Thursday Thirteen
Thirteen things about Eaton
Taking photos around Victoria, the state I live in, has made me conscious of the fact that there are some rather unusual things about Australia that are commonly known overseas. But I wonder if you know these things about Australia.
1....Over 90% of Australia is dry, flat and arid. Almost three quarters of the land cannot support agriculture in any form.
2....The TT header is a jar of Vegemite, peculiar to Australia and believe me it is peculiar. Looks like solidified sump oil, (stuff that goes in the working parts of cars). It is some
kind of vegetable concoction, very salty and I can only eat it is very small doses. But the name Vegemite is synonymous with growing up in Australia.
3....The most popular spectator sport in this state at least, is Aussie Rules Football and the beer that is historically connected to watching this game is VB, Victoria Bitter. The food that goes with the beer while watching the game is a Four'n Twenty meat pie, with tomato sauce (ketchup to my American friends). Football, VB and meat pies are an institution here.
4....That beer I mentioned above is often bought
by the slab. What's a slab you ask? Twenty four cans of VB in a box.....We have blow flies, they are black and brown with wings and big bulgy eyes. Spring through summer and autumn (fall), they invade the land and one of the most common sights is people outdoors waving their hands around their faces constantly. This happens so often that we have named it, The Aussie salute!
5....Kangaroos, Koalas and Platypus are native to this country and no other. Platypus are very shy and hard to find, I think you could almost say rare. Koalas are lazy, sleep a lot tree dwellers, that are no relation at all to bears. They only eat a certain type of Eucalyptus leaf for its oil. They are smelly and grunt a lot. Kangaroos know world wide fame as one of our most famous animals. The females carry their young, Joeys, in a pouch on the front of their bodies.
We have done strange stuff to our language, here are some examples...
6....She'll be right mate. Everything will be OK.
7....A few sandwiches short of a picnic. Someone who is not too bright.
8....Like a shag on a rock. An unpopular person.
9....and probably the most famous of all, G'day Mate.
10...True blue. Person born on Australian soil, that is Australian through and through.
11...Blue. Anyone with red hair (still don't understand that).
12...We dial 000 for emergency whether it be fire, ambulance or police. That's cool now, but when we had actual dial phones it would take forever, the 0 is the furthest away number to dial.
13...The Ute. The average Aussie blokes idea of THE car, well not every one of course, but darn close.
Happy TT :)
Love
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Great List! Some of these things I didn't know at all, do you really put solidified oil inside your cars?
ReplyDeleteAs far as #7 goes, we have similar phrases. My favorite is "a few fries short of a Happy Meal".
Happy TT! :)
Loved this! Very informative and I learned more things about your country. Makes me feel closer.
ReplyDeleteWe also have similar cars down here!
I had no idea the name of the car or of the beer, but I'd heard about most of the rest.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting list. I did know most of the facts presented, thanks to Aussie friends, but a couple were new.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you see my reply to your Tuesday Q regarding the US election? I started answering you in comments, and after it became rather long, decided to edit my post so it appears on the blog mainpage instead.
http://wordtrix.blogspot.com/
Love this list!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know most of that. Now I have visions of grunting Koala's behind the wheel of a Ute eating Vegemite sandwiches....
ReplyDeletegreat list
Like a shag on a rock! Love it!
ReplyDeleteSo is it a myth that Aussies only drink Fosters then?
Very Interesting! I had friends that lived in Australia a couple of years. Their young teenage daughter made the mistake of saying after eating a very large meal that she was "stuffed". That got a big laugh because she had just announced she was pregnant! :D
ReplyDelete