Re: What do you find charming ?
Originally Posted by
Minx
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Such eloquence! I changed my mind about you Australians, whoever said you’re an arrogant lot hasn’t met you.
Don’t push your luck though cause we’re still better than you are at Rugby and cricket!
Haw! well thanks Minx. Arrogant? Hmm..I know the Kiwis sometimes think we're arrogant. The smaller nations of the South Pacific definitely think we are. THese days I think the English, mostly the older ones - Young British people are great mostly in my experience - don't know whether to try to cling to some kind of notion of superiority or to be jealous. Despite their much greater size and wealth, Americans, for the most part see us as equals. Canadians and Irish seem to see us as kindred spirits in most ways and I have never met an arrogant person from either country in in my life or one that thought we were. Scottish women are invariably lovely but the men often seem to hate everybody and violence is never far beneath the surface - in my experience leastways. And South Africa?..well you are a breed on your own. Yes I have met many very arrogant South Africans but as with the Brits, they are mostly of an older generation. MOst South Africans I've met in the last couple of decades were musicians..and black. No arrogance there.
Most of the Australian arrogance I've seen has been internal. State against state, city against city. For example, the Western Australians think the "Eastern Staters" , particularly Sydney people are up themselves. This is depsite the fact that they are the richest state per capita and the very epitome of a comfortable, middle class, "nothing to worry about so we'll make something up" society. What people in Perth call a "slum" is just an ordinary no frills working class suburb in Sydney or Melbourne. Melbournians never miss a chance to bucket Sydney even though they are now basically the biggest city in Australia give or take a few hundred thousand. Sydney doesn't care. ADelaide is quietly smug. Brisbane is big, brash, hot and thirsty and also doesn't care, Darwin is basically an Asian city. Canberra is too pre-occupied with itself to even think about anywhere else; and Hobart is the most beautiful and best kept secret in the country. Yes SA is great at rugby. Perhaps the equal best with NZ. But cricket.?..nah. BUt thanks so much for the bouquet. You can fling me those pretty lies all you like.