Cue up Velvet Revolver: it's another trip for my wife -- to Germany this time. And no, she won't say anything about the war.
Then it's on to Australia. Hm, how best to offend the Aussies? Is there a handy Crocodile Dundee reference I can reach for? Or should I just say, "Fair dinkum" and be done with it?
Unrelated Post-It Note: "Why ... would someone who came of musical age in the punk era, alongside acts that aspired to take the piss out of absolutely everything, work so tirelessly to put the piss back in?"; "Unyoked from Copeland, Sting was free to become what he is today: one-third spirit in the material world, two-thirds scented candle." If Bob Geldof is "ostensibly a friend" of Sting's, this profile by Stephen Metcalf is ostensibly appreciative of the man and his formerly-super band, The Police.
How to offend Aussies?
ReplyDeleteDifficult - they are quite thick-skinned and pretty-much immune.
You might call them "Poms" of "Pommies" just to wind them up ("Isn't that what you call yourselves?") or, at a more personal level, Bruce or Sheila depending on who you are talking to.
Two stories of how it has been done in the past: the apocryphal Englishman who, upon being asked at the port of entry whether he possessed a criminal record, supposedly replied "I was not aware it was still a requirement"; or the Billy Connolly approach, which was to describe the real Glasgow he came from to his audience rather than the rosey-tinted skipping-through-the-heather Glasgow they imagined. Someone threw a pipe at him in Brisbane for doing that.
Tough one, though.
Continual reminders of their Iraq war cheerleading would be my start, though for all I know they're proud of their Prime Minister marching in lockstep with the White House, like the way he warned Americans against voting for Barack Obama this week.
ReplyDeleteNah, I'd just keep telling them how much I enjoyed Lord of the Rings and how beautiful the countryside was. Coming in second to New Zealand drives 'em crazy!
scott - I think Bearded is onto something: snide references to their political lunacies will only goad them into symathetic chortles. The Kiwi tack, on the other hand, might get a decidedly more violent response.
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