[DL] Austradians and New Zealots

[Ross Coburn <coburn@sympatico.ca>]

>I was actually making a joke about the false preconceptions about my own 
>country, Australia. The joke wasn't really about New Zealand; it was about 
>the funny preconceptions that people from the Northern Hemisphere have about 
>us folks on the upside down side of the world. I think New Zealand is a 
>really neat place, and I plan on going back.
>Reuben "Drop Bears" McCallum

Man, you Aussies and such think you have it bad?  We Canadians suffer form
the same kind of freaky generalizations (many of them neatly summed up in a
piece called 'The Rant,' which was immediately turned into a Molson
Canadian beer commercial, thus defeating the purpose), and we live NEXT
DOOR to the freaky generalists themselves!

No igloo homes.
Summer gets up to as high as 40 degrees (CELSIUS, you American idjits! <g>).
Winter is indeed cold, depending on which part of the country you live in
(most of it).
Never so much as seen a dog sled, nor a moose loose in a major city.
Only inbreds from northern Ontario say 'eh' all the time (and I'm sure I'll
hear about that one from some listmember from the aforementioned inbred
region!  <g>).
Most of us do not live exclusively on beer (as opposed to American
p*sswater), although I will point out that grain is one of the four major
food groups...

Yes indeed, it gets difficult at times.  Used to travel to the US
extensively on business, and lived in San Francisco (beautiful city, BTW)
before health problems and Americans drove me back home.  (Actually, Bay
Area residents seem a lot less typically American than most, although I
imagine many would take offense at that if they knew.)

As they say, at least when I wear my national flag on a backpack, outside
of North America it isn't considered a fine target.  <g>

Please note, all of the above is delivered in the spirit of fun.  Anyone
wanting to take it seriously and start flaming will be cheerfully ignored.

Ross