Happy Australia Day!

[Targan]

For those of you who are not lucky enough to come from 'Terra Australis', today is Australia Day, a national public holiday and probably the only day of the year when it is considered normal for Australians to display loud, overt patriotism.

So to my fellow 'Austruckafalians' I say Happy Australia Day, I hope you've already downed litres of beer and have more lined up.

I friend of mine posted the following on Facebook today:

"YOU KNOW YOU'RE AUSTRALIAN WHEN: You believe that stubbies can either be drunk or worn. You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'. You believe that the letter 'l' in Australia is optional, and it's perfectly ok to call it 'Straya' You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is 'just a bit of a bastard'. You think 'Wooloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for .........a place. You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife. You believe it makes perfect sense for a country to have a $1 coin thats twice as big as a $2 coin. You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' cannot be just 'Woy'. Beetroot with your hamburger...of course! You know that certain words, by law, must be shouted outloud during any rendition of the Angels' song ...'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' and 'Living next door to Alice'. You wear ugg boots outside the house. You believe that the more you shorten someone's name, the more you like them. You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, but 'scuse me' is always polite. You know what its like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose. You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron. You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in "o": arvo, convo, garbo, kezo, lezzo, metho, milko, muso, servo, smoko, rego, speedo, righto, etc,....you know that there is a universal place called 'Woop Woop' located in the middle of nowhere, no matter where you actually are! And you can understand all of this, had a giggle, and tell all your aussie and international friends. I love Australia!!!"

[Webstral]

It's reassuring to have a few of the crazies on our side, even if they are almost as incomprehensible as the crazies we don't like. Right bastards, they are.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Nice one Targan! Gave me a good laugh after the crappy night we've just had here in Perth (sweltering humidity without the benefits of any breeze - you could get used to it if it was like that for a week or more but it's just a few days here and there... I hate this weather, can you tell!)

[weswood]

Happy Australia Day!

But what the hell is a stubbie????? 2nd time I've seen the word posted and I can't figure it out from context.

[Legbreaker]

Stubbie: a small bottle of beer - 375mm
Longneck: a larger bottle of around 750mm
Darwin Stubbie: HUGE 2 litre bottle (tastes shit apparently)
Slab: carton of beer
Middie/Handle/Pot/Schooner (South Australia only): 285ml glass
Schooner/Pint (SA only): 425ml glass
Pint: 570ml glass

There are smaller glasses such as Ponies, Shetlands, Sevens, Butchers, Horses and Bobbies, but you don't often see them in use. The most common are the Middy and Schooner.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Stubbie: a small bottle of beer - 375mm

Also...
Stubbies - an Aussie clothing brand now specializing in working and school apparel, probably best known for their shorts, the design of which remained unchanged for several decades.

And more "also", jumpers have been mentioned in the thread about the croc taking the lawnmower. Jumpers can also, for farmers and other rural folk, refer to kangaroos. I haven't heard it in modern usage but for the 1950s-1960s generations it was a moderately common term.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Jumpers can also, for farmers and other rural folk, refer to kangaroos.

To me they're just "targets".

[Sanjuro]

Is "Woop Woop" anywhere "PULL UP""?
GPWS joke...

[Legbreaker]

Couldn't say.
Can say I've been to Paradise, which is just down the road from Nowhere Else.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Couldn't say.
Can say I've been to Paradise, which is just down the road from Nowhere Else.

I always thought it was somewhere "beyond the black stump"...

[Legbreaker]

Actually, they're both just around the corner from the Promised Land (been there too).
All of them are somewhere between Sheffield and Middlesex, and no, I've never been out of Australia...
I've also been to both Kimberly and Perth in the last twelve months, but haven't been out of Tasmania in the last few years.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

I've also been to both Kimberly and Perth in the last twelve months, but haven't been out of Tasmania in the last few years.

You were in Perth and didn't let me buy you a beer? For shame!

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Targan

You were in Perth and didn't let me buy you a beer? For shame!

Not that Perth unfortunately
The one on the Esk river (which feeds into the Tamar).

Wonder if I've totally confused the Poms yet?

Oh, and did I mention I drove through there on the way to Brighton via Bagdad and managed it all using just one car in less than two hours without breaking the sound barrier.

[rcaf_777]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Stubbie: a small bottle of beer - 375mm
Longneck: a larger bottle of around 750mm
Darwin Stubbie: HUGE 2 litre bottle (tastes shit apparently)
Slab: carton of beer
Middie/Handle/Pot/Schooner (South Australia only): 285ml glass
Schooner/Pint (SA only): 425ml glass
Pint: 570ml glass

There are smaller glasses such as Ponies, Shetlands, Sevens, Butchers, Horses and Bobbies, but you don't often see them in use. The most common are the Middy and Schooner.

This is great all I ever learned about Australia is from one episode of the Simpsons, where that Big Can of Foster I saw?

[ArmySGT.]

anyone sober yet?

[Legbreaker]

What's this word "sober"? Is it english?

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

What's this word "sober"? Is it english?

As I thought. Not even a passing reference to the definition.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by Targan

For those of you who are not lucky enough to come from 'Terra Australis', today is Australia Day, a national public holiday and probably the only day of the year when it is considered normal for Australians to display loud, overt patriotism.

So to my fellow 'Austruckafalians' I say Happy Australia Day, I hope you've already downed litres of beer and have more lined up.

I friend of mine posted the following on Facebook today:

"YOU KNOW YOU'RE AUSTRALIAN WHEN: You believe that stubbies can either be drunk or worn. You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'. You believe that the letter 'l' in Australia is optional, and it's perfectly ok to call it 'Straya' You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is 'just a bit of a bastard'. You think 'Wooloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for .........a place. You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife. You believe it makes perfect sense for a country to have a $1 coin thats twice as big as a $2 coin. You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' cannot be just 'Woy'. Beetroot with your hamburger...of course! You know that certain words, by law, must be shouted outloud during any rendition of the Angels' song ...'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' and 'Living next door to Alice'. You wear ugg boots outside the house. You believe that the more you shorten someone's name, the more you like them. You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, but 'scuse me' is always polite. You know what its like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose. You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron. You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in "o": arvo, convo, garbo, kezo, lezzo, metho, milko, muso, servo, smoko, rego, speedo, righto, etc,....you know that there is a universal place called 'Woop Woop' located in the middle of nowhere, no matter where you actually are! And you can understand all of this, had a giggle, and tell all your aussie and international friends. I love Australia!!!"

The sad bit is, I lived just long enough in NZed to actually get that by and large - and that which I didn't, I got by context. Well, the "o" bit I recognise, but never really got even when I was there. But still and all...