What's Different In Australia

I'm a Canadian ex-pat living in Australia. You'd think that since both nations speak English and are Commonwealth countries things would be simple....

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Birthday Song

You'll be pleased to know that the birthday song is just the same (well, with a more Australian twang) but what is different is the addition of 3 rounds of, "Hip Hip Hooray" added to the end with one person yelling out the "Hip Hip" and the rest of the group adding the "Hooray". I don't think I've ever heard a rendition sung in Australia without the Hip Hip and I kind of love it.

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Jaffle

Even trying to write this post my phone wanted to autocorrect the word ‘jaffle’ to ‘baffle’.

Jaffles are almost an institution in Australia and can refer to both the machine and the finished product. Essentially it is a sandwich press or a pressed sandwich. A classic jaffle is usually tasty cheese, ham and tomato, but fancy cafes are now serving pulled pork with spiced apple purée and other hipster combinations.

Grilled cheese made in a frying pan are more popular in Canada (and with this Canadian living in Australia). Jaffles always make me think of ‘pizza pops’ that were popular in the ‘90’s.

Related;

Tasty Cheese

When I visited here 20 years ago I could not find cheddar cheese it must have been on my third or fourth visit to the supermarket when I dec

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Bring a Plate

If someone tells you to “bring a plate” you had better add food to it. In Canada we’d say we are “having a potluck” and that you should, “bring a dish to share”. I imagine that many people have shown up with just an empty plate, technically correct, but socially wrong.

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Young Koala Joey Has Himself a Good Long Cry After a Big Bully Throws Him Out of His Tree

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Crazy koalas. We do not have them in Canada.

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Magpies are something that is different in Australia, they are quite out of control especially during mating season which is also known as “swooping season”.  Watch this video around 1:20 and you’ll see what I mean.

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An Orphaned Kangaroo Joey Returns to His Former Home to Give a Big Hug to a Plush Teddy Bear

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This is definitely a ‘Different in Australia’ post game wrap-up from Nick “Honey Badger” Cummins, an Australian rugby union player for the Western Force. Need some translating? Here are some of the highlights,

1. “I sound like I’ve been bloody whacked in the Niagara Falls.”

2. “There’s a bees wanger innit and we’re not far off.”

3. “We’re going to bloody kick the tires and light the fires.”

4. “Get your jacksie down, bang it on a seat and we’ll shake hands, tell a few stories after the game.”

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Gumboots

We'd call them rubber boots in Canada, here you need to put on ya' gumboots to go out in the rain. 

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Outkast's 'Hey Ya' is now 'Straya'. Lots of hilarious vintage footage and even the Wiggles shaking it.

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Well played, Queensland Police Service.

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From my friend's blog about my homeland a bit of a cross over post with some hilarious teasing from the Queensland police.

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It’s actually called the Melbourne Cup holiday and if you live in Melbourne it means you get a paid statutory holiday the first Tuesday of November every year to celebrate the horse races.

With the one-two combo of being the first public holiday Melbournians have had since June and the...

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Ta

A quick way of saying thanks to someone usually used in casual situations like getting change after making a purchase you might say 'ta' to the cashier. It took a while for me to get used to hearing this since it's not used in Canada except when you're trying to get a baby to give you something that they don't want to give up. Six years in I'm now saying 'ta' myself as thanks and have to stop myself from saying it when I visit Canada.

Photo credit: NotOnHighStreet

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Sacked

If you've been been sacked it means you've been fired not punched in the balls which is what my Canadian brain thought sacked meant.

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Pokies

Pokies is Aussie slang for poker machine however the slot machines now offer up more than just poker. Unlike Canada you can often gamble on pokies in hotel pubs and bars not just at casinos, it just depends what state you are in and what the regulations are.

photo credit: The Conversation

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Hotel

I don't think any Canadian would assume you were talking about a pub if you asked them to meet you at a hotel. In Australia there is a long standing tradition of hotel pubs however most of these no longer rent out rooms so they're just pubs. It's likely that whatever your local is no matter how small your suburb or town it's going to be called The 'Something' Hotel.

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Let's ramp it up!

No one likes to post in a vacuum so if you like my posts please share them! Hit the heart button on tumblr or reblog, retweet on twitter or like on facebook. You can check out the archives here ,there are 152 other posts and more coming this week!

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Chinese Whispers

In Canada we'd say you're going to play Telephone or Broken Telephone, in Australia it's Chinese Whispers because who would ever understand Chinese? It's one of those leftover sayings, similar to calling someone an indian-giver, not politically correct but unfortunately still in use.

photo credit: Family Matters