Australian Living in Deepest Darkest Hampshire
Who am I? Oz Boy, Pom Accent
I'm not particularly unique, something that irks me no end. If you're Norwegian that's another matter because there are so few of them, and mostly they stay home, because of the Fiords. Unlike my Wife of course, who seems to enjoy living here with me.
I'm Australian, which does not impress British folk in the slightest. This probably has something to do with the 500,000 other antipodeans knocking about the UK at any one time. It's also probably to do with the fact that 90% of British people seem to have either gone to Australia and driven an old holden all the way around national highway 1, or lived in Coogee for a while. Not to mention all the London Taxi Drivers who have a cousin/brother/sister who lives in Perth, which is of course just near Sydney, and maybe I've met them?
Glossary
- Antipodean The Antipodes is a place. I'm reliably informed of this by a nice webpage i can't refer to directly with a link anymore - but you know how to use google don't you? It's from the latin for 'the land that is the complete opposite of your own'. It is the plural of antipous or having feet pointing in the opposite direction to the rest of your body, (which provides one possible explanation of why some people outside the walkabout pub in Shepherds Bush have trouble walking around closing time). This was the description of the mythical creatures, the Antipodeans, who were said to live in this unknown land to the south. These days it's used to refer to Australians and New Zealaders by Europeans. Although they try hard, the South Africans fall short of any claim to be antipodeans. I say this because people knew where Africa was when the word was coined (Hah!).
- Coogee An overcrowded beachside suburb of Sydney NSW, which is famous mainly for being next to Bondi, which is famous amongst Sydneysiders for having a sewage outfall problem, and world famous at least as far as the Japanese are concerned, for being the place uncle yoshi, and aunt michiko went to on a bus once.
- Holden A brand name of Australian car, which is not Ford. In reality it's always been a cover name behind which General Motors of the USA hides it's Americanness. When growing up, young Aussies and Kiwis are instilled with a love for one, and hatred for the other, just so long as you think like Dad. I had a confused childhood, and have never really got over the stigma of my dad's Peugeot, but at least we never owned a Leyland P76. Hey! Lets all sing... "Football, Meatpies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars", unless you're a New Zealander... "Football, Fish and Chips, Kiwi birds, and Holden Cars".. makes me feel like a true Dinkum Aussie, I can tell you!
- Dinkum I will be careful with this glossary entry, I must avoid using any other words worthy of a glossary entry to describe another glossary entry as it really is getting late. Anyway, the story goes; Din Kum is chinese for 'genuine' and the word dinkum sprang from the goldfields during gold rush times, and is used frequently these days as an adjective meaning 'genuine'. I have absolutely no idea whether this story about the origins of Dinkum, is dinkum.
Conversations
| Conversation Title | Latest Post | Latest Reply |
|---|---|---|
| A universal and absolute standard of designating time. | Mar 20, 2000 | Mar 21, 2000 |
| The omni-iron | Mar 20, 2000 | No Replies |
Cup of Tea
Researcher U114708
Entries
Most Recent Edited Entries
- This user has not written any Edited Entries.
Entries
- This user has not written any Edited Entries.
Disclaimer
h2g2 is created by h2g2's users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Not Panicking Ltd. If you consider any Entry to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please register a complaint. For any other comments, please visit the Feedback page.
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."