Posted by Racer on May 26, 2005, at 15:11:16
In reply to millions of Australians in your area do what? » NikkiT2, posted by so on May 18, 2005, at 13:25:48
> Is this supportive? Is it accurate? Would Australian-Brits living in London tend to feel put-down by these presumptions?
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> > ... the millions of aussies that live in my area, that constantly moan about how awful London is, how horrible it is, how awful our laws are etc etc, yet come and live over here for 2 years or more, use our free health service, take all the bar / waitressing jobs (normally cash in hand so paying no tax or anything) yet still spend half their time slagging the country off.. THAT gets on my wick!!
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> Literature about in-group/out-group communicaiton suggests similar presumptions are held by in-group members about expatriate communities living in several cities around the world. But the presumptions -- that they complain without cause, that they take jobs from natives, that they disproportioinately exploit social welfare systems -- often have no more basis in fact than the "fake entymologies" volunteer authors of a British free encyclopedia cite as false definitions for the term in question.
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According to my hubby, in Oz complaining -- or "whinging" -- is considered normal communication and small talk. Gets him in a heap'o'trouble here in "Everything Is Beautiful -- Or Else" America. He'll greet a shopkeeper by complaining about the lack of parking -- then wonder why the response he gets is defensive. "I was just making small talk!"As for P*ms, he does talk about "P*mmy" things, but it's usually in a very joking way -- "Vegemite is wonderful stuff, but Marmite is a terrible P*mmy thing..." You know, joking about two countries divided by a common language sort of thing.
And I am not sure that complaining about folks from Oz is a good thing, but I also find myself saying nasty and quite unsupportive things about drivers on the road around here who maybe are not driving in the same language as I do...
Maybe we all have our little bruised areas in that regard? You and I can continue to play together as long as you're not perfect in *every* way. If you were, that would put too much pressure on me...
poster:Racer
thread:493426
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050517/msgs/503231.html