Ask an Aussie

Once I met some Aussies where I currently live. One of them hated New Zealand with a passion. Do Aussies and Kiwis hate one another? And if so, why? Is it like England and Ireland or something?
 
Once I met some Aussies where I currently live. One of them hated New Zealand with a passion. Do Aussies and Kiwis hate one another? And if so, why? Is it like England and Ireland or something?

Mos Aussies don't hate New Zealand, but have a healthy rivalry with them, like that between two opposing sporting teams (except perhaps in football/soccer where two sides can HATE each other lol). And Kiwi's have the same thing with us, though in a different way (they'll hate me for saying this) - like a little brother that gets upset at his older brother and holds unto those moments he beats him in games like Monopoly, on the rare occasion. Think of Canada and the US. But it is a unique dynamic - Australia and New Zealand. One thing is for sure, their Kiwi accent isn't as good ;) It's a love-hate relationship, in my experience usually a little more love on the Aussie's side for the Kiwi's, than the Kiwi's for the Aussies - that probably has to do with their being a smaller entity and being forgotten as non existent in the shadow of Australia before Lord of the Rings came out. Hee hee. We have been known to claim as our own those musicians/artists/actors we like of theirs - they hate that. Fair enough too.

P.S. I love you Kiwis
 
If one was a toddler one could successfully attempt to do so. Yet the fully grown men who have tried, and there's been stories, have been kicked in the belly I've heard. There have been instances of joeys (baby kangaroos) climbing into the 'pouch' (i.e. shirt, make-shift pouch) of humans, thinking they were its mummy (we don't say mom/mommy). I rode a donkey once. It was a bad time.

Question: Is yank considered an endearing or offensive term for North Americans in general? Or is it endearing in the north and less so in the south?

Yank pretty much refers to the Yankees baseball team now. New Englander's were called Yankees during the American revolution and during the civil war those in the south refered to those in the north that supported the union as Yankees or yanks. I just call everyone a wank. As in wanker.
 
Yank pretty much refers to the Yankees baseball team now. New Englander's were called Yankees during the American revolution and during the civil war those in the south refered to those in the north that supported the union as Yankees or yanks. I just call everyone a wank. As in wanker.

During the Second World War, many British soldiers including many officers referred to their American joint-operators as 'Yanks' - it was all in good humour and there was never any visible ice that needed to be broken. It is safe to say that once we began fighting side-by-side, we became instant BFFs.
 
Up here we still use the word Yank to refer to Americans in general.

Interesting country Australia with so many similarities to Canada and yet so many differences. We share a lot of common history, but its the geography that has pushed in different directions. Nevertheless there is kinship there, similar to cousin you have that lives far away and you don't see very much. We a great many of the same challenges moving as well. Some of these include:

(1) Aboriginal Peoples. How do we move forward? Reconcile and atone for the past injustices and allow them to find their rightful place in our society?
(2) Multiculturalism as an official policy. Two immigrant nations trying to figure things out. Again with the history, the White Australia policy and the Head Tax and other bad stuff we did up here.
(3) The role of government, different approaches using the same system

I'm sure there's more, this is what comes to mind right now.
 
Yank pretty much refers to the Yankees baseball team now. New Englander's were called Yankees during the American revolution and during the civil war those in the south refered to those in the north that supported the union as Yankees or yanks. I just call everyone a wank. As in wanker.

I once knew a guy from Louisiana. Boston is my home town. He used to call me a Yankee, not as a joke. Some Southerners act like the civil war just happened last year.
 
I once knew a guy from Louisiana. Boston is my home town. He used to call me a Yankee, not as a joke. Some Southerners act like the civil war just happened last year.

That is a good point, I've heard a few from the south say it as well. That's when I pull out my musket and tell them to stand still while I load it.
 
From the Urban Dictionary:

The word is a derogatory term used to describe Americans by the Brits, Canadians, Australians and the like; but in the USA used to define an American from the Northern States in the USA, such as New England and the Mid-West.

It was most notably used to describe to the Federal Solders and other Northerners by the Confederates during the Civil War Era. Even though some foreigner’s refer to all American’s as Yankees, does not make it so. Call a Southerner a Yankee and he’ll think you’re either just plain dumb or that you are trying to pick a fight.

The characteristics often associated with a stereotypical Yankee are shrewdness, thrift, craftiness, rudeness, arrogance, and loudness.


To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast
 
What is going on!? I'm from the heartland USA and I rarely hear the word yankee unless it's about baseball or candles! My brain just ate itself and exploded as cerebral diarrhea within my skull...
 
Only if you're Jewish and can play the fiddle - well, really well.

I can't play the fiddle, but if I were a rich man I would buy one during the sunset which would be a tradition where I live. Tradition!
 
Yank pretty much refers to the Yankees baseball team now. New Englander's were called Yankees during the American revolution and during the civil war those in the south refered to those in the north that supported the union as Yankees or yanks. I just call everyone a wank. As in wanker.

Up here we still use the word Yank to refer to Americans in general.

Interesting. A large portion of Australian's still use the word Yank to refer to Americans. Mostly baby boomers and those older, but also youths. It doesn't bear negative connotations in and of itself when it's used here, as it's mostly used in an endearing manner.

Interesting country Australia with so many similarities to Canada and yet so many differences. We share a lot of common history, but its the geography that has pushed in different directions. Nevertheless there is kinship there, similar to cousin you have that lives far away and you don't see very much. We a great many of the same challenges moving as well. Some of these include:

(1) Aboriginal Peoples. How do we move forward? Reconcile and atone for the past injustices and allow them to find their rightful place in our society?
(2) Multiculturalism as an official policy. Two immigrant nations trying to figure things out. Again with the history, the White Australia policy and the Head Tax and other bad stuff we did up here.
(3) The role of government, different approaches using the same system

I'm sure there's more, this is what comes to mind right now.

There certainly are some commonalities! Those you mentioned are good observations. There's a mutual understanding already implicit whenever I've met a Canadian, perhaps indeed built on elements of a shared historical experience. The fact David Johnston celebrated the 100th Anniversary of ANZAC day (2015) articulates this kind of kinship on some level. One thing for sure, is that the French never managed to establish a colony in Australia. I've wondered now and then how different Australia would be if that had happened. There would probably be two countries on the one Island.

[MENTION=14664]dang[/MENTION] , sorry mate. Keep dreaming.
 
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One thing for sure, is that the French never managed to establish a colony in Australia. I've wondered now and then how different Australia would be if that had happened. There would probably be two countries on the one Island.

Well maybe and maybe not. It didn't turn out that way for Canada, we are still one nation with two identities
 
Well maybe and maybe not. It didn't turn out that way for Canada, we are still one nation with two identities

That's true. The same could have happened here. Although due to the size of Australia, and the vast distances between capital cities and their original colonial settlements, having more than one nation would have been very likely. For example, the state of Western Australia (its capital city being the most/2nd most isolated in the world) was actually against joining the Federation of Australia, but only joined in last-minute. This was the mind set, despite so much commonality. Even to this day, a lot of Western Australian's entertain independence from the rest of Australia - although the national identity wins over this fantasy. I imagine that if in Western Australia there was a French colony as opposed to a British like everywhere else, this would have removed the shared aspect WA had with the rest of the colonies, and might have led to the formation of two different nations. The same might have happened with the State of Tasmania in the same circumstances. Maybe something similar was the case in Canada (a large area)?
 
Western Canadian separatism is actually a real thing. There are Quebec separatists (they don't like to call themselves separatists - sovereigntist/nationalist is the preferred term) and those in Western Canada who have at various points felt alienated from the centre. This is not cultural. like the Quebecois, and it more due to the feeling that Canada was being governed by central Canadians for their own benefit and the West was being used for its natural resources (mostly oil) and was not being given a equal voice in the federation. There are also vast distances at play here. So keeping Canada together hasn't been easy
 
Western Canadian separatism is actually a real thing. There are Quebec separatists (they don't like to call themselves separatists - sovereigntist/nationalist is the preferred term) and those in Western Canada who have at various points felt alienated from the centre. This is not cultural. like the Quebecois, and it more due to the feeling that Canada was being governed by central Canadians for their own benefit and the West was being used for its natural resources (mostly oil) and was not being given a equal voice in the federation. There are also vast distances at play here. So keeping Canada together hasn't been easy

That's funny, because Western Australia felt/feels like it was/is used for its natural resources by the Eastern States (namely, Victoria and NSW (later, ACT)). I wasn't aware of all of that, so that's interesting to hear.
 
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