I am a Scot.
So not only do you moan and whinge all the time - embarrased by your "Nation's" lack of sporting success but you are also factually incorrect.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Anyway Duijera Dubh, I wasn't aware that you were aboriginal yourself. In that case I apologise for all the reprobates that we sent over to your land that seem to have taken it over.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
No, mate, I'm not an aboriginal Australian. Wish I was, they are very in touch with the land I think, but I might be getting there.
Don't worry about the reprobates, most of them stayed in pommyland. You have a lot of people there don't you.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Embarrassed by our nation's lack of sporting success - you've got to be kidding.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I'm only mildly surprised that the concept of the "whinging pom" hasn't been brought up yet. It's about as insulting as it gets in NZ/Aot. Canadians don't really understand the concept 'cause they still lovingly refer to their former colonial masters as Brits, completely insulting all the Scots and Welsh.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Indeed "whinging poms" was brought up - but only by a whinging ozzie!
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, with strong ties to both UK and Oz, I feel I am unbiased enough to resolve this once and for all. This is how it looks from where I'm standing: People in the UK never even think about Aussies or Australia. The place just isn't important enough to be of concern, and the Aussies hate that. The only time people in the UK ever think about Aussies is when sports are involved, and only then, they think "ah yes, of course, it exists, that far-off world where it's sunny and they're good at sport", and that's as far as it goes.
Aussies, on the other hand, crave attention. They desperately want to be as important on the world stage as the UK, so they make a scene in whatever way they can. Since they can't do so politically, they try and do it through sport.
Aussies have a massive inferiority complex, so that's why they trot out the same old stereotypes in interactions with Poms. For example, ever heard the one that goes something along the lines of:
"you don't even know what long-distance driving is. Ah yeah mate I drive for 8 hours just to get my kids to school in the morning".
I live in Oz so I can tell you this is rubbish. Aussies aren't driving for hours across red, sunbaked desert every time they use their car, the furthest they get in their Toyota Landcruisers on a regular basis is the local, suburban shopping centre. Average driving distances per annum are roughly the same as the UK. They want the British to think that all Aussies are tanned, beautiful people who swim like dolphins and know how to catch crocodiles. The reality is that most people in Oz have never even seen a crocodile and, far from being tanned beautifui people, your average Aussie is a pallid and overweight pub-goer just like the Poms they so despise. The reason they hate the Poms so much is that they see themselves reflected in Poms, and when you slag an Aussie, the vicious retort you get (you know, that mocking "mate we're so much better than you") really exhibits their own self-hatred. Unfortunately for them, Poms can sense this inferiority complex, and use it to their advantage when they slag Aussies. The problem for Aussies is that they repress their true feelings, and every time they get slagged by Poms, they might give a show of bravado, but their failure to deal with it psychologically only serves to reinforce their individual inferiority complex vis-a-vis Poms, and that in turn worsens the inferiority complex that plays itself out on a macro-, societal level. I know, I live in Oz, and I see it all the time. It's sad, really.
Maybe all Aussies need to see psychiatrists to sort the problem out once and for all. It might help bolster their collective self-esteem. Poms should be aware of the damage they're causing too, and be a little bit more sensitive towards Aussies as people. I mean they're human beings too, and deserve to be treated with dignity and not stigmatised.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Fair enough Dow - I have taken your comments on board and will cease making fun of our unforunate Antipodean Cousins.
(Although I am not a Pom and, other than being good at sports I also think of Australians as the producers of many a 'fine' soap opera such as Neighbours or Home and Away)
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Good on ya, Alistair. We should all do our bit to make their lives more bearable.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Lord Haw-Haw was Irish, hanged for treason against....Britain. Obviously didn't have defence lawyers in those days.
Team GB has medal winners from Jamaica, Norn'Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Belgium and probably a few other places.
My all time sporting hero was/is Douglas Jardine. Certainly a lot of whinging when he was about.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dow, you swine, I was reading down this thread thinking of posting, but you have said it much more eloquently ... the average Brit/Pom/whatever spends ooh ... seconds ... in a lifetime .. worrying about what the Aussies think of them. Get a life
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Just a person
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You know how I don't like to beat around the bush, John.
LOL.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Team GB has medal winners from Jamaica, Norn'Ireland..." etc
I was wondering if people from Northern Ireland were a bit put out that the team is being termed "Team GB" instead of "Team UK".
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yeah, I thought that as well, Dow. I was hoping it wasn't because I was being pedantic ...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"And wine is a French/Italian/German drink."
Mr. No Cause For Alarm, I must strongly protest.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Ramiro
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just read your longer post above, Dow. Very eloquent, and much as I was thinking. Only I couldn't be arsed to say it.
But ... you see I was already there (until they showed their weak side again and it became too good to resist). I started this thread in genuine sympathy for our Ozzie chums. Only to have it thrown back in my face. What can you do, eh?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Does "Team GB" annoy you as well, Ben? I cringe every time I hear it on the news. A cold shiver flashes down my spine right to the soles of my feet.
On a related note perhaps, I've noticed a recent change in the style of TV news reporting over here. Not only do presenters use much more dramatic intonation than they used to, but they must also have been told to use their hands and gesticulate more in order to involve their audience. Unfortunately, they gesture in inappropriate points in the report; rather than using gestures to enhance functions such as emphasis, they gesture wildly all the time, regardless of whether or not there's anything that requires emphasis. The result is that the bits that do need emphasising lose their impact, particularly because you're constantly distracted by their relentless fidgeting. It's very annoying. Must be an American thing
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It is not.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That's strange, because I see the same intonation and gestures being used on American news channels. Must be a coincidence...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I agree about its being annoying. It is a novelty here too. It came from somewhere else. But more importantly: How comeTunisia in the1500, and not Australia?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
IMPORTANT not importantly.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, it does annoy me, Dow. The 'Team GB' thing, I mean. I was beginning to think I was the only one. I thought we were fielding a UK team, and it struck me that the way they're describing it would make me feel like a hanger-on if I were from Northern Ireland. I was thinking of writing to the Beeb ... but then I realised they wouldn't get what I was on about ...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
All this nationalism is worthy of Thatcher and Hitler.
Who cares what country individuals are from?
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Too right, bodhran bliss. Where someone is born, and to whom, is just random chance, isn't it ? A quote :
"I was listening to the news on the radio the other day; it was an article about the UK armed forces in Afghanistan losing soldiers because of a lack of decent armoured vehicles. The phrase that struck me was the same one that some other writers have picked up on, “Our armed forces”. I don’t remember being asked permission for my armed forces to fight in Afghanistan, nor did I realise that I even had any armed forces that I could ask to fight on my behalf. It turns out that my sister has some armed forces too, and my best friend, and my neighbours who go everywhere by car.
We all have to share the same armed forces, of course – well, at least if you are in the same country as me. But then who are those other people in Afghanistan, the NATO lot? And there are lots of United Nations forces trying to sort out problems in West Africa. Are they all mine? Which ones belong to me? I’m getting confused. The problem with trying to ascertain which culture you belong to is that there seem to be so many different ones to choose from. I could easily put myself in the following social / racial / religious etc. groups:
Earth dweller
European
White
Non-religious
British
English
All pretty standard stuff, and none of them contradictory – or are they? Britain is a Christian nation, according to various religious people I hear on the radio. I can be an Earth dweller and White, for sure, but does this recognition of my global position mean I’ve opted out of any regional or national geographical identity? In fact your cultural identity is a mix of just about anything you want it to be: football team, favourite brand of cola, sexual orientation, hair colour.
However you position yourself amongst others, though, you probably feel you belong in one of the few dominant cultures on the planet, and almost certainly the one you have been born into. Someone born in North America, Europe, Australasia, certain states in Asia, South Africa and many other parts of the world, would have been dominated from birth by a culture that is predominantly Christian (at all points along the belief spectrum) and which is centred on the acquisition of money and property through the production of goods. This culture has a tendency towards high-consumption, high-pollution, the private ownership of land and property, representative democracy, the English language, and a relatively free press and media. This culture is usually known by a combination of the words “industrial”, “Western” and “capitalist”, though there are many other names for it. There are variations on the predominant features, especially in the use of language, but in general that’s about the size of it."
from chapter 10
http://www.amatterofscale.com/
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Typical cowardly effort while all the Aussies are in bed.
Mr Dow's ranting's are typical of a lot of new English migrants to Australia. His bitterness is so obvious everytime he enters a post like this. I get this image of him whining and guffawing everytime he watches Aussie TV. He sits and slags people in his mind , ready to pounce on every little discrepency he hears
in a conversation or an event, immediately inputting it into his mental database under a file heading "Things I observe to reinforce my bitterness about being away from home." Then he goes home, and doesn't like that either, and probably brags
about what he's doing in Australia. I love coming back to this country, I love Australians, whether they're from the city or the country. They are my favourite people. We do have some unusual nationalistic practises, including wanting to get recognition on the world stage, a national insecurity which is apparent, unfortunate, but unwarranted, that has been driven by a less than tasteful media at times. But if I weigh up the pro's and con's though, "give me a home among the gum trees". or even better, my Irish wife's favourite, "we watch the lightnin'
crack over canefields, laugh and think that this is Australia."
(Written by an appreciative Irishman, that's the difference.)
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Fair enough. Point taken. Sorry. Some of us were cheering for Grant Hackett, whom we thought 'owned' the event. His winning the Silver is still impressive. Ousamma Mellouli won Gold in the end. The gentleman is from Tunisia, which fielded a much smaller (in numbers) Olympic team. No scorn or derision here, only sadness at a lost bet.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
See what I mean? That inferiority complex just shines through like a beacon. It screams out at you like a set of uillean pipes played badly. This falseness of an imagined in-group; the "all of us, as one, against the rest of the world and especially the Poms" attitude. The trotting out of rubbish like "I love Australians, whether they're from the city or the country. They are my favourite people". I mean, I know some Australians who I love as well, but I certainly don't love all of them. Like anywhere else, like Pommie-land in fact, there are nice Australians and some downright horrible ones. Loving a horrible person just because they're Australian seems to me to be a bit... well... silly?
Aussies are also incredibly easy to wind up. The reason for that is that they like to portray an image of themselves as extremely laidback with a laconic sense of humour when the reality is that they're really rather uptight. Only they can't reveal that to the Poms can they, because the Poms could then go "you can hardly call us whingers - listen to YOU!". So please, Aussies, can you be a bit more difficult to wind up? I like at least a bit of a challenge...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The Olympics can indulge, or enrage one's sense of national chauvenism, if one has a sense of national chauvenism. If like me, you haven't got that chauvenistic spirit, then you take delight in the surprise outcomes of some of the events. Lost bets withstanding, the victories that no one predicted are the real pleasure of the Olympics.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
nothing calms national chauvenism like a sewing bee - perhaps you'd like to join our club? it's called the Spinsterhood of the Trifling Pants...
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by airport
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Good grief! 158 posts! And we *still* haven't talked about the Fiddling Coxless Pairs.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Obviously Dow that is your intent. Purely to wind up, which I suspected. You remind me of a young girl in her teens.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Thanks chuneboi. Must be my gorgeous skin.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
By the way it might be rubbish to you., but its not to me. I'm not drumming up support either, unlike you do quite a bit.
# Posted on August 20th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Must be Dow's gorgeous skin? I'd heard he was spotted in Norham recently. That sounds painful. Maybe he's taken something for it.
I just love how any sorts of threads about the poms wanting to have a go at Australians seem to break all records for the number of threads posted. You only have to hint that the poms can't measure up to Australians, and they can't help themselves. Works every time.
Don't kid yourselves, Australians don't live their lives wondering what the poms are doing. As far as I can see, most people here don't give them any thought at all - except when we're flogging them at sport.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, as you know, I live in Oz, and can report to all Poms on the board that the above statement is untrue. Aussies are always concerned with stuff that's happening in the UK and the US. Most of the TV in Oz seems to be stuff taken directly from UK and US channels. The news is full of stuff that's going on in US and Europe, simply because nothing ever happens in Oz. I'm afraid that's not the case the other way round though. To your average Pom, Australia is just a hot holiday destination for people who can afford the flight. That's why the whole "we want nothing to do with the Motherland" thing is so puzzling to a Pom. The Pom is thinking: "um, yeah no that's fine you go ahead and not have anything to do with us ever again. Just make sure to keep the holiday visa arrangement nice and simple for when I feel like catching some sunshine outside of Europe".
Yeah, not much happens over there really. I mean, c'mon Poms, when was the last time you noticed something major about Oz on the news? The 2000 Olympics?!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Duijera Dubh after about 65 posts about "poms" tells us he/she is not interested in "poms". Priceless.
Karate thinks money is all that matters. He/she is obviously a moron, who should be pitied, but you can only be pitied if you are prepared to help yourself.
I see no evidence to suggest that Karate is even aware that they have a serious problem. Just as well he/she wasn't around 2,000 years ago. That Israeli prophet, who never worked or earned money, wouldn't have made it to 33.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
There isn't necessarily a logically correlation between Dow living in Oz and what he says being true. But I guess that doesn't really need to be said. Dow's view of the "average" Australian is of someone spending their life in the pub. Notice how Dow uses the concept of the "average" to make his points, the "average" Australian, the "average" pom, etc. A cursory reference to a statistical tool to make it sound like objective evidence.
Pubs were on the verge of extinction in this country not so many years ago, disappearing at a huge rate. Nevertheless, Dow thinks that the average Australian is in a pub. Correlation - Dow probably spends a good deal of his time in the pub playing at sessions or whatever and watching soaps on TV. That's where the view comes from I suggest.
And it's not as if most of the UK isn't sitting around watching Australian TV soaps now is it? How many years have TV producers been making big money out of poms like that?
Australian global news coverage is huge, and covers what is happening in any part of the world. Consequently, Australians (who stay up with the news), have a pretty good knowledge of what is happening around the world. I think that's a healthy thing actually.
Much better than being kept in the dark and fed bullsh*te - like mushrooms and poms.
Australians live all over the world these days, many in Europe, heaps in Asia. Some people might have an England-centric view still, but anything beyond an interest in defeating the poms at sport would be regarded as eccentric.
On the other hand, poms, including Dow still apparently, seem to have this fossilised view of Australians which they cling onto to make themselves feel comfortable. Very narrow indeed.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
So you're counting BB - that's not getting a bit obsessive is it?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Dow probably spends a good deal of his time in the pub playing at sessions or whatever and watching soaps on TV. That's where the view comes from I suggest."
You got me there
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Australia is a key reason the Brits are doing better in the 2008 Olympics. After their disastrous showings in Sydney and Athens they revamped their approach and invested huge amounts of money in the UK Olympics team. They based the funding model largely on the Australian model and took on a number of Australians as coaching staff, including the head of the British Olympic cycling team. So say thankyou nicely guys...
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by zepherin
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I honestly feel (unlike maybe many of my fellow Australians, I don't know) quite sorry for newcomers caught between their "motherland" and their adopted country. It is obviously a painful experience for them, but one which probably every newcomer must go through to some extent. They seem to live, unless they actively deal with the issue, a sort of truncated existence, torn between two countries.
In these days of ready international travel they then exacerbate the problem by travelling between the countries trying to find out where they are really happy, where the perfect place is, the one without any shortcomings.
I have literally seen people in this situation reduced to tears because of their dilemma. I have heard people say, after a lifetime living in their new country, when they return to their "homeland" regret that everything is different there now, they don't know anyone, it is not like the place they were brought up in. Things move on, things change. That's why when I hear fossilised views, it is a danger signal, I think, for that person.
Apart from all the bullsh*te that gets posted here, I genuinely feel sorry for poms who are caught out (pardon the pun), having to live their lives in pommyland. Anyhow, I hear a lot of them get out and go to live in France and Spain these days, no doubt creating an interesting spectacle for the locals.
How's the immigration to pommyland the other way round?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
67 now. But he/she never thinks about "poms".
Have they no psychiatrists in Australia?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You've got it wrong, DD. I'm happy in Australia. I love Australia. It's a great country. The only problem is it's full of hand-wringing Aussies with an enormous inferiority complex. I just want them to be happy. I want to help them. If I could, I'd pay for psychiatric treatment for the whole population
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Give it a bit more time, Dow, and you'll be back to whinging about Australians.
Count away, BB, it'll probably do wonders for your sense of rhythm!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Karate Wocky Tocky Wacky Cracky
No Likey Looky Looky Lefty Aussie
Money Money Makey Wocky Sunny
Yankee Makey Wocky Tocky Lackey...
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
dow, what i don't get is you complain about us being easy to wind up (which we are, more so than the Irish but no more than the english and WAY less than the yanks) but i always seemed to be constantly conselling YOU to not take this silly mustard board that seriously as you'd sit their in the pub brooding over the latests eejit's post - half of which were BLATENT wind-ups. (don't be fooled, outside of the interweb, dow's a meek little insecure bunny. just without the cute ears. or cottontail (as far as i'm aware).
Australia does indeed have an inferiority complex, which manifests itself as bravado, yes, uyes, i agree... yawn.
Though i will say, as a passport carrying pom who's lived most of his life in Oz, that australians, like the english, spend almost NO time thinking of england or the english outside of the sporting arena (not even as a holiday destination, i mean, it's right next to france). Our sad national obsession is with the bloody yanks, which is far, FAR sadder.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well said, SirNose. I am sure that Dow is a pleasant enough chappie, despite the facade that he seems to want to create on this board about himself. SirNose is right - I meet no one who is ever talking or apparently thinking about England. They regard it as some old world place totally irrelevant to Australia, where it rains all the time, and where the people are called poms. That's about it.
It is probably too obvious to say, but people would probably do well to remember that Australia as an independent political entity is only some 107 years old. I mean, it has been in my lifetime, within living memory of millions of people. Despite that brevity, Australia has made huge progress and achieved much. In fact the rate of progress may have even outpaced the rate at which the national self-perception is changing too - which some people might define as an "inferiority complex".
There is very little about this country to feel inferior about, but one sure fire way to tap into any such residual feelings among Australians in this regard is to regard them as inferior, which unfortunately for the poms, they, almost uniquely among the nations of the world try to do to Australians.
You deal with this very simply: you tell the poms, if you can be bothered for the craic, that they are poms, and inferior to Australians. Poms can't deal with their own feelings of inferiority (vis a vis Europe for example), so they react pretty readily to that. And so it goes on. Very simple really.
So, what's it like living in Ireland then?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
DonaldK - Sorry dont believe a word of your immigration fairy story....Ive worked there for more years than I care to remember and I'm telling you, we cant just deny entry because people laugh or because they make a joke- she is obviously not telling you the whole story. Sorry to burst your bubble.
and sigh...sigh.....sigh - when you have been on this board for long enough - you will realise that after a while its nice to talk about something other than music....also if you just want to talk about music -then why even bother posting on this non music thread+
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Sir Nose. I'm sure that's pretty offensive to the American people on this board, who would be innocent bystanders in this debate between England and Australia.
But that aside, I see that Dow's mates even have concerns about his brooding nature. " Sad that ".
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Anyway I don't know why the Queen wants to bother with a bunch of lager-swilling beach-bum layabout crims anyway. She has enough problems with her own family." - no cause for alarm...
My my the claws come out.....I think its hilarious that you accuse every Australian as Being a crim when in fact - as Danny was saying the other day *Scotland* Has the highest crime rates in Europe!!
I think you may need to get your facts right..
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I have a British Passport. Does that mean that I am one of you Dow? god I hope not....not because I am jealous - dont feel like having my throat slit by a 17 year old thank you very much. And I have seen a crocodile - many in fact....which I'm pretty sure you havent. And as for the UK not thinking about Australians - then why do 100,000 of you insist on coming over here every year long term? really? We wouldnt mind if you didnt.......honest....we'd even hate to bring you down to our level....poor poor brits.....
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I thought you would have known Dow, duijera , coming from Sydney and all. Oh well.
By the way, you have a tenacity that I admire greatly. I've been reading your posts thinking " this young fella, is good, damn good."
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Chune, I thought SirNose was just talking about the absorption of American culture in Australia, like a lot of other countries. Some people bemoan the trend, lless so these days because there are so many fewer old Anglophiles out there, but it is probably inevitable given the similarities between Australian and American history and development.
I remember when the Union Jack flag was still flown outside public buildings and the little Australian flag was flown to the side and at a lower level. That p*sd me off even as an 8 year old I think. Australians were also made to stand for God Save the Queen when you went to see a movie at the theatre - the movie probably being American. They canned the standing up decades ago when they say people were getting really p*sd off about it.
Australia, I think, will become more and more like America as time goes on. We left the poms behind years ago. It's just that the poms don't realise that yet.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Thanks, chune, I try. I also wish I was as young as you think I am, which I'm not.
Dow came along to the session scene after I had moved on a bit, so I've never actually met him.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey Quigley - in Fairness Grant is almost 29 - apparently about to retire.....getting second among all those young ones is still pretty special. It wouldve been nice to see a gold...but ah well - cant win them all....Unless your name is Phelps!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I heard it reported that Phelps has a "wing span" when he puts his arms straight out side to side is about 7 feet!! That's phenomenal. He'd be able to move very fast through the water because of that, but as the report said, he'd displace a lot of water in front of him - which is heavy. Hency, he'd also have to be very muscular and do a lot of gym work probably to deal with that. Phelps is probably a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, we may not see his likes again for a long time.
Just think how Eamon Sullivan feels having his best shot for an Olympic medal up against Phelps. You'd have to feel unlucky wouldn't you. Didn't Sullivan beat his own best time as well as the world record and still came second to Phelps.
What can you do? Congratulations Phelps is about it.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hands up all the americans offended by my comments? probably too busy crying into their global cultural hegemony to respond
hands up all the Aussie's who get offended when NZ complains about how 'australianized' their media etc is... (gosh, they may even call us 'bloody aussies')
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yeah - I got that Sirnose was more going in the direction that we are becoming more American as a nation - free trade agreements and all that...less like the British - which may make them feel a little inferior come to think of it.....
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yup - both Phelps and Sullivan smashed the world record in that race...it'd have to suck to smash a record and come in second!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ooohhh - ooohh, I get really offended when Kiwi's have a go at Aussies ....not
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The poms will hang on to their stereotypes about Australia for an unbelievable period of time. They'll probably still be doing it in a hundred years.
See, they aren't really game to try it with the yanks, they're about 200 years further on than Australians in their own self-perception. Don't forget, American fought a war with England in the 1770s and kicked the daylights out of them. That was a long time ago. Poms respect overwhelming numbers and power, that's what we've got to know about them. Get stronger than them, keep kicking their butts, that's how you have to deal with them. Simple as that. They're nice people, don't get me wrong, just keep them behind you in the queue or they get uppity. You know the go.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
American here. Yawn!
Let's here it for Global Cultural Hegemony!!
Global Cultural Hegemony Oi Oi Oi!
Rah rah ree
Kick 'em in the knee
Rah rah ras
Kick 'em in the other knee...
Oh, don't get me started!!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Rah rah rah
Kick em in the a*se
rah rah rah
Do it really fast!
That's what Aussies sing at cricket matches against the poms.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
How could anyone begrudge that spunky guy from Tunisia winning the 15 hundred metres. I mean if I was 40 years younger I'd be swooning he is sooooooo ... soooo .... (I nearly did anyway when a friend and I watched it on the big screen last Sunday in the Sportsman's Bar with a glass of white and a warm beef salad). Really gorgeous. Hackett is a great sport and gave his all, it just wasn't good enough to win on the day ... and Olympic swimmers can't remain Olymic swimmers forever ... like gymnasts their competitive years are young and short (generally). Hackett is a great Aussie and did us proud anyway. Yay!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yeah, but what about Stephanie Rice! And Kathleen Hersey!
Whoa!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Stephanie Rice did great - but then again...she wasnt up against phelps!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes exactly. But what a fine example of an Aussie girl eh. Positive, positive, positive. She probably doesn't know what a pom is. No inferiority complex there eh. (I reckon she'd be a killer at scrabble too, eh?)
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Can you imagine the poms doing synchronised swimming?
They probably end up throttling each other as they went under.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... I personnally wish that slagging other countries was not such a national pasttime ... in Oz and elsewhere too. It is staggering to think that languages other than English are spoken in some 66% of Sydney households. There are something like 146 Ozzy motherlands and it seems counterproductive to slag them all. Oh I'm wasting my breath ... slag away! I'm going to take the dogs for a walk and leave youse to it.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
do you know what's better that slagging other countries?! slagging aussie regions!!!!!!! (you bloody central australian)
I hearby wish all crow-eaters, cornstalkers, two-headed tassians, chair-sniffers and mexican's (in the slang-for-"victorian" sense) would sod off and just accept the shear, unadulterated brilliance of the CANBERRAN!!!!!!!!
feel the power of canberra
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Wrong bod, Sir Nose, I'm a 'berran born and bred meself ... and I'm much much older 'an you
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Telopea Park HS Class of 65! So there!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
we RULE!!!!!!
(Narrabundah class o' 97, but raised in Dickson, internationally known as the King of Suburbs)
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That's the thing, no one else seems to want to slag Australians except the poms. The poms start it. Just look at who started this thread - a pom!
Do the poms understand that a good part of the world has always thought they are a bunch of up themselves twits?
Australians, I find anyway, are much better liked as people who don't regard themselves as superior to anyone else (except poms of course, can't forget that.)
SirNose, what do people drink in Canberra these days?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"SirNose, what do people drink in Canberra these days?" - DD
Lighter fluid?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
hahaha. That's very funny, bb
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey Sir Nose, Yay! You rock!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
interesting aside for dow, looking through the (english, of course) Guardian online (which i obviously read religiously to find out how important countries think) JUST TODAY i found an article about the ructions going on behind the scenes at Opera Australia AND 2 (yes TWO) articles about the mildly pathetic sexist remarks of the mayor of Mt Isa in Queensland.
When was the last time ANY aussie paper devoted articles to the behind-the-scenes goings-on if english arts bodies or comments from mayors of little british towns?
God i feel important now - real people OVER THERE think about us - as sexist and arrogant maybe, but at least through there thoughts we REALLY EXHIST!!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
cut-and paste headline from the guardian:
"Australia: Outback mayor goes walkabout after insulting local women"
HA! I know it's SEEMS like they're being lame with they're obvious aussie-isms, but actually it's just a sharp, witty form of post-modern IRONIC lameness - man we aussie's SO don't get it.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just a small refelction - doesn't bother me - but it is interesting how it's taken as acceptable to use what I suppose is meant to be a racist insult - "Poms" - it is meant that way, isn't it? Or is it just an 'affectionate' term? Makes me think the same person probably has opinions about niggers, spicks, wops and dagoes as well ...
Anyway, I expect that most Brits, Irish, Americans and people generally around the world are shaking their heads slightly at the paranoia displayed by one self-appointed representative of Oz. Fortunately, I, like most Brits, don't roll out the stereotype and assume it's the same for all Australians. Most seem nice, in my experience. But then, most people from anywhere seem nice, to me.
One thing that was mentioned - ages ago, up the thread - was the implication that Welsh and Scottish people would be offended to be called 'Brits'. I can't speak for the Scots, but I'd be surprised if that was true of anyone Welsh. I have spent most of my life in Wales, and currently live just on the English side of the border. When I was growing up in Welsh Wales, we thought of ourselves as Welsh, and British. It was only the English we had a problem with.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
as a 'pom' living in australia i can honestly say that it's about as insulting as calling someone from NZ a 'kiwi'.
In most pub-like environments, if australia is being beaten by the brits, they stop being 'poms' and suddenly become 'the f*cking english'
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Calling someone a pom is about the same degree of flame as calling someone a wombat - like I called you earlier, benhall.
And you think it might be a racist term? Geez how paranoid can you get. Funny poms, silly old wombats.
My forebears came from the Marches as well, benhall. Don't live too close to that Welsh border will you...stay on the English side, that'd be English Wales - or British Wales would it?
So you thought of yourself as Welsh and British, but not English. That's not racist is it?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
My other four bears came from France, Ireland, Scotland and pommyland. So there.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Geez, that was a grand migratory move, benhall...you moved from Wales to England (sorry British Wales). That'd be a spectacular move by British standards wouldn't it? Must have given you a hugely expansive world view.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh yeah - Pom or Pommie is the same as calling us 'Ozzie' benhall - although we spell it Aussie...but anyways - you know what I mean.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
That was my feeling too, about Eamon Sullivan's having to swim against Phelps. The man got given an un-enviable job, and he did it in style, by topping his personal best. ALL those athletes are in their glory. Phelps is hopeless on dry land, by the way.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Good on ya, Quig. He'd be a nice guy too, Eamon Sullivan, judging by his demeanour. See, Quig's an American and he's the first non-Aussie to post like that about Sullivan. The poms wouldn't do it, they'd probably just say something like "oh well, Sullivan didn't win because he's just not good enough - an Australian, you know".
We'll be making you an honorary Aussie at this rate, Quig.
Anyway, here's a present for you:
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/folklore/
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Aw gee shucks. Just thought something should have been said on Sullivan's behalf, and so I said it. All those athletes are in their glory, every last one of them from all the 200 odd nations! Anyway, time is tucker, and Americans must sleep.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Cruella, you can believe what you like - it is your right.
However, I would still believe my friend - she had no reason to lie - she wasn't staying in Australia anyway.
Apologies for my post causing such obvious irritation.
Personally, I find all this slagging rather distasteful.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by DonaldK
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
There you go, Atahualpa even speaks the lingo!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
And, DonaldK,isn't it distasteful to say something as insulting as what that fellow said at the customs desk? I mean how narrow minded - how many times do you think smart-ar*ses have said that sort of thing coming into Australia? And where do you think they be from?
It's about as insulting as asking about British washing habits when you're asking for a visa at the pommy immigration desk at Heathrow.
Why do you consider it funny for the poms to say that to Australians, but if an Australian was to do it to the poms, then it would be regarded as anything but a joke by the poms?
If you want to dish it out, be prepared to take it.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I think sometimes that the "Pom" is a stereotypical entity that purely exists in the imagination, a product of childhood endoctrination perhaps. Like the evil "Hun" of the first World War, the image of the "Pom" is branded into our psyche as a potential threat to our personal contentment, a bearer of great
irritation, and a destroyer of our self esteem. This is largely untrue, except of course in the case of Dow, who emerges from the page like a nightmare, and like the British athletes at
the present Olympics, he is very good at what he does. So on that note I would like to say congratulations to Britain on their success. Slim.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Let's see if you get return compliments, Slim.
Dow just tries to make people feel bad it seems, very negative vibe. Why would you want to do that I always wonder?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Pom or Pommie is the same as calling us 'Ozzie' "
Fari enough, bb. Although I would have thought that 'Brit' and 'Ozzie', or 'Aussie' would be more equivalent.
However, it's pointless, childish and downright disrepectful to keep going on about "they're Poms, that means they're inferior" blah, blah, blah ... I just wouldn't do that sort of thing. I would never say, and have never said that Austalians are inferior. How could that be? Folks is folks. But the way DD has been going on *is* racist. And I don't like it. Doesn't bother me personally. It's just an inherently distasteful human characteristic that I'm disappointed to see rear its ugly head here.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What a load of crappers, benhall - racist - bullsh*t. The word pom has been around for over a hundred years or more and you know it. You've just been talking about the British as different from the English, don't come the bullsh*t racist slur, when you've just done it yourself. So why isn't the term 'yank' racist? Pull ya head in. Who do you think you are.
Anyway, here's a list of all the terms for poms (according to wikipedia anyway), I am sure there are some less polite ones around:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_words_for_British
Excerpt from link:
“In December 2006, the Advertising Standards Board of Australia unanimously ruled that the word "pom" was a part of the Australian vernacular, and was largely used in a "playful or affectionate" sense. As a consequence, the board ruled that the word did not constitute a racial slur, and could be freely used in advertising.”
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Donald - whatever - but the fact of the matter is that it is against the law to refuse entry to someone cause they laughed at something. The only irritating thing is that you are spouting nonsense about something you know nothing about. Newflash - Australia does not refuse people entry because they laugh.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Benhall I know what you mean, when british people find out my dad is Welsh they call me 'Taffey" or somesuch - I'm sure it was not meant in the nicest way...although I am also sure they didnt see the harm in it either, kind of jokey but kind of putting me in my place.... If you noticed I never even said the word pom - nor did I slag off the UK, but I admit I did get my back up when posters on here started going on about how stupid we australians are..but the funny thing is - and I'm guessing this...most of you probably havent even been here and are basing your presumtions on Home and Away and Rolf Harris. So of course you are going to think we are lame.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, DD, OK ... As I say, the term doesn't bother me. It *does* bother me when anyone tries to say that one race is "inferior" - your word - to another. That's just wrong.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... and the girls have just won the gold medal in the waterpolo ... yay!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Great stuff, scraper!
But ... how do they get those horses to do that? And how do they swing the mallet and stuff?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well then, people over there ought to stop trying to infer that Australians are somehow inferior. That bothers me.
And I think that the first time the word "race" has been used in this thread - your thread - is by you. You like living on the border do you?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh well - at least it was bronze, durgh!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ok, just in case anyone out there was taking me seriously in my comments, please don't. This is, or at least started off as, a light-hearted thread and should remain as such.
Whilst I have never been to Australia I certainly don't draw any conclusions on the country based on your cr*p soaps or Rolf Harris (not that there is anything wrong with Rolf!).
In truth I don't have very strong opinions about what Australians are like having not been. My opinions will be formed from watching programmes about Australia on the TV (there was a very good tour of Australia done by Billy Connolly), watching their sports people (although I am not that into sport) and talking to folk on here.
Maybe I will get to Australia one day - although the furthest I have been is Spain.
I guess I have a generally positive view of our Australian Cousins.............
........despite all their whinging!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
it did start off lighthearted didnt it? That never lasts on this board...sigh.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ah, now I see the reason for the bravado having just checked the medal tally.
England is apparently in third place for the total medal tally, up from 10th place in Athens 2004, and 10th place in Sydney 2000.
Australia is currently 5th in the medal tally, down from 4th in Athens and 4th in Sydney.
I guess it's no big deal for Australia, but a huge deal for England. They must be feeling better now.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It's a good job Australia isn't in the Eurovision Song Contest, that's all I can say - we'd never get any bloody votes! And bb, whilst I share your dislike of tge kind of prejudice that may be based on such slender evidence as life as we see it in Aussie soaps, I really must demur in the case of Rolf Harris. He's a wonderful man and a national treasure (this end or yours, who cares!) - not exactly up my alley maybe but an all-round good egg nonetheless!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Rolf Harris is a Pom.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
He was born in Perth to parents who'd emigrated from Wales. You have an awful lot of closet poms in Oz if you're going to be that strict! He's no Pom. Hey, what the bloody hell am I saying!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Like Ben, I don't think the word "pom" is in and of itself offensive, but it certainly can be seen as pejorative in the context DD is using it. In fact, other than Alistair's *obvious joke* (basically giving as goo as he was getting) the only person on this thread unceasingly generalizing about and slagging one country is DD.
Australia at any rate is a beautiful country and most of the people there are sound. I'd love to go back myself at some point.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
*giving as good... oh, dear
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
And for your information, Ben's first post wasn't slagging anyone. He was asking how Australia was fairing in the Olympics. Strange how these threads evolve......
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, Silver, at least people will know what to expect if they want to get uppity with Australians.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes. Steve . I always thought he was a pom, but I've since
discovered that I"ve been misled. Well picked up and I stand
corrected. I suppose he could be called a borderline pom, fringe pom, pomsie, pom with a chaser, or a sand pom as opposed to a lapsed pom. Anyway he's a great bloke in my opinion as well, all jokes aside.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I love your term "closet pom" by the way, a gem.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I got into horrible trouble for calling Americans "yanks" once on C&F. These are pejorative terms only in certain contexts. It got worse when I innocently referred to backwoodsmen and hillbillies. They are not racist terms because, along with "Pom," "Brit," Yank" and the rest, they all refer to members of the same race. Context is everything when you're out to insult someone or merely have an affectionate dig.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dear me, just checked this for the first time today, and sure enough, as expected, all the Aussies get defensive and go "rraaaarghh" at the Poms. I can imagine all the Poms reading this going "omg Dow's actually right about the inferiority complex and them all needing psychiatric treatment". Poor dears
Now now Sirnose I'm not that much of a cutsey little soft bunn am I?. I seem to remember one argument we had where I infuriated you so much that you left the room in a huff and would hardly speak to me for a day or so. Something to do with Aussie plastic paddies? I wonder if bb mentioned that we met another one at Kelly's recently - a really scary one. That's two weird-a*sed Aussie plastic paddies at the one session in the one pub. And that must be a tiny proportion of their population. You ask bb about it. Even she said "maybe you're right Dow - maybe it's just that I've never noticed it, or maybe I blocked them out, maybe it's just that I've never had cause to talk to them". The jury's still out on that one!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
bunny
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"australians, like the english, spend almost NO time thinking of england or the english outside of the sporting arena (not even as a holiday destination, i mean, it's right next to france)."
But Poms don't CARE what you're thinking. To a Pom, Australia is about as politically important on the world stage as Mali. Most Aussies would know who the President of the US and the PM of UK were, but most Poms wouldn't know who the Aussie PM was, not just because they're ignorant, but because most people don't bother learning the names of leaders of politically insignificant countries like Belarus or Mongolia. People might have heard of Keating from years ago cause he was in the papers for touching the queen. In fact I'm thinking he might have done that deliberately for the attention so that people abroad would know who he was and remember his name.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I suspect Duijera Dubh witnessed his mother having some sort of experience with a "pom" when he was a child and that as a result he has an obsession with them, which he denies. Obviously an English "pom",(I know all poms are English, DD doesn't) as he seems to feel very inferior to English people.
Hard enough being a Barclay's Banker but being in denial as well?
Now this obsession affected his ability to learn, and so his reading skills are suspect. You will not find England third in the medals table at the Olympics, indeed they are not listed at all.
However given DD's mental state and his massive inferiority complex in respect of English people, it is quite possible that to DD the written word GB spells England.
What a complete tosser.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Now bodhran bliss - there is surely a line in all of these conversations and I suspect you have just strayed a tad over it. I can definately see the line. It is right in front of me and.... yes.... that would be you in the distance there. I can tell from the thudding noise.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
If she did it was probably a very disappointing experience!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
dow, playing the man not the ball - I never said i don't get passionately involved in real life discussions with real people. I know you like to think that you come across like a witty, above-it-all voice of cutting clarity on this board of froth and bubble and that nothing really gets to you but i've seen you being eaten-at by stupid posts on this board, even after hours at the pub actually PLAYING music. with real people.
(and you reckon england doesn't know much about aussie politics? of course they bloody don't, why would they - i'm more concerned that most *Aussies* are so politically disconntected they probably wouldn't even remeber who paul keating was.)
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Now now Sirnose I'm not that much of a cutsey little soft bunn am I?. " There you go, brooding all day..........again.
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Paul Keating was five - eight for the Wentworthville Magpies.
We're not that dumb come on!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
(actually, thinking back to the discussion (that Australian-Irishness express itself diffently to US-Irishness) i "left in a huff" with dow, It had nothing to do with the point of view he had - something i think he still hasn't got yet - but more that he once again conned me into thinking he may actually want to discuss something seriously. As is often the case, what p*ssed me off was dow was more interested in argueing for the sake of it and provoking a reaction than discussing the issue at hand - which makes you feel like a heel for treating dow with the intellectual respect to put forward your thoughts in the first place.
cr*p, NOW who's brooding over this silliness!!
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
And *how* long ago was that, SirNose?
# Posted on August 21st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Lot of druggies winning. The Tunisian who beat Hackett is just back from a ban, and the Nigerian who won the ladies 400 for GB is similar.
Poor old Paula Radcliffe looks as though she got the old blood doping wrong, again, and there are plenty of others.
Usain Bolt could nearly keep up with our polkas.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Lots of druggies winning".
Wow, that's a relief then.
No other word for it. BB, you’re a complete wombat. A GB wombat – a Great Big one.
Hey, BB, wombats have really good skins for bodhrans; they’re really, how can I say this – *thick*. That’s it. You’re not a very imaginative writer either.
Stick to bonking your bodhran.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
[Shhh! I expect he thinks he "won"]
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Not hard to do that fella.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"i've seen you being eaten-at by stupid posts on this board, even after hours at the pub actually PLAYING music. with real people."
That may have happened once or twice when I've been trading harmless slagging comments with someone on the discussion board only to find that someone else comes in, takes it badly, and starts getting personal with me for no good reason.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I like Australia. I bought a house there. Much cheaper than this kip, and the weather is much better.
The only thing I don't like, is its full of people like DD.
I don't like generalising about a place, but its true. There are loads of them.
When I lived abroad in many places, Peru, Spain, America, Japan, they dominate EVERY conversation with pointless facts about their country. Fair enough, country pride is great, and its a beautiful country, but other people don't need to hear that ALL THE FECKIN TIME.
We used to joke about thiem thinking, if Australia is all they talk about here, what do they talk to each other about?
The only time DD posts any thing relevent is to wind people up, and talk about Australia.
Its scary. I'm convinced he's either between 12 and 16 or a complete and utter lunatic, or some kind of Neo Fascist.
Is this you DD?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPucVtepTgI
At least my handle is a p*ss take - but you, you are dead serious aren't you? (see the way I finished a question with a question mark? - go on, try it...)
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, there are a lot of people in Australia who don't like attitudes like your's, that's very sure.
You blokes just don't like to be told do you. Wear it, wombat.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
HEHE.
Good - I don't want to be liked by them.
Or by you. YOU ARE INSANE.
I have many sane and well balanced Australian friends thanks.
BTW, Who are 'you blokes'?
Anyone who isn't OZZIE, OZZIE, OZZIE???
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Go and take something for that, fella, and have a good lie down.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
HEHE - You don't make any sense.
You are 12.
I think you and Irish 101 and Jig are great.
Go on keep posting.
I'm really enhoying this now, cause its Friday.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ok. Steve Hooker, Australian pole vault just won the olympic gold medal - and broke the Olympic record. Good eh!
That's what this thread was supposed to be about wasn't it? - Australia getting flogged at the Olympics?
Keep reading, Hugo, you have all day.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Congrats.
Really, I mean that.
Another of our horses was tested positive for smack or something. Boo hoo.
You're still a complete wacko.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
And you'll always be a wombat.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
But thanks for the congratulations. There won't be many of those posted I wouldn't think.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You'd think the Irish equestrian team would have figured that one out after Athens, when their gold medalist showjumper was eliminated after the horse tested positive for drugs.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ireland ought to be hiring Australian trainers and training structures, like the poms have done.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Is that making sense yet, Hugo?
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It wasn't smack so much as a chilli pepper-based substance called capaiscin. In one form it can work as a painkiller, and the general rule is that if you need to be giving your horse a painkiller to compete, you should not be competing that horse. You're not even allowed to compete a horse on horsey-aspirin (aka bute).
The other form of capaiscin is, I think, a lot more insidious. As it is chilli-based, it will sting like a b*itch if thwacked with something hard, like a jump pole for example. Less scrupulous trainers and riders rub it on the horses' legs so they are extra careful to not hit any poles as they're jumping over a fence.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just saw an interview with Steve Hooker – yep, as I thought – what you see is what you get. A real nice guy, straight down the line, unassuming, honest, non-egotistical, but confident, empathic, and would probably do anything for you.
All round winner. Nice to know there are still people around like that. We ought to be grateful.
Makes the drug users look like wimps doesn't it.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Is that making sense???
Of course.
But I don't really care.
I agree Ireland ought to be hiring Australian trainers and training structures. Is it only Australian though??
Trapattoni isn't from Leixlip you know....
I'm not denying any of the your Country's talent.
I think its marvellous.
Its just you!
YOU'RE BONKERS.
NUTS.
You don't get it though, so thats why you entertain me.
I know for a fact there are loads like you too.
That sucks.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It ain't just the Irish illegally using drugs.
Anyway, if it helps you sleep better believing Australia is the most awesomest country in the entire world, fair play to you, mate.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Jesus Christ.
I knew it was Capiscin. Its been all over the news.
The 'smack' was illustrating my lack of interest.
'yep, as I thought – what you see is what you get. A real nice guy, straight down the line, unassuming, honest, non-egotistical, but confident, empathic, and would probably do anything for you.
All round winner. Nice to know there are still people around like that. We ought to be grateful.'
GOOD - I'd well believe it. THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF YOU. AMADáN.
I bet he wouldn't contribute to a public internet forum about sport, and talk about being Australian and how great it is ( but at the same time, cause he's such a nonce, make it sound like a repressed fascist paradise) all the time.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Aww, gee, Hugo, and you said you don't ever read my posts, or deign to respond to them. Get over yourself.
Silver, you're learning.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Aye, I've learned about your egotistic and myopic view of the world. Luckily you are about 10,000 miles or so away from me, so what do I care?
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I changed. You can too.
(But for the laught you give me, please don't)
I read them all the time now.
I'm learning a lot.
'Get over yourself.'
ok. I'm over.
HEHE. Is this you?
http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/pages/page22.asp
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oooo, heavy flamers...I bet you wouldn't talk to Rolf Harris like that. LOL.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
GB brought in an Aussie to coach the relay teams. Outstanding success.
Ireland could do with a horse trainer, the likes of that Aidan O'Brien is useless.
I think my favourite moment in sport is when the Irish HORSE failed the drugs teat after winning gold. Only the Irish could do that.
And finally. Are you telling me that Australia is full of people like DD, Hugo? Well if we allegedly went to war to stop Hitler, I think Oz must be next. I think 12 is his IQ rather than age.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Verrrry clever, bodhran bonker, you're improving out of sight.
Maybe GB ought to bring an Aussie to coach the GB coaches - oh, yeah, they've probably done that already haven't they.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Carry on.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
'Are you telling me that Australia is full of people like DD, Hugo?'
Jesus no. Christ. Imagine that?
I've met a fair few like him though. Its pretty scary.
They keep going too. Talking about themselves, I remember one time in Japan, this guy had me pinned at the bar telling me about Barry Lindon or someone like that. For ages.. I Even asked him to stop, then he got really ratty.
WIERD
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
http://sfgate.stats.com/olympics/medals.asp
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
DD can you read? An AUSSIE was coaching the GB relay squads.
That is someone from Australia, two medals down the drain.
Maybe that was the point.
And I already know I am very clever which is a waste when applying it to deal with you.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hugo. As much as have personally inputted to this slagging match between England and Australia, I( I realise you're Irish, by the way). I would like to think that it is only a slagging match.
I can even find it in my heart to forgive Dow for his vicious, viscous outpourings of mockery. ( I'm still brooding ).
Having said that , I agree with your comments about some Australian tourists and residents for that matter being complete embarrasements whilst overseas and its a thing that I have been cringeing over for at least 20 years. As I have said in a previous post, there is no need for it, its unwarranted,
we live in a nice country, but so do most of the other people in the world. I haven't read all of the posts but I think I was the only one to actually congratulate the U.K. on their success.
So once again well done, it must feel great.
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... gee I wish my sistar was here to defend him. I'm sorry guys, but this slagging has, over night, gone right over the top! Where is ITM when the going gets tough in the Aussie bush? Do any of you care a stuff? Well he does! ... and fair play to him ... so there.
Instead of fighting (very negatively and personally at that) amongst yerselves, you could be out there bringing Irish trad to the masses, lifting spirits, promoting community, and raising money and awareness where its needed ... so why aren't you?
... oh yer all too bluudy radical fer that ... trad music should be about community and friendship and makin beautiful music tagether ... and look at youse! I'm goin' fer a walk before the steam starts whistling out me ears. Toot toot! Chu chu chu
# Posted on August 22nd 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hmmm - Hugo...if there are loads of DDs about - I havent met any. But then again, i live in the inner city and hang out at cafes and bookshops...maybe there just arent any around here?
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
This thread has indeed gone very sour. Such a pity.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Tragic, really, considering that even the Russian and Georgian participants in the women's air gun competition at the Beijing Olympics were able to congratulate each other, shake hands, and hug, despite the stupid fighting back home. Geesh, if *they* can get along, its just sill that posters here are so ugly to each other.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by Will Harmon
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
erm "silly"
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by Will Harmon
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I know 295 posts wasted on arguments..
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
chuneboi slim, Australia - along with many other countries, New Zealand included - sent a small but effective army of firefighters to California. Let that counter-balance your embarrassment.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Just as well I will not be in the air gun competition if the commonwealth games are ever held in Australia.
If they could manage that.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"... gee I wish my sistar was here to defend him." Please explain Clear Drops?
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Thanks AQ.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
For a little while there, I was tempted by the idea of being made 'an honorary Australian' til I realized the distinction wouldn't make for any improvements in the local beer. I might even get called up for national service, and pull Olympic duty with so many others of your countrymen. Or, owing to my age have to pull home guard duty with you, Duijera, and the rest of what must be askeleton crew. Yes someone has to stay home, and mind the store, man the pumps, and slag the English. Rather you guys than me.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Here's a little play, just for a bit of fun and an extra poke in the Aussies' ribs (in an unsour way). It personifies our countries so that "Australia" and "Britain" become individuals with attitudes and emotions.
-----------------
Britain is on the phone to US:
Britain: Let's exercise some caution here. We don't want to provoke Russia too much. Just send the 4 Hercules in for the moment and then we can maybe send more tomorrow if we haven't annoyed him enough. I keep leaving rude messages on his answering machine but he hasn't even texted me back. I'll have a word in Czech's shell-like too... pull some puppet strings, eh? He, he, he.... Uh-huh. OK. Yeah speak to you soon then m'love. OK. Love yoooou! I'll send you a cheque for the rockets...
[the conversation is interrupted]
Britain's secretary: Sir?
Britain: (to US) Sorry, just hold on a sec. (to secretary) Yep?
Secretary: It's Oz on the phone.
Britain: Who?
Secretary: Australia?
Britain: Oh for f*ck's sake. (to US) Sorry I've got some stupid stuff to do. Catch you later. I'll call you tonight in fact. Bye bye. Love you. Mwah! Bye Bye! Bye... (picks up phone) Hello, Britain speaking.
Australia: G'day it's ya mate Ozzie here, how ya goin?!
Britain: Yes. I'm fine thank you.... Um, how are you?
Australia: Good mate, yeah......... Um, yeah.
Britain: What can I do for you?
Australia: Ah matey I just thought I'd call you up for a chat, hey. We haven't spoken in ages and that? so..
Britain: Actually, I don't mean to seem rude, but I'm just a bit busy at the m......
Australia: Ah look mate I won't keep ya, I'm just wondering if there's been any goss, you know? How's OUR mate US?
Britain: Fine.
Australia: I've had my photo taken with him heaps of times? and I shook his hand and everything?
Britain: Wow. That's. Um. Yeah, wow.
Australia: Look I'm a bit worried about North Korea and other problems in MY backyard? which, as you know, is like the WHOLE of ASIA and that?
Britain: (laughs) I don't think you need to worry about anyone attacking you, Oz, really.
Australia: No this is really an issue for me because apparently I'm within their range? I could be a target at any moment? They could blow me up now, right this minute!
Britain: (mumbles) If only.
Australia: What?
Britain: I said "phone me". As in, "phone me if there are any danger signs or whatever".
Australia: Oh. Yeah anyway mate, I've got something to say to you? It's quite important?
Britain: Fire away, just make it quick, I'm in a hurry.
Australia: I just wanted you to know that I'm doing fine without you? I don't need you anymore? I'm my own person now? I feel much more on your level now, with my experience? and I'm making quite a bit of money too, doing well for myself? I feel as though I'm at the peak of fitness? I'm at my prime and I'm youthful? I'm strong and awesome?
Britain: I keep telling you, that's quite alright. You've flown the nest now. Of course you don't need me anymore - you're a big boy.
Australia: But what I mean is, I really, really don't need you? I don't want you in my life? I actually don't really think much of you?
Britain: That's fine. You were costing me a bloody fortune anyway. It's much better this way. I'm really not offended. You go and do your own thing.
Australia: No but I just want you to know that I rarely even think about you, and all the times we had?
Britain: Yeah no that's fine. Look I've really got to go. I've got things to do.
Australia: OK. Um. Look I'm sorry mate. I didn't mean to come over too harsh? Can we still be friends?
Britain: Yep, whatever.
Australia: Good on ya! I was thinking maybe I could help you out and send a few troops to help out with what you're doing? Would that be good?
Britain. Yep, every little helps.
Australia: OK good, I'll send those troops right away! Um, yeah.
Britain's secretary: It's Germany on the phone. Shall I tell him you'll ring him back?
Britain: (covers mouthpiece) No no no keep him on the line. (to Oz) OK look I've got to go. I've got very important things to be getting on with, and important people to speak to. Say hello to the Kiwis for me and tell them thanks for the Christmas card. And by the way can you please stop using that annoying question intonation on every single phrase? It's extremely distracting. I didn't give you our language just so you could go and ruin it like that.
Australia: OK bye then Britain! Can we keep in touch more often? I mean, I seem to be always the one ringing you? You never ring me?
Britain: Sure. OK now p*ss off (slams phone down)
Australia: OK sorry, bye! (looks at phone forlornly)
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... sorry people, I lost it a bit ... and I don't even like country music. Its just that ... oh well ... senseless brawlin' isn't very pretty.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Knee jerk reaction to Dow's post. Good one but we've heard it before. Have a nice hot cup of hormones and try again.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dow - How very clever of you. I think your talents are wasted as a bus driver. Maybe you could be a playwrite or something. I can see it now - "Dow on Broadway"...
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I hope he's not driving little kiddies to school!
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
LOL! Dow, you are a certifiable chain yanker!
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hugo - hahha, irish people do that all the time. I know heaps of Irish people whove been out here for like 40, 50. 60 years and much less - 1, 2 etc and most all go on about how Ireland is the best, most beautiful, culturally stunning cournty in the world. How the beer is better, the tunes (obviously) are better etc etc. I think everyone just does it because when youre away from home you get homesick so you talk about the country youre from.
Who the heck is Barry Lindon?
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yet another brilliant person driving a bus. What's gone wrong with this country, I ask ya?
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Have you texted bb yet Dow, scolding her for releasing your info.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
The most brilliant writer I ever knew as a close friend drove a taxi for 10 years. Many years later, he now works as a well paid technical writer for Microsoft. IMHO, he's still driving a cab....
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
In fairness he is finishing off his PhD.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
As I said , yet another brilliant person driving a bus. Must be frustrating.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
yes - but if only we could get him to use his brilliantness for good instead of evil. Such a stirer - love nothing more than to see people mad!
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Off on holiday now to sunny Mayo. Good luck with the Olympics.
That's why I have been in such a good mood.
Dow, as a playwright, that was awful.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Have fun in Mayo BB
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes Cruella, a phenomenon I've seen before this. Someone with high academic skills / IQ or whatever it takes to do a PHD,
working or existing in an irrelevant environment in relation to the application of their talents. The result is that they exist patting themselves on the intellectual back for getting a reaction in a forum, such as this, being a good outlet, whilst
they would be more courageous by (1) as you said, using their energy to do something worthwhile, or (2) do their winding up
indescriminately in public, which they seldom do due to a lack of ticker.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Some interesting assumptions you made there, but no, I was just having a bit of fun.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Congratulations to Oz on the diving gold - that last dive looked amazing.
I am just looking forward to seeing how Tom Daley develops between now and the next Olympics. To finish 7th in an Olympics final when just 14 years old is incredible.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes. Amazing young fella that Daley. Hope the press leave him alone so he can continue to enjoy himself doing what he does best.
# Posted on August 23rd 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2613301/Britain-wins-Olympics-bet-with-Australia.html
Still, well done Aussie chaps, you really did very well. And, per capita, as has been pointed out (by Brits up above) you beat us. Here's to next time.
hic!
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ben ,"per capita" is only a statistic that is of interest against say a huge population like USA or China. You did us fair and square.
Might teach some of us humility. Well done to the athletes.
Can't wait to see Kate Ellis' face go red as she does that. Although, she lives in Adelaide so she's probably three quarter
pom anyway. All the best. Slim.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
bb People who have been out there for 40, 50 60 years etc are called Ex Pats! I was in Japan for 2 years both times. Both times, to get away from people who we've discussed in the past.
There's a big difference, with being homesick, and being oppressive. I went to Japan to learn about Japan, and forget about Ireland. I talked about Japan when I went to Japan.
I don't know who Barry Lindon is. I don't care.
Do you know who Jerry Kiernan is? Do you care?
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Fair play to you, Slim. Made me chuckle that did!
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What about the I think its like 50,000 Irish one year visa holders that come out here to see Australia...and hang out only in Irish pubs singing the fields of Athenry, who join Gaelic Football or Hurling teams while here, and who get jobs in businesses owned by irish ex pats, all the while going on about how great ireland is and how much better it is than Australia - they arent ex pats - they are Irish people on holidays, you are an excpetion to the rule. Everyone does it.
# Posted on August 24th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
'you are an excpetion to the rule'..
Thank Christ.
I know exactly what/ who you are talking about.
I'd rather them over there with you!
Sorry BB!
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
as an aside, here's something i just found that i thought was interesting, on he subject of 'pom'....
Flipping through 'the QI Book of General Ignorance' by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson - a little spin-off book from that 'wit-com' panel show 'QI' with Stephen Fry hosting - I found this intruiging entry under the question "What is 'pom' short for?"
"... Folk etymologists seem to be drawn to acronymic explanations, which are almost never right.
There are almost no examples of words of acronymic origin before 1900. Indeed, the very word 'acronym' wasn't coined until 1943.
In the case of 'pom', most reliable authorities agree it is a shortening of 'pomegranate'.
In his 1923 Australian novel "Kangaroo", D.H.Lawrence wrote:
' "Pommy" is supposed to be short for pomegranate. Pomegranate, pronouced invariably pommygranate, is a near enough rhyme to immigrant, in a naturally rhyming country."....
...The older term 'Jimmy Grant' used for 'immigrant' became 'Pommy Grant', which was irresistable as the fierce Australian sun turned turned their 'new chums' skin 'pomegranate red' "
anywho, I thought that was kind of interesting.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Are you saying it's a pejorative description of the colour of our skin?!?
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
lol, i guess so, but the emphasis seems to be on the fact your not from *here*, not one of us... bloody hippocritical if you ask me, seeing as 98% of the Oz population are relatively recent 'Jimmy Grants'
(though, seeing as you could argue that Australia is an immigrant nation, doesn't that then make the *Aussies* the 'poms', and the brits in england, well, not...)
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
My head hurts.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ok benhall1 I think you should just have a nice cup of cocoa and a lie down. It's been a long thread and it's time to put it to bed.....
Until four years time when we thrash the.........Ok, I'm not starting that one again
Night all!
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by bowburner
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
hang on a bit, if we take the most liberal interpretation of 'pom', being that all brits are poms and that all aussies are poms.... then.....
WE POMS WON A COMBINED TOTAL OF 33 GOLD MEDALS!!!
we ROCK!
(group hug)
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey - Sirnose, shouldnt you be on your way to work?
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Oh god - Duck....I hate to see how DD is going to react to that post...prob completley over the top :(
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yeah, probably, bb ... sigh ... meanwhile, I'm with you there all the way, SirNose. Nice one.
And bowburner ... bed indeed beckons. Night night.
# Posted on August 25th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Typical lazy Aussie way out there, SirNose. If ye can't beat, 'em, join 'em.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Dr. Dow
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hey, Sir Nose, I had thought Pom was short for "Pomeranian" ... and the reasons, therefore, more related to mad dogs and certain people going out in the midday sun! ... and their mode of dress "dressed up like bluudy pomeranians"... but hey I'm open to anything, even from a ring in who declared himself a 'berran then turned out to be a pom! Core, what is the world commin'ta?
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I like that theory...
)
and you bet dow - just wait 'til the Irish do something good in sport so we can trot out '70%-of-Aussies-have-Oirish-ancestory', or when Greece does well we can go straight for the 'melbourne's-the-second-biggest-Greek-city-in-the-world" line... not to mention every single kiwi who's done anything significant on the world stage - aussies through and through they are. (funny thing is, we've never claimed Mr. Dow though...
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by SirNose
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... and with the Six Degrees of Separation Theory thingee ... we, as a group, on the auld yellaboard could easily conceivably name drop as knowing just about anyone on the world stage. A group hug, Poms or not, I recon, is definitely in order (cough sputter) Well, some of ya anyway ... I wouldn't want to give any of youse the flippin flu.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
... I'm suffering from at the moment. Sigh.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Can't believe this thread is still stuttering along
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Donough
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Some of you folks obviously need something to worry about
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/25/2345829.htm
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
There’ll be plenty of water -
Excerpt:
“It is estimated that Antarctica, if fully melted, would contribute more than 60 metres of sea level rise, and Greenland would contribute more than 7 metres.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise
That’s global; worry about that.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
But it's salt water, DD, no good for drinking or agriculture.
What's more, it'll be toxic, from algal blooms, and give off hydrogen sulphide, so nobody'll be able to go near the coast unless they want to be gassed to death.
http://progressive.atl.playstream.com/nakfi/progressive/Sackler/sackler_12_07_07/jeremy_jackson/jeremy_jackson.html
Multiple factors combine to create a climate in the oceans that is almost totally lacking in oxygen, including--
*rise in global temperature (warm water holds less oxygen than cold, and also causes many critters to die off, which become food for algaes and other life forms that consume even more oxygen as they go through explosive "blooms" and then they die, and their decomposition uses up even more oxygen)
*fertilizer run-off (kills, and feeds the same alga blooms/die-offs)
*shut-down of the big "conveyer" currents which normally help to keep the temps down and to stir the water up and add oxygen (big increases in glacial melting are what mess this up, also decreases salinity when it melts too much too fast)
*acid rain and excess CO2 which increase the acidity of the oceans, killing off coral reefs, plankton, and other friendly oxygen producing creatures (again, feeds those algae blooms/die-offs)
what you eventually get is one of these:
Anoxic events occur when the Earth's oceans become completely depleted of oxygen (O2) below the surface levels. Although anoxic events have not happened for millions of years, the geological record shows that they happened many times in the past, and may have caused mass extinctions-including some of those which geobiologists employ to serve as a time marker in biostratigraphic dating. It is believed oceanic anoxic events are strongly linked to lapses in key oceanic current circulations, to climate warming and greenhouse gases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoxic_event
Enter the nasty bacteria: "microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments take over, forming vast bacterial mats that produce hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kerry-trueman/the-dead-zone-diet_b_119283.html
this sort of thing happens normally in VERY deep, still or land-locked waters (various lakes, the Black Sea http://blacksea.orlyonok.ru/blacksea.shtml, etc.)
the toxic critters can even begin to colonize the sand and soil around such bodies of water. if you get enough of them, the water can't hold all that poison (to us) gas and it starts to bubble up and head inland. yum!
*more than 400 oxygen-starved dead zones in global coastal waters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/14/pollution.endangeredhabitats
*Compared to prehistoric times, the level of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere has declined by over a third and in polluted cities the decline may be more than 50% (no wonder we do such dumb things now!)
*Around 10,000 years ago, the planet's forest cover was at least twice what it is today, which means that forests are now emitting only half the amount of oxygen
*Nasa reports that in the north Pacific ocean oxygen-producing phytoplankton concentrations are 30% lower today, compared to the 1980s. This is a huge drop in just three decades.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yep, it's a worry. Wolf, if there was a gold medal for worrying, by the look of your depth of research, well, you'd probably....never mind.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ahm, wolf, I do know that sea water is salty, despite what you might think.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I wasn't implying you are stupid or uneducated, DD. The ice is freshwater before it melts, as you know.
I do whatever I can, DD, because the only people who can do anything to forestall or avoid the catastrophes, is us, now.
In a decade or so, it'll be too late.
Those who did nothing will have to face their children and grandchildren, who'll be in the middle of the mess, and who'll ask "What did you do ? Why didn't you do anything when you could ?"
I was very shaken by Prof. Jackson's presentation on the state of the oceans. I knew it was bad, but not how bad. It causes me grief.
Also the rivers and the species we share this planet with...
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/rivers-a-drying-shame-469598.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/death-of-the-worlds-rivers-469597.html
http://www.well.com/user/davidu/extinction.html
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I know it causes you grief, wolf, and likely for some time now, as it does many people. As you have pointed out, Australia is among the places that stands to be hit very hard, and possibly irretrievably by this. There is a rapidly growing awareness of this danger here now, but I am still shocked at the extent to which people here are unaware of it.
"in a decade or so, it'll be too late" as you say - it might already be too late. I have heard years ago from some early scientific observers (here) that it was already a done deal back then. Maybe it is just the logical end result of the way the world has gone for a very long time. We inherit the worry, our descendants may inherit the consequences.
Mitigation - if it is possible given the extent of the problem - may be part of the answer. I think there will be one or a number of answers, but not before some significant change.
Try not to worry about it so much.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I don't worry, DD, same as I don't get depressed about it, both responses are pointless.
I'm angry, because most people don't give a sh*t, and it's MY world that's getting wrecked, as much as anyone else's.
And this is not something vague in the future - it's happening now.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
My - admittedly crackpot - theory goes as follows:
1 It's already way too late
2 Things will get worse at an accelerating rate, leading to global catastrophe some time this century
3 This will lead to a very rapid 'adjustment' of populations, both human and non-human
4 These adjustments will, in turn, lead to further rapid shifts in climate, flora and fauna
5 There will be a new equilibrium, in which humnakind may or may not survive ... but ...
... the Earth will
So I'm off to play some tunes tonight.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
No. In fairness to me, it's not 'crackpot'. Just half-baked.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Things never look better as we get older do they?
Probably right on track, benhall.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
How bad it gets, and how soon, depends upon what we do *now*.
Obviously, the rocky planet and water in the oceans will continue. They've been through far worse things, like Snowball Earth, and bombardment by asteroids, etc. Bacteria and cockroaches and slime will be happy, whatever.
What we need to worry about is the biosphere, the thin layer where we live, like the skin on an apple. That's what we're messing up, and doing it so fast that there's no time for creatures to adapt, including us.
We need to switch away from oil, to renewable energy, leave all the coal in the ground, insulate houses, use solar power, all that stuff. Put pressure onto politicians and companies.
CO2 is at 385 ppm. It's going to keep going up, 2ppm every year, for a while, whatever we do. But if we can stop it getting too high, and then reduce it, then there'll be less disaster than if we do nothing...eventually, things will get so bad that everybody will be screaming that something must be done, like when London is under water, but then it'll be too late...
Interesting that someone could see this coming in 1935. It's not like there's been no warnings, just that people don't want to hear. James Lovelock's been going on about it for decades too.
http://www.donmarquis.com/readingroom/archybooks/ants.html
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Wolf, this might make you feel better about it...then again, somehow I doubt it. (Copy the link in case the post isn't here later; if you want to read it. You don't have to play the video, if you don't want, the transcript is there:
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=614370
Excerpt:
"DAVID EVANS: Now since 1990, western governments have spent about $50 billion looking for evidence that carbon causes global warming and they haven't found any
(according to David Evans, is since 2001 temperatures around the world have stopped rising. And that's despite increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the air. So statistically, in the last seven years, the flattening and perhaps even slight cooling of temperatures - is that significant?)
DAVID EVANS: Yes, yes it is significant. Once it gets up to five years or so it’s really quite significant. Whatever was driving the temperatures up has taken a break for a while and meanwhile carbon emissions have continued and the level of carbon in the atmosphere has gone up about 5% since 2001, yet we see no more warming…I urge them to look at the modern science, the evidence isn't there. There is no evidence that carbon emissions cause a significant amount of global warming."
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Yes, DD, I come across that sort of remark all the time, people saying it's all a hoax got up by Al Gore, bla bla.
James Hansen is THE guy, the most respected climate scientist, (respected by other scientists, that is). Five years is NOT significant (statistically) because we are talking about climate, not weather.
The agreed significant period re climate is 30 years. The global temperature trend has been going up steadily, as CO2 levels have risen, for i50 years. Over that period, it's wobbled, up and down, effected by things like WW2, volcanic eruptions, and so on.
The problem is that Bush and ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal pay people to plant disinformation in the media, because they don't want any legislation to limit CO2 emissions, which would harm their profits.
They actually employ some of the same PR guys that tried to claim that tobacco was harmless, blabla, to fend of anti-smoking legislation.
The way CO2 causes the atmosphere to warm is quite complicated, so it's difficult for the layman to understand, and easy to mislead the public with lies, such as this one..
"There is no evidence that carbon emissions cause a significant amount of global warming."
You have to be careful who you trust in this game. I trust the guys who have made climate science their chosen careers, have PhDs in the subject and have spent decades researching the subject.
http://members.aol.com/bpl1960/Climatology.html
http://www.team-6.jp/cc-sim/english/
http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/08/12/2/a-conversation-with-james-hansen
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You would have noticed then that the Australian Prime Minister agrees with you. Thanks for the links I will read them with interest.
I must away. All the best to you, if I do not catch up with you again.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Here you go DD.
http://bravenewclimate.com/2008/08/20/spot-the-recycled-denial-ii-60-minutes-crunch-time/
The denialists, (mostly funded by coal or oil interests), want to claim that there's two sides to the argument, because that'll delay any effective limits upon their industry for as long as possible.
However, among climate scientists, and the wider scientific community, there is NO argument, nor has there been for a long time. Like, 99.9 % of scientists are completely in agreement that we have man-made global warming caused by CO2 from fossil fuels and that it is a disaster that's coming our way like an avalanche...
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Anybody interested in building a house like this one ?
http://www.simondale.net/house/
Or this one ?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7279502.stm
I guess some people dream about building their own home, but never get around to actual practical steps towards doing it...but if there's someone reads this who thinks they'd be serious about it, I'd be willing to provide a site to do it. PM me if you're interested.
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I'd love to do it, Mr Wolf. I just can't see me getting round to finishing it. Now, there's a friend of mine - bouzouki player - who, if he put his mind to it, would get it done in no time. You should see him clearing trees! Does the heart good.
[In case anybody misinterprets, clearing trees is a *good* thing - it helps maintain healthy woodland.]
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Well, there's just been a change in the planning rules in Pembrokeshire, just a few weeks ago, so there's new opportunities opening up here to allow that kind of dwelling.
I have 25 acres, which is more than I can cope with because of health and getting old, so shareing with someone would probably be a mutually beneficial arrangement. I have the timber already, highest quality oak that's been cut 20 years.
Main problem, as far as I can judge, would be compatibility. As some here may acknowledge, I'm prone to have opinions
But an interest in Irish trad would probably be excellent common ground to keep things on a cordial basis...I'm confident the right person or persons will turn up sooner or later...
I found some more here
http://www.caemabon.co.uk/
huh, just realised, I've been there once, long time ago. Beautiful place...
# Posted on August 26th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
post #360...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhpSOvp28wE
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
I think I've been there, too, wolfbird. But then, I would have, wouldn't I? We're all the same, us musicians ... bloody hippies ...
I'm missing something, gw ... what's with the Silver and Gold?
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Heyzues frkin christos...what has this got to do with the price of a trad cd in ennis?
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by Greenwiggle
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
oh god...now I'm really really depressed.
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"I'm missing something, gw ... what's with the Silver and Gold?"
I don't know. Guess I was feeling a bit like life was passing me by while reading this ridiculously long thread...
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
It just keeps getting longer...
bb Cruella d v, there's no point in being depressed about it, doesn't help. Be happy ! But care, and do anything you can that moves in a good direction, no ?
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Most of the time I care a little bit. Maybe not as much as some would like, but some nonetheless. I reckon if everybody cared 'a little bit' it would make things a lot better.
Of course, it's not going to happen. Still, no harm in trying, eh?
"Ridiculously long"? Pas de tout, me ol' mustard, pas de tout.
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
"Pas de tout, me ol' mustard, pas de tout."
Au contraire, mon frere. C'est ridiculement long... long comme un mauvais film.
# Posted on August 28th 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Basically, my head says, we's all stuffed, (because of Bush and Exxon and Peabody coal and China's boom and overpopulation...and...and...) but, that's not the point.
I fight, not because I expect to win or lose the struggle, but because it's the right thing to do. I love this planet, and hate to see it getting trashed by greedy human idiots who don't understand or care what they are doing. I think this guy has got the analysis just about right, IMHO
http://sorrynogas.blogspot.com/
Incidentally, although I don't suppose anyone is interested, I've had a reporter emailing me all day about that idea to provide a site for a roundhouse. He wants to know if he can do a story about 'free land', erm, I could be getting into some nasty uncharted waters here....I decided to sleep on it, but now I woke up wondering what to do. I'm a very shy man, with an extremely reclusive life. The prospect of interviews and tv crews brings dread and horror. But on the other hand, I'm sick of waiting for someone else, or the Gvt., or anybody, to show a lead and do something...maybe it has to be me ? Clucking bell, I'm a solitary old man, in poor health. I don't have any army of supporters to back me up in a battle with officialdom and the authorities. If I say I'm going ahead and it's in the paper, next day all hell will be knocking at my door....sheeesh...
# Posted on August 28th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You go wolfbird. Give 'em hell. And trust me, you're NOT alone--not by a long shot.
# Posted on August 28th 2008 by GDub
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Hmm. 'Sleeping in a burning bed...'
You telling me I'm not the only one who is awake, gw ?
That's, erm, kinda comforting, I suppose...maybe...sometime I wish I could go back to sleep.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082703108.html
http://poptech.org/popcasts/?viewcastid=163
http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild230808.htm
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
What are you actively doing about it, wolfie? I know you've said you are getting on a bit and not in the greatest of health (at least I don't *think* I've made that up) , but I was wondering if there was still something you could be doing and, in fact, are?
Willing to be inspired ...
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Ha, yes, benhall, I'm coming up to sixty and have a health problem and generally a burned out old wreck...and I'm thinking about the future and particularly the future of this place. I'm on as many forums as I can manage, trying to wake people up and share ideas. I live a low impact lifestyle myself, but that doesn't solve the larger problem. I put a feeler out here
http://www.lowimpact.org/forums/
and I've had a busy time replying to emails I've had from some interested people. It's all ongoing at this very moment, so I don't know where it will lead...If I think of something inspiring, I'll post it later...mostly I seem to be reading doom and gloom from every quarter...maybe time to learn how to make your own shoes ? there's some nice ones here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7580294.stm
http://www.alternet.org/story/95126/the_delusion_revolution%3A_we%27re_on_the_road_to_extinction_and_in_denial/?page=entire
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4613313
http://www.sonic.net/~taryfast/destruction.html
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Don't know if this is inspiring, but it's food for thought
http://www.awok.org/
http://sustliving.blogspot.com/2008/06/bill-mollison-video.html
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Whoops, that Mollison video has gone...but there's plenty on youtube and elsewhere, if anyone's interested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ0r_yklrDI&feature=related
http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/mollison.html
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by wolfbird
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dear me - I looked in on this thread but gave up about quarter of the way down.
However, I have learned that Dow is now in the UK. Or was then in the UK.
And that anyone who really believes that you get asked about criminal convictions at the point of entry into Australia or that they would refuse you entry for laughing at a terrible English joke , or that they actually give a stuff about what the latest A380-load of poms has to say for themselves, is credulous beyond belief.
Especially so since such a large proportion of Immigration officers in Australia are recent immigrants themselves.
Like the London-spoken Immi official at Perth airport trying to act all suspicious and security-conscious in the wake of WTC and Bali. "Colac" she says, narrowing her eyes, referring to the humble town of my birth as noted on my passport "That doesn't sound very Australian"
To which I retorted "It's a bloody sight more Australian than Pairrrrrrth"
Now, that *was* funny, even if I was the only one laughing.
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by Bren
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Go Colac!
(Stay young; Keep your wheels in motion!)
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Is it actually quite nice in Austalia? 'Cos, cutting back due to credit crunch etc, I can't actually afford to go there .. but it sounds quite boring from everything I hear ... ?
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7589382.stm
So, no men in Aussie? Thanks to DD I already knew that.
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Not to worry, I'll be down there in a couple of weeks.
Of course it doesn't exactly excite the spinsters of Australia to find that that nice young pommy lad who seems to be available prefers to spend his evenings playing concertina
# Posted on August 30th 2008 by Bren
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Tee hee BB! How was your holiday in Mayo? ... and Ben, you'll never know if you never go ... and Wolfbird, I'm impressed by the stuff on permaculture ... way to go. And Bren, welcome home ... and DD, don't say you come from Colac too! I think this thread turned out okay, well lately, anyway, hey. Yay, the Aussie women! ...
# Posted on August 31st 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Mayo was wonderful as usual, thank you bb and clear drops, gives Emer Maycock and Molloy the chance to boast that they were in sessions with me.
So, what happened to all the men in Oz? Run away from the "poms" I suppose.
# Posted on August 31st 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Perhaps the solution is at hand:
http://colacherald.com/2008/08/29/girl-drought-affects-guys/
# Posted on August 31st 2008 by Bren
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Dont worry Benhall - you are missing nothing, australia is lame - really really boring and bad and ...lame...You arent missign a thing....honest. Its lame.
# Posted on August 31st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
You do make me laugh, beebs! Thank you!
# Posted on August 31st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
# Posted on August 31st 2008 by bb
Re: Just wondering, Ozzie chums ... how's it going?
Keep smiling folks...
http://polardefenseproject.org/blog/?p=109
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/for-the-first-time-in-human-history-the-north-pole-can-be-circumnavigated-913924.html
http://www.awi.de/en/news/press_releases/detail/item/ark_xxiii3/?cHash=4b34c7a1b7
These reports imply substantial warming of the Arctic.
That will have secondary impacts:
1) Climatic shift.
If you warm the Arctic, and increase humidity due to higher temperatures and more open water over 0deg.C, then you will changed the relationship between the polar and tropical regions.
This changes what happens in between the pole and tropics, that is, our climate in the northern hemisphere. Such changes will be in the large scale relationships, such as jet stream tracks affecting precipitation.
2) Methane clathrate outgassing.
Removing the ice increases storminess (due to water vapour) and storms assist vertical mixing, and with less ice this happens over a wider area. There is already evidence of methane clathrates being potentially unstable and there being more risk of rapid outgassing than from land permafrost .
But how much methane will be released and how quickly ?
That's possibly the scariest prospects of all.
3) Greenland and Sea Level Rise.
Remove the sea-ice from the North Greenland coast and you will warm the northern flanks of Greenland, which have been cooled by the expanse of ice across the Arctic Ocean. The ice cap has been large enough in the summer to effectively develop it’s own climate, keeping it markedly cooler than in the wider Arctic Basin. Warmer temperatures in the north of Greenland are sure to lead to a greater contribution to sea level rise.
By how much and how fast will sea level rise?
Each of these three secondary impacts, will in turn produce their own secondary impacts, which then cascade throughout the climate system.
All of the above were already known risks of climate change anyway, at some future point. They are no longer possible risks in the *future*, they are now things that are commencing and once started will continue to proceed.
Anybody understand what a tipping point is ?
When a seasonally ice free Arctic in 2050 was expected, we’d have had time to learn more to adapt and perhaps reduce our emissions severely enough to slow the process.
Seems we’re looking at an ice-free Arctic by 2018, so we have barely any time to do anything before consequences hit.
The only attainable option we may have now is to try to avoid a catastrophe by massive emissions reductions, reductions we will have to achieve as we struggle to cope with an unfolding disaster.
# Posted on August 31st 2008 by wolfbird