outback to jungle

Musings on experiences of volunteering in Papua New Guinea with some gratuitous domestic social and public comment

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

cultural sensitivity

One of the best ways to appreciate the Australian Way is to sit in the economy class of a flight out of Asia and listen to the bravery and intelligence of two groups of Alpha male Aussies (we use this term "Aussies" endearingly of ourselves ). You will hear conversation of the following kind if you can make it out from the boisterous fun loving laughter as they try to outdo each other with examples of how they demonstrated the Australian Way.
"Yair we wuz in this eeya (=here) Chink Ressront (=Restaurant) an I calls this sheila over an I sez Look eeya slope 'ead I'm an Aussie an I can't see T Bone steak an eggs an chips onner meenyuh (= on the menu). What's all viss uvver scribble? Aint yooz got no schools eeya to teach yez proper writin?"
"Aah that's nuthin mate. I calls this sheila over an I says Oi Sing YongChing You look too small for a touch up I'd go straight through ya. Where's ya mother? An she says oy ya oy oy yu ya yu yow an in comes this skinny bony arsed Ching Wong Ling an he whistles an in comes these Sumo crap beatin dudes so we run for it. An mate you shoulda seen them Chinky wogs go crazy so we runs for it downer (=down to the) beach where they're shit scared of the water after the tsunami. Aah mate, we nearly drowned from laughin so much."
I can imagine the sense of pride our PM Howard feels about his Aussies behaving in this distinctly Australian Way and it is no wonder he wants Muslim immigrants to embrace such endearing behaviour so that they too can share the Australian Way whenever they travel.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home