Throwback to the time my poor German teacher had to explain the concept of formal and informal pronouns to a class full of Australians and everyone was scandalised and loudly complained “why can’t I treat everyone the same?” “I don’t want to be a Sie!” “but being friendly is respectful!” “wouldn’t using ‘du’ just show I like them?” until one guy conceded “I suppose maybe I’d use Sie with someone like the prime minister, if he weren’t such a cunt” and my teacher ended up with her head in her hands saying “you are all banned from using du until I can trust you”
God help Japanese teachers in Australia.
if this isnt an accurate representation of australia idk what is
Australia’s reverse-formality respect culture is fascinating. We don’t even really think about it until we try to communicate or learn about another culture and the rules that are pretty standard for most of the world just feel so wrong. I went to America this one time and I kept automatically thinking that strangers using ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ were sassing me.
Australians could not be trusted with a language with ingrained tiers of formal address. The most formal forms would immediately become synonyms for ‘go fuck yourself’ and if you weren’t using the most informal version possible within three sentences of meeting someone they’d take it to mean you hated them.
100% true.
the difference between “‘scuse me” and “excuse me” is a fistfight
See also: the Australian habit of insulting people by way of showing affection, which other English-speakers also do, but not in a context where deescalating the spoken invective actively increases the degree of offence intended, particularly if you’ve just been affectionately-insulting with someone else.
By which I mean: if you’ve just called your best mate an absolute dickhead, you can’t then call a hated politician something that’s (technically) worse, like a total fuckwit, because that would imply either that you were really insulting your mate or that you like the politician. Instead, you have to use a milder epithet, like bastard, to convey your seething hatred for the second person. But if your opening conversational gambit is slagging someone off, then it’s acceptable to go big (”The PM’s a total cockstain!”) at the outset.
Also note that different modifiers radically change the meaning of particular insults. Case in point: calling someone a fuckin’ cunt is a deadly insult, calling someone a mad cunt is a compliment, and calling someone a fuckin’ mad cunt means you’re literally in awe of them. Because STRAYA.
case in point: the ‘Howard DJs like a mad cunt’ meme.
1. I work for the Australian National Audit Office as a federal performance analyst and literally everyone in the office refers to each other by their first name. Even the Auditor-General gets called by his first name, and he’s an independent officer of the Parliament, appointed by the
Governor-General on the recommendation of the Joint Committee of Public
Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) and the Prime Minister.
2. This is like the fourth time I’ve reblogged this due to additional A+ commentary.
Never discredit your gut instinct. You’re not being paranoid. Your body can pick up vibrations, some better than others, and if something deep inside you says something’s not right about a person or situation, trust it and keep it pushing.
cannot stress this enough. i have ignored my instinct so many times before. never again. trust it.
some fun facts about this: the black cat started trying to get in right at the same time that the museum was hosting an exhibition of Mitsuaki Iwago’s photography of cats, and after the photos of this started circulating, the museum started to sell merchandise based on the cat trying to get in:
So the context is that I’m a first time DM playing with friends and were quite a few sessions in. They make jokes out of everything and don’t take it seriously at all. One night I made the mistake of thinking if they were a bit more engaged they’d get into it.
I’d just read a writing tip saying that if you engage all five senses, people are more likely to become immersed in the scenario.
I was describing the twilight sky over the woods when
Elven rogue (OOC): So its sunset? Why not just say that?
DM: Because I’m trying to immerse you!
The other PC’s join in and start laughing and I become visibly upset
So the half orc barbarian calms the party down and tells me to continue and that they’ll take it seriously.
After a deep breath I regain my composure and come up with a new plan.
DM: So ahead there are faintly glowing runes engraved into a tree. Can anyone read Dwarvish?
Elf Sorcerer: Oh! I can!
DM: Okay so you approach the tree and lightly trace your fingers over the runes, your fingers are filled with a soft warmth as you read the runes they translate to “Updog”
Everyone except the sorcerer then get upset that I’ve taken advantage of them after they decided to take me serious for once before the sorcerer while contemplating taking note of it asks me in a soft voice
Sorcerer (OOC): …What’s updog?
Myself and the half orc burst into laughter exclaiming “NOT MUCH WHATS UP WITH YOU?”
Obscure Fandoms 