Originally Posted by DasProfezzional

Ha. Australians. What exactly do you have to gloat about? Higher carbon emissions per capita than Americans, beautiful beaches that nobody can swim at without worrying about getting killed by a jellyfish, and not a discernible trace of culture since the white people decided that the Aborigines had to go.

Sweet. I'll stick to the Estados Unidos and the Nation of Quebec.

Originally Posted by seppomadness

See our 'keep the idiots out with mis-information' campaign is still working a treat.

Originally Posted by Jason B

Take a trip sometime... I think the states would be a much better place if we took some lessons from the Aussies...

Originally Posted by seppomadness

Old drumsticks???? Pffftttttttttttttttttt. Even Pshaw can handle that old man..... London to a brick.

Originally Posted by DasProfezzional

Hold up, hombre. I've been to Japan, I've been to France, I've been to Switzerland, I've been to Scotland, I've been to Mexico. I speak four languages. I'm typing this in Montreal. I'm about as international as they come. But America's got nothing to learn from Australia. Sorry.

Originally Posted by DasProfezzional

Ha. Australians. What exactly do you have to gloat about? Higher carbon emissions per capita than Americans,
beautiful beaches that nobody can swim at without worrying about getting killed by a jellyfish,
and not a discernible trace of culture since the white people decided that the Aborigines had to go.
Sweet. I'll stick to the Estados Unidos and the Nation of Quebec.

Originally Posted by seppomadness

Why the friggin interest in my bike? I actually pulled the pin on my new frame I just don't have the money to buy good wheels and a frame at the same time (Ok I am poor(ish) there I said it!). I could of done it and eaten baked beans for most of 2008 but I had to be a little sensible.

Originally Posted by DasProfezzional

Hold up, hombre. I've been to Japan, I've been to France, I've been to Switzerland, I've been to Scotland, I've been to Mexico. I speak four languages. I'm typing this in Montreal. I'm about as international as they come. But America's got nothing to learn from Australia. Sorry.

Originally Posted by Seppo

I'm poor. I didn't get that frame.

Originally Posted by Odin

Strewth ya meet some drongo's on the interweb.. definitely a few roos loose there.
If you haven't been here sunshine, you're in no position to gob off. Fair crack of the whip... get a Darwin stubbie up ya!!

Originally Posted by DasProfezzional

Wait, you guys have your own slang? No way! I know of no other society that can boast thusly.

Maybe that's the problem. The world doesn't know who your president is, if you have one, or anything about your government or politics or current events. Nobody knows if you have any monuments, or anything worth visiting, aside from an opera house in a city whose name I personally only remember because it was the central focus of a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie. Your country hasn't produced any world-changing literature, or music, or art. When Americans (vis, the world,) think about Australia, we think about dingoes, kangaroos, bigass jellyfish, g'day, and shrimp on the barbie, which is, apparently, a term that you don't even use. To the rest of the world, your country is defined by a stereotypical greeting, which the rest of the world happens to now find cheesy and stupid, as somebody mentioned earlier.

I'm glad you love your country, and I'm glad you're proud of it. But Americans, nay, the people of the industrialized world really doesn't care, because you've got absolutely nothing that they don't. Except for poisonous snakes, coneshells, and huge spiders.

Originally Posted by DasProfezzional

Wait, you guys have your own slang? No way! I know of no other society that can boast thusly.

Maybe that's the problem. The world doesn't know who your president is, if you have one, or anything about your government or politics or current events. Nobody knows if you have any monuments, or anything worth visiting, aside from an opera house in a city whose name I personally only remember because it was the central focus of a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie. Your country hasn't produced any world-changing literature, or music, or art. When Americans (vis, the world,) think about Australia, we think about dingoes, kangaroos, bigass jellyfish, g'day, and shrimp on the barbie, which is, apparently, a term that you don't even use. To the rest of the world, your country is defined by a stereotypical greeting, which the rest of the world happens to now find cheesy and stupid, as somebody mentioned earlier.

I'm glad you love your country, and I'm glad you're proud of it. But Americans, nay, the people of the industrialized world really doesn't care, because you've got absolutely nothing that they don't. Except for poisonous snakes, coneshells, and huge spiders.

Originally Posted by elgalad

I love that this thread is up to 5 pages.

Aussies punching above their weight again

Originally Posted by Johnny_Monkey

Pfft, this is nothing compared to the old days.

Originally Posted by elgalad

I've picked up bits of the story here and there, seems sad that there aren't more aussies around here. Seems we're slowly coming back. Maybe we'll get a decent showing yet

Originally Posted by seppomadness

I don't think you understand me much. I just say what I feel.
The reason most people dislike me is because they go looking for logic and sensibility in the words that come out of my mouth. I have never advocated this.

Originally Posted by Johnny_Monkey

Gloat away Aussie.

New Yanks and jafas: why no one likes Aussies anymore

When I first started travelling, only about 10 years ago, everyone loved an Aussie. You walked into a pub, someone would hear your accent, and clap you on the shoulder and buy you a drink. "G'day," was an acceptable pick-up line.

You'd find yourself the token conversation piece at get-togethers, where you could persuade people that you wrestled kangaroos for a living. Doors magically opened, hassles were incredibly smoothed over, with the help of an Australian accent.

But it's all gone wrong ...

Try the old "g'day" line at a pub in London now, and at best you'll get a roll of the eyes, at worst a "piss off jafa".

(Jafa, by the way, is a phrase originally coined by Kiwis about Aucklanders, but is now the term used by Londoners when they hear our accent and think, "Just Another F---ing Australian.")

The disdain now shown for Australian travellers abroad (and by the occasional worked-up reader on this blog) is pretty worrying for those of us who love to travel, and were used to being treated kindly purely because of our nationality.

So what's happened to the lovable Aussie?

Firstly, we're suffering from a serious case of overexposure. The fact that Australia is so far away from anywhere else used to mean that not many of us made it to foreign shores. Now, not only do we have air travel, but we have extremely cheap air travel, meaning that any ****** who can manage to scrape together a few hundred dollars can go and prop up the tittie bar industry in ****et for a week or so.

It also means groups of blokes on buck's weekends can wreak havoc on the world in an "I'm sick of getting pissed at Establishment, let's go do it in Bali" kind of way. Travel used to be confined to people who were completely dedicated to it, who would spend all of their savings on that big trip away. Now, anyone can go and act like as big a moron away as they do at home.

But it's not just the buck's night crowds that are ruining our reputation. It's a real worry that Aussies in Europe are now being tagged "New Yanks". No offence to the old Yanks, but that's not something I want to be.

We're now seen as the arrogant, loud twats who complain when everything's different to how it is back home. Australians always had a reputation for liking a party, but now we're the obnoxious drunks, abusing the bar staff because their English sucks, whingeing that we'd kill for a Carlton Draught instead of this crap we're being forced to drink.

Australians are almost a comedy piece. People in Aussie-populated pubs will scream out "Aussie Aussie Aussie" just to have a chuckle at the inevitable slurred cries of "Oi oi oi!" from the bloke in the Wallabies jersey who would treat it as a sign of disrespect if you didn't answer the call.

Sadly, there's also politics to consider. Australia used to be barely a blip on the world political radar (and mostly still is); however, we're not the innocent, fun-loving little country we used to be (and New Zealand still is - see how easy it could have been?). Like the Yanks, we've dived into an unpopular war, taken powerful sides on a huge world issue, and generally tried to push around a bit of weight that we don't have. You might say politics and travel shouldn't be linked; however, people overseas know what we're up to. It affects all of us.

Another possible point, although I can't quite convince myself this is true, is jealousy. Is the "arrogant Aussie" tag just a way of brushing off the fact that many people would like to call Australia home? We do have it pretty good here. Do other people think that, too?

The bottom line, however, is that anyone who's travelled knows there are a lot of Australians out there acting like dickheads, and it's giving the rest of us a bad name. I've been to bars in Africa, only to watch a drunk Aussie get thrown out by locals for trying pull his pants down and run around the pool table. At the running of the bulls, I've seen Australians flip cultural respect the bird in favour of running in their favourite AFL jersey, rather than the traditional red and white costume. Once, at a cafe in Munich, a compatriot jokingly tried to draw a large swastika on my arm, seriously missing the hideous insinuation. I've been involved with groups of Australians on organised tours roaming Europe, laying waste to city after city.

It's not pretty, but we haven't hit rock bottom yet. When some other country's citizens start getting called "New Aussies", I'm handing in my passport.

Ever been embarrassed by Australians on the road? Why doesn't everyone love us anymore?


https://blogs.smh.com.au/travel/archi...hy_no_one.html

Originally Posted by seppomadness

Poor Johny H. I bet he called Dubya to have a teary. Chief Wahoo was right on the money. Smart cock.

Originally Posted by DasProfezzional

Wait, you guys have your own slang? No way! I know of no other society that can boast thusly.

Maybe that's the problem. The world doesn't know who your president is, if you have one, or anything about your government or politics or current events. Nobody knows if you have any monuments, or anything worth visiting, aside from an opera house in a city whose name I personally only remember because it was the central focus of a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie. Your country hasn't produced any world-changing literature, or music, or art. When Americans (vis, the world,) think about Australia, we think about dingoes, kangaroos, bigass jellyfish, g'day, and shrimp on the barbie, which is, apparently, a term that you don't even use. To the rest of the world, your country is defined by a stereotypical greeting, which the rest of the world happens to now find cheesy and stupid, as somebody mentioned earlier.

I'm glad you love your country, and I'm glad you're proud of it. But Americans, nay, the people of the industrialized world really doesn't care, because you've got absolutely nothing that they don't. Except for poisonous snakes, coneshells, and huge spiders.

Originally Posted by 531Aussie

eh, you can get one of these for $800. He had two of them down there

1546g of strong, stiff bliss