Can't see the image but is it by any chance 'Black Sheep'? That's the only funny movie I know about sheep.
To bring it sorta on topic; one of the many things the Aussies (Australians) love to mock us about is our many sheep. National rivalry is pretty big between our two countries, usually in sports.
I'm from Scotland which, if you don't mind a little rain from time to time, is very nice. Health-care, education and so-on are all pretty good and I don't want to get anyone started by mentioning politics.
Our national sport is football(soccer) which is pretty dull if you aren't a fan but with the exception of the world cup it's pretty easy to avoid.
We have a few nice natural parks and some pretty impressive hill and mountain ranges in the highlands, not to mention that Scotland is the home of Golf, whisky (or whiskey for the stateside spelling.) and penicillin.
May you lead an interesting life. Ozzy - S5 P7 E4 C3 I10 A8 L5
Sleet wrote:C'mon Beagle, we're a better community than that! We're not going to go hate on each others' countries or anything.
the problem is people hating on their own countries rather than other people's. it would be fine if people weren't being so silly about it, and just admit to ambivalence. it's ridiculous seeing people try to say their country should be better than all the rest if not for the x-y-z. maybe this was a political topic to start with, but if people go on too much, i don't think any of us are going to hesitate in stopping it. there have already been some inflammatory comments near the start of the thread. keep it clean in here, people.
I like Australia because I live here. that's honestly all there is to it. Australia is my home. If this were on a planetary scale I'd be saying I like earth because earth is my home. It's just like how I like South Australia because it's my home, and how I like my home because it's my home. I don't see why Australia is any better or worse than any other country. It's just my home.
On the subject of what's different though, we have mish-mash of climates, ranging from tropical down through subtropical and semiarid into arid, then popping out with marine and Mediterranean climates. I live in a Mediterranean part of Australia. Doesn't that sound weird? *giggles* Anyway, the reason I consider that different to other countries, is that not all countries have the range we do: you can go to Cairns or something and admire all the tropics then get in a car and drive off to the outback, and be in the middle of an arid climate in a matter of hours. I think that's something incredible for a country to be able to boast.
We are extremely biodiverse, in fact being recognized as a megadiverse country by the UN. Interestingly the UN say 2010 is the international year of biodiversity. Woo Australia. :V Anyway, point is, we have a massive array of different species of animal, plant, whatever you like. Our array of native animals is also what makes us unique. I am not sure that any other country has as many or as different native animals as we do. Something about allopatric speciation goes here. :P
I've noticed that houses here on the whole are mostly one-storey. I dunno why this is something I've noticed, but in the UK, I can safely say that's a lot less common than it is here. Even in North America, it seems that a lot of people will have an underground storey or an above-ground storey or both. People seem pretty comfortable with just the one, here. I dunno. Maybe it just seems different to me, and isn't really.
Oh yeah, and since the most popular sport in our country (as determined by attendance) is a sport that is only played in Australia I can say we're pretty unique sport-wise too. We don't have an official national sport. It's interesting to note that the most watched sport on television in Australia is rugby league. Other sports which I see as being significant to the national identity are cricket, cycling, athletics and of course swimming. Apparently, an old term for freestyle is the 'Australian crawl' (that is, while most babies crawl on land, we do it in the water – NOT a reference to the band). Sport is massively important to Australia's national identity, but don't get me wrong, it's not forced upon you. If you have an irrational disgust of seeing anything to do with sport at all, though, you're not going to want to turn on the TV. Or talk to anyone. Because sooner or later, sport will come up here.
On the other hand, along with most western nations, we have our own lovely obesity problems. I dunno, there's not really much one can say on that.
Hm, I can't really think of anything else. We're not as funny as everyone thinks even though we are perfectly happy to make fun of anything, and despite our multiculturalism there seem to be some pretty racist undertones in relation to the far east and southeast Asia (i have no idea why, but i'd be lying if i said it wasn't there) and more lately India.
Yeah that's pretty much everything I can think of.
Would you mind dropping the stereotype slurs please, I don't want the Moderator's to shut down my thread because of discriminatory comments against particular people's.
Aww, you two are cute
But I wanted people to talk about their own countries, not to make inappropriate comments about other peoples countries.
Lets just get back on topic.
Karlos wrote:In Australia is one of the most beautiful coral gardens on this planet. I'm a diver and one day I wanna dive there to see it.
By they way Ebly, I know that the largest cities in Australia are Sydney and Melbourne. But how did it happened that the capital city became Canberra?
Well, kind of for that exact reason - they're the two largest cities. When Australia came together to be one nation, Sydney wanted to be the capital for having the highest population, and Melbourne wanted to be the capital for being the very first settlement. Canberra was created partway between them for the purpose of being the capital, as a compromise.
also i think people can tell the difference between a silly joke about kiwis like i made and a seriously offensive statement
but if someone was offended by what i said about em, i'd remove it. ;3 it's just common sense.
Ebly wrote: also i think people can tell the difference between a silly joke about kiwis like i made and a seriously offensive statement
but if someone was offended by what i said about em, i'd remove it. ;3 it's just common sense.
Wouldn't consider it offensive, personally, lol. I would compare it to sibling rivalry between NZ and Aus, we make a couple joking remarks towards each other now and again but in the end they are just our annoying big brother, which we do wub.
Ebly wrote:still, you're up there with your vowel pronunciations. i mean really, i = u? I = U!?
Ebly wrote: also i think people can tell the difference between a silly joke about kiwis like i made and a seriously offensive statement
but if someone was offended by what i said about em, i'd remove it. ;3 it's just common sense.
Wouldn't consider it offensive, personally, lol. I would compare it to sibling rivalry between NZ and Aus, we make a couple joking remarks towards each other now and again but in the end they are just our annoying big brother, which we do wub.
Ebly wrote:still, you're up there with your vowel pronunciations. i mean really, i = u? I = U!?
There are more vowels other than U? !!!!! 8-)
precisely. to both. *sage nodding*
i always think of my sister as new zealand, becuase when she was young she had a whole family of imaginary sheep in the backyard and she would spend like all her time with them. i mean, your sheep aren't exactly imaginary, but you have a day dedicated to lamb, and so did she. many days, in her case. :P
Ebly wrote: i always think of my sister as new zealand, becuase when she was young she had a whole family of imaginary sheep in the backyard and she would spend like all her time with them. i mean, your sheep aren't exactly imaginary, but you have a day dedicated to lamb, and so did she. many days, in her case. [/size]
Haha cute. Wait there is a day dedicated to lamb....?? I am such a bad Kiwi for not knowing this.
Ebly wrote: i always think of my sister as new zealand, becuase when she was young she had a whole family of imaginary sheep in the backyard and she would spend like all her time with them. i mean, your sheep aren't exactly imaginary, but you have a day dedicated to lamb, and so did she. many days, in her case. [/size]
Haha cute. Wait there is a day dedicated to lamb....?? I am such a bad Kiwi for not knowing this.
Ebly wrote: i always think of my sister as new zealand, becuase when she was young she had a whole family of imaginary sheep in the backyard and she would spend like all her time with them. i mean, your sheep aren't exactly imaginary, but you have a day dedicated to lamb, and so did she. many days, in her case. [/size]
Haha cute. Wait there is a day dedicated to lamb....?? I am such a bad Kiwi for not knowing this.
It should be noted that in the US, most of the stuff we fry is only done for novelty at fairs and whatnot. If it isn't meat or vegetables, chances are we won't fry it with any serious frequency.
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Sleet wrote:It should be noted that in the US, most of the stuff we fry is only done for novelty at fairs and whatnot. If it isn't meat or vegetables, chances are we won't fry it with any serious frequency.
I hate twinkies, but I made a deep fried twinkie just to try it, and it was delicious!
Also, Funnel Cakes are so delicious.
My parents eat different things than I do. I usually make hamburgers, or steak, or fried chicken. They mostly eat tacos, tostadas, and soup. Except the soup is some weird Mexican thing with pieces of fried corn tortilla and lots of cumin and chili powder and these small macaroni pasta things.
I hate Mexican food due to eating it so much. In fact when I started going to friend's houses frequently, the first thing I was amazed by was the food. Casseroles, and meatloaf! Fish and pasta that wasn't spaghetti! It was all so incredible.