Where The Bloody Hell Are YA?
Did YA catch the new Aussie tourism ad during last Thursday's episode of Lost? Well, it's created quite a furore (obviously people have little else to do with their lives). The ad features an Aussie chick in bikinis asking, "Where the bloody hell are you?" or in other words, get your sweet arse over here and spend your dollars on stuffed kangaroos. Many people have taken offence to the word "bloody" and the up-their-own-arse poms won't play the ad because of how offensive it supposedly is. Let's clarify a few things:
-Us Ockers (another term for Aussies) would never, ever, ever say this particular sentence. We would be more consistent in our usage of Ockerisms, and it'd be Where The Bloody Hell Are YA? Putting Bloody Hell and You in the same sentence is like mixing scrubbers (or trailer trash) with the hoity-toity elite social set. So, it jarred on my nerves straight away.
-If we were going to be even more consistent in our Ockerisms, we'd say, Where The Bloody Hell Are Ya, Dickhead? (Note Dickhead would be pronounced Dick-ed).
-They're lucky we weren't even more consistent in our Ockerisms, cos if we were we would have said, Where the Fucken Hell Are Ya, Dick-ed?
-Or, even more consistent, Where The Bloody Hell Are Ya, Ya Fucken Dick-ed?
Well, some of us anyway. Just cos our foundations are convicts and immigrants, many of us do know how to speak.
-The foul language I've seen on some English shows makes this line sound like Mary Had A Little Lamb. ONYA...
-Bloody is pretty mild in Oz. I'm actually surprised it got that much attention. Surely Hell should've received some attention too - especially from the religious folk. Anyhow, I reckon the Aussies did the right thing, not 'cos I like the ad, but 'cos it got lots of attention. Publicity is publicity, so maybe the whole thing was planned that way.
-Bloody is so common in Australia, I was watching a dad play ball with his kids on the beach yesterday, and the kids were messin' around, and dad goes, Give Me The Bloody Ball, Willya.
What impression of Australia did the ad leave you with?
I've heard there's a very Ocker bar in New York that serves meat pies and Aussie beer. Has anyone been?
And apparently, there's a chain of restaurants called Outback Steakhouse. Any good?
Just to set the record straight, I eat one traditional Aussie meat pie about once every five years 'cos they full to the max with calories, and I have a coupla beers about once a month. We're not all about meat pies and beer. I guess like with all tourist advertising, they pick up on the stereotypical aspects of a culture and, with my herbal teas, yoga and green salads, I must be some sort of mutant.
How do you really see us?
Juji x
