What do you really know about Australia?

[Dwarfman]

1. The original natives are known as "Aborigines."
2. The British used it as the world's largest prison for a while.
3. It's home to some of the most awesome animals on earth (kangaroo, dingo, koala etc.).
4. The capitol is Canberra.
5. Sydney is the largest city and is home to the Sydney Opera House (go figure).
6. It was a part of the British Commonwealth until the mid-20th century.
7. Australian gaming regulations are more draconian than most other industrialized nations.
8. The government tends to lean more conservative than the United States.
9. There are some magnificent coral reefs off-shore.
10. A "bogan" means a stupid person.
11. There are several nonnative species that are major pests, such as cane toads.
12. The outback is a place you don't want to get lost in.
13. During the World Wars, Australian troops fought tenaciously and made great sacrifices.
14. Its people have a reputation for being friendly but direct.
15. I have distant relatives that live in Australia.

That's what I can come up with off the top of my head.

We still are apart of the British Commonwealth. We don't get enough gold medals in the olympics to sever all ties with Britannia!

A bogun ( or Bevan if you're from S.A or QLD) is a red neck or yokel - although they're stupid too so you get points.

hmmmm...do the tallying...Yeah you get a gold star.

 

[Dwarfman]

Augh. Reading this thread is torture. XD So much misinformation.

There is one thing you gotta worry about though. Drop bears. Those little bastards cause more deaths than all other wildlife-related deaths put together. Even worse than the swimming knives.

This is true. Hoop Snakes are also very dangerous - though not as deadly as the Drop Bear!

 

[Dwarfman]

I live in New Zealand, does that count as cheating?
[sub]They overshadow us >.>[/sub]

Only when sheep are concerned ;-)>

 

[trophykiller]

The government hates it's people there(more than everywhere else). Don't even let them own .22s from what I hear. With the wildlife they have, I would feel safe with nothing less than an AK-47, .308 sniper rifle, 12 guage shotgun(the animals could fly, you know), grenades, and several people watching my back for when I(somehow) go to sleep.

My reasoning: http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/

 

[Dwarfman]

Kangaroo means "I don't know" in the native language

Not true. Kangaroo was the name of the animal in the language of a native tribe, and then when they move to another tribe and were talking about Kangaroo's the second tribe didn't know what they were talking about coz the tribes had a different language.

Quite true. In fact the name should be pronounced Gangarra or something like that but because Captain Cook and his crew miss-heard it the name Kangaroo is used.

 

[Shade184]

Augh. Reading this thread is torture. XD So much misinformation.

There is one thing you gotta worry about though. Drop bears. Those little bastards cause more deaths than all other wildlife-related deaths put together. Even worse than the swimming knives.

This is true. Hoop Snakes are also very dangerous - though not as deadly as the Drop Bear!

Oh man, I've lost three dogs to hoop snakes. I nearly got bitten myself but my uncle (who's a crazy bastard) actually somehow had managed to catch a drop bear, and he threw the cage with the bear in it at the snake. The furry bastard tore the cage open, shredded the snake, and I had barely enough time to run inside before it tried to throw itself at me...

 

[Dwarfman]

The government hates it's people there(more than everywhere else). Don't even let them own .22s from what I hear. With the wildlife they have, I would feel safe with nothing less than an AK-47, .308 sniper rifle, 12 guage shotgun(the animals could fly, you know), grenades, and several people watching my back for when I(somehow) go to sleep.

My reasoning: http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/

Dude one of our most nastiest spiders likes to live under the seats of outdoor toilets. What are you going to do with a sniper rifle?

 

[Doctor Lemon]

Australians ride around in Kangaroos.
Kangaroo means "I don't know" in the native language
Kangaroos are cute.
Steve Irwin was a badass.
Yahtzee lives there.

...that's about it.

Thats pretty much it......

Kicking ass and taking names! How about some harder ones? Australian slang? Movies? Comedians? Cities? Politicians?

Australian slang: G'day
Movies: Tomorrow When the War began; also a book
Comedians: Shaun Micallef
Cities: Melbourne
Politicians: Kevin Rudd

Want any more?
If you haven't guessed yet i am Australian

 

[Dwarfman]

Augh. Reading this thread is torture. XD So much misinformation.

There is one thing you gotta worry about though. Drop bears. Those little bastards cause more deaths than all other wildlife-related deaths put together. Even worse than the swimming knives.

This is true. Hoop Snakes are also very dangerous - though not as deadly as the Drop Bear!

Oh man, I've lost three dogs to hoop snakes. I nearly got bitten myself but my uncle (who's a crazy bastard) actually somehow had managed to catch a drop bear, and he threw the cage with the bear in it at the snake. The furry bastard tore the cage open, shredded the snake, and I had barely enough time to run inside before it tried to throw itself at me...

Those Drop Bears sure are deadly. Jeez last I heard six backpackers die each year from Drop Bear attacks at least!

 

[Shade184]

Augh. Reading this thread is torture. XD So much misinformation.

There is one thing you gotta worry about though. Drop bears. Those little bastards cause more deaths than all other wildlife-related deaths put together. Even worse than the swimming knives.

This is true. Hoop Snakes are also very dangerous - though not as deadly as the Drop Bear!

Oh man, I've lost three dogs to hoop snakes. I nearly got bitten myself but my uncle (who's a crazy bastard) actually somehow had managed to catch a drop bear, and he threw the cage with the bear in it at the snake. The furry bastard tore the cage open, shredded the snake, and I had barely enough time to run inside before it tried to throw itself at me...

Those Drop Bears sure are deadly. Jeez last I heard six backpackers die each year from Drop Bear attacks at least!

And all of 'em Americans.

 

[Shade184]

NEVER attempt an Aussie accent in the presence of an Aussie. No one can do it right (with two exceptions) and rather than taking the 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' school of thought most Aussies will assume you're taking the piss and start to get a bit hostile.

Agreed, it's about as offensive as it gets. But who are the two exceptions? I've never done it heard right before, the closest I've ever heard was the Aussie soldier in Halo 2 and even he made a ton of mistakes.

 

[Danish rage]

I´ve never met anybody so nice. And i suspect we are much alike. And very different of course, seeing they don´t live in a grey hell.

 

[uchi mata]

Not that much just the the only Australian I've ever met was a huge dick

 

[Drummodino]

Damn drop bears... they ruin a good old barbeque, and spoil the shrimp

In all seriousness Aus is pretty awesome. Sure we have a heap of dangerous shit but you won't see too many if you stay in the cities... except spiders and maybe some snakes (depends where you are). And they'll generally leave you alone unless you piss them off. Besides we're super duper friendly

I think its funny that people are saying how awesome kangaroos are and how most of our animals are dangerous, yet if you piss off a roo they can rip you a new one. They like to jump on their tail and kick you with their vicious hind legs (I'm deadly serious). They have some mean claws on them.

Oh and Melbourne is the most awesome city in the world (This from a WA boy).

 

[Drummodino]

Also most Aussie "slang" is generally not used. The only examples that are widely used around where I live are "G'Day" "no worries" and "mate"

 

[Contradiction]

-snip-

Wow thats a good point the Gillard versus Assange QLD v.s SA maybe a bad comparison though. I don't know whether you used that because you thought I was foreign but Assagne's accent isn't that apparent. Of course other people can tell that hes Australian but in Queensland no one would say he had an accent(atleast not a strong one). I find the Queensland accent to be more of the stereotypical one though. SA accents stick out heaps to me but I thought that it was because I am Australian and could tell them apart. Also I totally agree with you about the whole generational and media thing. Its a bit sad really as you would have seen when quoting me I'm not a fan of Americanizing of AUS. Unfortunately though its seems inevitable but the accent will prevail in the smaller towns at least for a little longer than the cities.

Lastly I don't know what the article you are referring to but I will assure you that I face the same animals you do as a fellow Australia.
Also note that that part of the post you quoted was wroten in retaliation to the concept that there is one uniform accent. Although some people say that the accent is the same I had intended that comment to imply that there are different variations of the accent( from the stereotypical one) in Australia and believe ours to be stronger but only meant that to mean closer to the sterotype. of course the strength of the variation is subject to change. To make a nerdy comparison the Potency of an acid versus the dilution. Gillard's is extremely an strong example of the SA variation, I agree.
edit- I meant SA =]

Also:

NEVER attempt an Aussie accent in the presence of an Aussie. No one can do it right (with two exceptions) and rather than taking the 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' school of thought most Aussies will assume you're taking the piss and start to get a bit hostile.

Agreed, it's about as offensive as it gets. But who are the two exceptions? I've never done it heard right before, the closest I've ever heard was the Aussie soldier in Halo 2 and even he made a ton of mistakes.

I third that.

 

[Strid]

Australia, it has the most uranium of all countries in the world and has no nuclear weapons program.

Thank God for that.

 

[Death God]

Um.... there are boxing kangaroos? That is sadly, all I know other than Sydney (thanks Finding Nemo!). That and surfing.... I think. Never been too interested in Australia.

 

[DeathChairOfHell]

there are kangaroos there! BOO YAH

 

[Leg End]

That they hate DFC and Loli.

I'm never going to Australia.