TheBanyanTree: Luck of the Irish

[Peter Macinnis]

Rob McMonigal wrote:
> I apologize for two extreme American-biased comments that didn't get a full
> explanation!

> I apologize for not explaining along the way, Peter!

A thought about cultures -- we all have our quirks and oddities, but 
Australia is often culturally isolated in one direction.  We understand, 
but expect not to be understood.  Talking to an Internet audience, we 
might expect people to have heard of jumbucks (the term is no longer 
used, but every Australian knows it) -- and we find that Internet people 
have often heard of the song 'Waltzing Matilda'.

We are aware, however, that a reference to The Never-Never, Carn The 
Mighty Crows, Bjelke-Joh, tucker, Banjo Paterson (he wrote 'Waltzing 
Matilda', about stealing a jumbuck, or sheep) or David Gulpilil (who may 
be familar from assorted Australian films) might need explanation, and 
so we explain.  There are hundreds of Oz terms that are current only in 
Australia, and we are generally aware when we use one.

America exports its cultural references around the world, in film, books 
and television, and so the rest of the English-speaking world knows what 
a sidewalk is (it's a footpath), we know that their elevator is a lift, 
their automobile's hood is a car's bonnet and so on.  Most of the time, 
when an American makes a cultural reference, we get it.  We also 
understand British usages, because we get a lot of their TV here as 
well.  In the hearing direction, we are effectively trilingual.

In the case in question, the abbreviation Rob used had me perplexed -- 
and I didn't know the song he referred to, so I wrote off-list to ask 
him what it meant.

There was no reason for him to know that others would miss the 
reference, and that being so, his apology is returned, unused, so that 
he may save it for a rainy day.

I was by no means suggesting that Rob was a bogan who wouldn't know a 
dunny from a dunnart -- to use three probably entirely inexplicable 
Australianisms that I will leave the perplexed reader to Google :-)

cheers

-- 
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