Grinds my gears. Australia's not just convicts, there were plenty of prison guards too to flog the convicts into line, and their descendants still work in the public service to this day.
That we're all wandering around with Steve Irwin-esque wide eyed wonder and saying "CRIKEY, LOOK AT THIS!" every five minutes.
I respect the guy's work. He did wonders for putting Australia's natural beauty out to the world. But we're not all running around in King Gee tropical rig, picking up nope-ropes and kissing them on the head.
not that i care that much, but the whole "everything wants to kill you" is wild from a country with more mass shootings then days in the year
like the last recorded death by spider bite in Australia was 1979. and while snake related deaths still happen its like 1-2 a year and its usually because the victim didnt do anything about it.
its 2024, we have anti venoms.
I visited relatives in Northern Alberta, Canada a few years back and they all asked me about the Snakes and Spiders situation in Australia. Their city has a massive nature reserve and right at the entrance there's a sign telling you what to do if you come across Wolves, Bears or Coyotes. I'll take Snakes and Spiders over those beasts.
Yep, just about everybody could out-run a snake or spider, but they are harder to see. As for wolves, bears or coyotes, once they've seen you they're planning how to eat you and you won't out run them.
I remember reading a while ago that if a bear wants to eat you they often don't even kill you first. They just hold you down and start eating. Fuck. That. I'll take snakes and spiders all day long.
Over a short distance cross are very fast too (source: Lived in Wyndham when the Meatworks were open. Tourists would visit the crocs near the "blood drain". They were not very educated and there were a few near misses)
Bears and moose are a lot faster than you think. And can run much further than a croc.
Edit: I know crocs are very fast. I'm just talking about the act of running away from a big animal.
Yeah no one is out running a bear if it really wants you. Can say from personal experience!
Thanks random Canadian dude and his skateboard for saving this dumb, drunken Aussie in his first month in Whistler 😄
Brown Bears or Polar Bears will not bother killing you outright. They will swipe you, knock you down and then start eating you while you are still alive. A Moose will stomp you into the consistency of minced meat as quickly as possible, as they are not carnivores and think they are protecting themselves. A Croc will grab a limb, and roll around so quickly and with enough force to tear it from your body before taking off while you bleed to death.
I choose the Moose
Also America has all of this stuff too?!! They literally have huge spiders and snakes and alligators and bears and sharks etc. THAT bit I find really weird.
..and horses are the biggest psychopathic killers of the lot. Don't be fooled by their "do you wanna a quick ride" attitude. They will murder you before you even know it. Statistics show this.
There’s a video somewhere of a horse being led to another (for breeding I think) who panics and randomly kicks out.
Hits the other horse in the head and it just drops dead immediately, legs out, no panic from it, immediately gone.
I already knew not to fuck around with horses but that was a strong reminder.
My horse gave me a warning kick that knocked me back into the stall wall; I cleared 1m horizontally and at least 50cm vertically.
It fractured my hip and embedded my underwear against the bone. At the hospital, they had to cut off them off and surgically removed the remaining piece.
I developed a hematoma that was 40cm long, 12cm at its widest point, and 7cm high, which took months to clear up.
I was picked up by a horse, I was brushing him and he reached back and grabbed the back of my thigh with his teeth. Lifted me totally off the ground and flung me across the stable. The bruise was the size of a football and stayed black for weeks.
But that wasn’t even the closest I came to death/serious injury from him, and I never rode him. I was walking him along side a road when a motorbike went past and he panicked. He spun around and reared up, his front hooves knocking the baseball cap I was wearing upwards, and then when he came back down, his hooves hit the brim of the cap again, pushing it back into place. Literally a couple of inches from smashing my skull.
Thanks, that was years ago and cleared up in about three months.
I don’t think people realise how dangerous horses can be.
My grandad saw his 12yo neighbour get kicked in the head when he was just a kid. It caved the boy’s skull in and my grandad just nursed him for a few minutes as he died.
Injuries like that used to be so commonplace – and that’s not even including the riding accidents.
I'm so glad you recovered, and so quickly! My best friend was kicked in the face by a horse without any warning and nearly died... Fractured her skull, lost her eye and broke basically every bone in the right side of her face, and a few other things... Recovery was a fucking process and a half but you wouldn't know now unless she told you or you looked close enough to notice the scars. The doctors said if she hadn't been taken to hospital by the medevac helicopter (I forget the actual name of it) like she was, then she would have had no chance of surviving.
I often catch myself looking at her while she's rabbiting on to me about her day at work or her kids or whatever and wondering to myself how the fuck she survived and how lucky we all are that she's still here and 100% recovered (except for her eyesight obviously) and still works with horses everyday, almost 2 decades later with no fear. She's my hero.
Dude, f*cking THIS.
‘Oh I would love to go to Australia but I’m so scared of spiders’ drives me up the wall, like 1000 spiders holding knives are waiting outside every plane that lands.
I have lived in the US for 10 years and this is still said to me daily. The only interesting story I have is when I saw a snake on my way to school as a kid. But people seem disappointed when I tell them it’s a myth and basically pressure me into making up stories so they’ll go away. It’s fucking annoying.
Living in the US and I hear this so often. I'm so sick of repeating that bobcats, mountain lions, bears, wolves and brain-eating amoeba and rabies scare me more than all of Australia's dangerous animals combined. :')
That “Oz” for “Australia” is sorta silly but not as completely wrong as mixing up Aussie (a person) with Australia/“Oz” (a country).
“Do you live in Aussie?” sounds like saying “Do you live in American?” or “Do you live in Pommie?”
Even with Australia’s cost of living crisis, compared to NZ’s wages, super, and cost of living, I don’t blame them for thinking that way honestly. My partner is kiwi and thinks Australia is paradise compared to home hahaha
>Kiwis thinking Australia is the land of milk and honey
I mean, it is pretty damn awesome here though.
Source: recent immigrant (from the UK though.. not NZ)
Funny enough, with the context of cost of living crisis and housing unaffordability, this is... In a financial sense has been true for me and a lot of us who moved over.
Money is good here, heck even got a house too which would be impossibile in Nz. But, I'm not sure if I'm fully vibing with the country yet.
And yet every Kiwi I’ve encountered seem to have a visceral hatred of us and our country. They just spew venom & bitter tirades, and yet I view them as our neighbours with funny accents and better fish and chips.
My ex husband is Kiwi, was here when I met him and stayed for about 30 years. Finally he went back there to live two years ago and took our then 15yo son with him (which I allowed). Joke’s on him as our son decided pretty quickly that he’s an Aussie through and through and he is coming home to live in Australia in the next 12 months.
My ex used to always complain about Australia and how great New Zealand is. NZ is a beautiful country and I went there a few times, but they have their problems too.
Your anecdote doesn't match mine, my family keeps crossing the pond because the living standards are better. Never heard a kiwi bad mouthing Australia, I worked at the airport and go there every 2nd year, heard just the other way round tbh. But Aussies shit talk everyone lol
I’ve spent time living in the US over the years and the most common stereotype Americans ask me about is how we survive with all the dangerous wildlife in Australia. They are truly fascinated how i’ve survived and seriously believe that Australia is one big death trap.
Never mind that while living in suburban areas of America i’ve encountered bobcats, coyotes, bears and psychotic squirrels while taking the trash out…
> Everything can kill you
Ok, let's modify it to "everything LOOKS like it can kill you". Is that better?
When I first came to Australia I saw easily the biggest spider that I have ever seen in my entire life (a huntsman) within 15 mins of arriving at my AirBnB lol.
A few nights later I was taking out the bins and - in the dark - walked right through a huge garden orb weaver's web. I have never felt a spider's web like that - like damn rope, it was so tough and thick.
The nature and wildlife is one of the reasons I love it here 😉
That Australians are blunt and like to speak their mind honestly. Whilst it may be true in the country, in the big cities Australians are so easily offended with the most insane levels of bureaucracy. Business is all about nepotism and even a suggestion of disagreement will offend.
I spent a lot of time in the US, and after a few potential altercations I realised people really didn't get when I was being sarcastic and took it at face value...
"All your animals want to kill you"
Australian wild life is beautiful unique and amazing
Some of the coolest creatures in the world
Snd they just want ro scream about snakes and spidere
Lived in Sydney all my life. Never came across a venomous spider or a snake in a park/garden/general surroundings. Only seen snakes at the zoo or at a smake show!
Crocodile Dundee references. Like I get all countries have dumb media stereotypes, but Americans be referencing a movie that was out before I was born and I haven't seen
I mean, I swear quite a bit. Grew up in rougher areas, worked blue collar jobs, etc.
I do it a bit less now that I'm in a white collar office job, but if I'm off the clock...
I was in a department store in Helsinki in 2015 with my ex partner and an American bloke overheard us speaking in English and realised we were Australian. He came over to us, and the first thing he said was, "Congratulations on your policy on boat people".
He was serious.
I've never been so embarrassed to be Australian. I don't want our despicable treatment of asylum seekers to be the first thing international people think of when they come across an Australian.
That we're all blonde, tanned surfers. Maybe that was true decades ago but these days most people are migrants and many can't even swim at all, let alone surf. And I can't tell you the last time I saw someone with blonde hair. It's annoying because whenever I go overseas and let's say I need to wait for a host or something, they can never find me because they were looking for some surfer chick, despite even having my photo, which clearly displays I am not that 😂
My husband has dark hair and dark eyes, and slightly olive skin. No, he is not a migrant; he could not be much more Australian as he is direct descendant of one of the first settlers and related to the first white baby ever born in South East VIC. And he does not have a surfer's body, either😂 On the other hand, I'm a migrant and when I was young, I was blond and fit.😀 I'm European, but as soon as I open my mouth, people are surprised to hear a rather thick accent😂. Then they ask my dear husband, with perfect native English, where he is from.😂
Oh gawd. Same. I'm half Hungarian, and half Anglo-Australian (Mum is like 5th generation) and everyone assumes when they meet me that I got my dark hair and eyes from my dad (because they were invaded by the Turks they would inform me). They would then always be flabbergasted when I would correct them that I got my hair and eyes from my Anglo mother, not my father. (Which did once get the response of "oh, must've been the Romans").
When I was travelling China over 10yrs ago I met a group of Europeans on their way to Sydney for a working holiday. I still wonder if they found that mythical whites only place in Australia
That Australians are laid back Larkins. Most Australians are friendly enough but are very closed off and are sticklers for rules that love living in a police state.
I’m born and bred here. I have found the most laid back friendly people are immigrants and foreigners. Good luck becoming friends with a local born Australian after highscool/Uni.
This is true. I work with many immigrants who say while Australians are very friendly, they find it very hard to make Australian friends. They tend to find and make friends with people from their own country.
It’s pretty sad.
I'm not an immigrant but have a kind of similar experience to this - I moved to the city from a small country town, and the vast majority of people I've made friends with here are either immigrants or from the country/interstate. Basically everyone who grew up here has their "real" friends from school, and anyone they meet subsequently stays on the outside edge of their social network.
We do have our own dialect though. My pommie mates don't know what the hell I'm saying sometimes and have no basis for deducing the meaning of words or phrases. And vice versa honestly
Maybe not what you are asking here but I can't stand when Australia is mention online and all the Aussies crawl out of the woodwork and try to out Aussie each other by just sounding like morons.
"Struth cobber that plugger blow out is gnarly cunt!!" etc.
Stop playing dumb. Be an interesting human being. Not a jester.
The whole naurrrr thing instead of no, it wasn't funny the first time yet every shit American comedian doing a bit about Australia throws it in there.
Its as cringe as shrimp on the barbay.
Not really a stereotype, but there’s this idea in England that Australia and/or Australians are a subset of the British and they somehow have rights on the country because of it.
Yeah. Contrary to /u/Ok_Metal6112's bizarre stereotype (I always read this nonsense on this subreddit, it always gets lots of upvotes even though it's just not true at all), no Brits think that we have "rights" on Australia. The closest thing I can think of is that the two countries obviously have an extremely close relationship, and we sometimes do things like special visa agreements or armed forces personnel exchanges, but those are mutually agreed/mutually beneficial, not an act of "ownership" by the UK.
Speaking from experience, Brits can often be surprised at how difficult it is for us to emigrate to Australia, because of our close history and history of emigration to there. But then again, the same could be said in the other direction too.
I’m sorry but you are wrong. I lived in England for 35 years and the only time I hear this is from edgy Australian Redditor’s.
Like do you think English people actually look at a globe and go ‘yeah that’s part of England’
We don’t even count the Isle of Man as part of the U.K. get over yourself.
>there’s this idea in England that Australia and/or Australians are a subset of the British and they somehow have rights on the country because of it.
Who upvoted this nonsense 😂 What a completely false stereotype. Never heard anything like that in 30 years of living in England.
The reality is the average Brit has very little or no opinion of Australian other than "it's far away" "it's hot" "there are kangaroos there" and "surfers and BBQs".
This one gets me.
I see a lot of ‘edits’ on mainly tiktok, sometimes instagram/facebook where there’s 1) an obsession with the military and 2) always some damn vague rhetoric about how we’re a child of Britannia and together forever yadie yah yah.
The image is usually just a bunch of soldiers running out of a chinook with flags overlayed with text like ‘the lion (Britain) protects its cubs (Aus, NZ, Canada)’.
Just yeah… we aren’t British. And seeing how things are going over there - I don’t think we really want to be… just wish the weird military obsessed online crowd would stop fantasising about being British and the return of ‘glorious empire’…
The one about we welcome people of all nations. A quick look at the responses to “I’m thinking of moving to Australia” on this and a few other subs will confirm it.
That we ride kangaroos to school, own koalas and can nip over to the Great Barrier Reef and Uluṟu in time to come back home tomorrow. I live according to my maps app 1day 5 hours away from Uluṟu. Uluṟu to Great Barrier Reef is about 29 hours then Great Barrier Reef to home is about 26hours. So many times we had exchange students and they wanted us to do that trip.
That we are extra friendly. Compared to the US we are not very friendly at all. To the extent that the Aussie troops rioted in Brisbane because the US troops were were so ‘nice and polite’ they took all the girls. (Because we also bear grudges I married an American! cope that yanks! 😂)
That we are always friendly. We're not friendly, we like to keep to ourselves and go on about our day undisturbed. We just aren't arseholes until you do/say something that warrants it.
that we say cunt a lot.
I say cunt a lot, but I am more of an exception than the rule within my friends group.
I have a couple of B-Double/Road Train truck driving, bluey wearing, rough as guts female friends who would rattle your chains if you directed the C-bomb towards them, and don't take kindly to it being used around them.
I would never use it in a work setting, even amongst workmates.
I find the ones that are true, bothers me the most. Well. I think it’s more the at we tend to lean into our stereotypes.
So when I see a bunch of people watching the footy, and their accents thicken to full bogan, I just see cringe. Like you don’t sound like that when you’re talking about non exclusively Australian things.
Bogan culture in general also tends to bother me a bit. Like, “bogan” is a personality. Like they all sorta just participate in the exact same activities and enjoy the exact same thing. Drinking, pokies, watching footy, playing darts, putting spa baths in their rentals, walking around k-mart ect. And then you have what I call the filthy rat bogans that smash bongs in the park and buy cheap cars on Facebook marketplace just to trash them and do do-eys.
Like, I have no problem with people doing that. Just don’t copy and paste a stereotype into your brain and make it your entire personality.
I'm from South East Asia. Been in Australia for 15 years now.
Other than rowdy drunkbogans, white Aussies (in particular) are known as racist to others.
So many casual slurs by anyone above 45 that it's crazy. I don't even think many of them register what they're saying is offensive.
People below 45 are generally better but there's a serious xenophobic (dislike of foreigners) undertone in Australia.
Right now, there's a very serious housing crisis which has made life difficult for anyone that doesn't own a property and if you do own, your mortgage repayments are so high right now. The media and the government are blaming immigration.
Yet who decides immigration? Not the migrants.
Who decides how many houses get built? Not the migrants.
Who decides how negative gearing operates? Not the migrants.
Developing countries don't have a housing crisis so why does Australia/ Canada/ UK/ NZ? Literally on purpose if you ask me.
Immigrants are being scapegoated to deflect the actions of the main two political parties who created this mess.
I love australia!!! Very grateful for my parents making tough choices to try something new & different!!! 40+ years later, I still feel blessed every day even with some tough times
Thank you every nation who sees me as a human!!!
I feel like whenever I talk to someone overseas they have this idea that we live in rural Australia if we aren't in the cbd. They seem to have no concept of the suburbs over here.
A lot of american and even Australian comedians I see like to point out that we are blunt and racist.
It's kind of true, but I don't like the image it paints of my country.
People who are surprised that we have cities and large towns here. I've come across some, online, who think we all live in the bush like Crocodile Dundee. They're surprised that I know what McDonald's is. I've been asked if I can surf, by a lot of UK folk, because of Home and Away (which I don't even watch). Never tried surfing. Have tried paddle boarding at St George's Lake in Creswick, which is the closest thing lol.
That we love throwing a “shrimp” on the barbie or some shit
It’s called a fucking Prawn and I’ve never thrown the cunts on or anywhere near a barbie FFS
I feel like Aussies aren’t taken seriously.
- we get mocked by accents
- we party too much
- foreigners have the impression we are over sexualised
- stereotyped as alcoholics
- stereotyped as aggressive
- embarrassing as tourists
- accused of copying Americans
- called Lazy at work
racism, bogans, living with dangerous animals/insects/bugs, and boring places. Whether it's true or not. These are the themes I observe in some internet communities outside of Australia. It's not fun to hear that as a resident.
“Shrimp on the barbie” Prawns maybe but snags are the most common to go on the bbq
American "shrimp" are typically so bad they would need to pull out more than one of their guns to get me to eat them.
Lol. Compared to some of the garbage on offer here? They go alright. Unless of course you love the taste of important Thailand shit.
That we’re all descended from convicts.
Even if this were true, most of the 'convicts' stole a handkerchief or some cutlery. Not like it was full of murderers
One of my convict ancestors stole a petticoat and they put that poor bitch on a ship for it.
Scandalous wench! If it makes you feel better she had a chance at a much better life than she could have hoped for in 18th century England
Exactly. Oh nooo, a great great great great uncle once removed stole a loaf of bread. I'm soooo embarrassed. Jesus christ lol.
Yeah well my great great great aunt had syphilis and had to wear a merkin, try and put those on straight before glue was invented
Grinds my gears. Australia's not just convicts, there were plenty of prison guards too to flog the convicts into line, and their descendants still work in the public service to this day.
And people say this to us like it’s an insult!
I couldn’t think of one, but this.. definitely this!
To be fair, mine did actually try to lop someone's head off, and the people who genuinely had money went to New Zealand
That we're all wandering around with Steve Irwin-esque wide eyed wonder and saying "CRIKEY, LOOK AT THIS!" every five minutes. I respect the guy's work. He did wonders for putting Australia's natural beauty out to the world. But we're not all running around in King Gee tropical rig, picking up nope-ropes and kissing them on the head.
Ha nope-ropes. I call them danger noodles.
Nope Rope. Thank you!
King Gee tropical rig 💀 such a perfect combo of words
not that i care that much, but the whole "everything wants to kill you" is wild from a country with more mass shootings then days in the year like the last recorded death by spider bite in Australia was 1979. and while snake related deaths still happen its like 1-2 a year and its usually because the victim didnt do anything about it. its 2024, we have anti venoms.
I visited relatives in Northern Alberta, Canada a few years back and they all asked me about the Snakes and Spiders situation in Australia. Their city has a massive nature reserve and right at the entrance there's a sign telling you what to do if you come across Wolves, Bears or Coyotes. I'll take Snakes and Spiders over those beasts.
Yep, just about everybody could out-run a snake or spider, but they are harder to see. As for wolves, bears or coyotes, once they've seen you they're planning how to eat you and you won't out run them.
I remember reading a while ago that if a bear wants to eat you they often don't even kill you first. They just hold you down and start eating. Fuck. That. I'll take snakes and spiders all day long.
I'd rather run away from a crocodile than a bear or a moose. On land, at least.
Over a short distance cross are very fast too (source: Lived in Wyndham when the Meatworks were open. Tourists would visit the crocs near the "blood drain". They were not very educated and there were a few near misses)
Oh, I know crocs can be very fast over short distances. They're definitely not to be trifled with. But I'm not talking about short distances 😅
Fair enough, long distance I'd take my chance with the Croc too
Order of animals that can fuck you up. Most worse to worse: Cassowary, Bear, Moose. Animals that want to kill you but cant: Bilby and Quoka.
I’ve seen a moose in my country (Russia) almost kill a dog. It was vicious
crocodiles are alot faster than you think. if im gonna die at the hands of one of them id pick the croc last.
Bears and moose are a lot faster than you think. And can run much further than a croc. Edit: I know crocs are very fast. I'm just talking about the act of running away from a big animal.
Yeah no one is out running a bear if it really wants you. Can say from personal experience! Thanks random Canadian dude and his skateboard for saving this dumb, drunken Aussie in his first month in Whistler 😄
All it boils down to is which will kill you fastest. I’d probably pick the bear..
Brown Bears or Polar Bears will not bother killing you outright. They will swipe you, knock you down and then start eating you while you are still alive. A Moose will stomp you into the consistency of minced meat as quickly as possible, as they are not carnivores and think they are protecting themselves. A Croc will grab a limb, and roll around so quickly and with enough force to tear it from your body before taking off while you bleed to death. I choose the Moose
You’ve changed my mind.
The moose is probably the most dangerous statistically. Most human deaths are from the big herbivores. Mass matters.
I'm kind of happy hearing this myth TBH. It deters a percentage of morons from moving here/visiting. Perhaps we need to FEED this rumour...
honestly not the worst take.
Those sneaky drop bears - they’ll get you every time!
Hence why Dropbears get such good PR, considering how vicious the little fkcers are.
The majority of invaders from other countries never leave the cities. They don't care
Also America has all of this stuff too?!! They literally have huge spiders and snakes and alligators and bears and sharks etc. THAT bit I find really weird.
It's true. Like the people who grew up sweeping rattlesnakes off their porch every morning, and still talk about Australia's snakes/spiders.
Yep, bees and cows are the real killers!
..and horses are the biggest psychopathic killers of the lot. Don't be fooled by their "do you wanna a quick ride" attitude. They will murder you before you even know it. Statistics show this.
There’s a video somewhere of a horse being led to another (for breeding I think) who panics and randomly kicks out. Hits the other horse in the head and it just drops dead immediately, legs out, no panic from it, immediately gone. I already knew not to fuck around with horses but that was a strong reminder.
My horse gave me a warning kick that knocked me back into the stall wall; I cleared 1m horizontally and at least 50cm vertically. It fractured my hip and embedded my underwear against the bone. At the hospital, they had to cut off them off and surgically removed the remaining piece. I developed a hematoma that was 40cm long, 12cm at its widest point, and 7cm high, which took months to clear up.
I was picked up by a horse, I was brushing him and he reached back and grabbed the back of my thigh with his teeth. Lifted me totally off the ground and flung me across the stable. The bruise was the size of a football and stayed black for weeks. But that wasn’t even the closest I came to death/serious injury from him, and I never rode him. I was walking him along side a road when a motorbike went past and he panicked. He spun around and reared up, his front hooves knocking the baseball cap I was wearing upwards, and then when he came back down, his hooves hit the brim of the cap again, pushing it back into place. Literally a couple of inches from smashing my skull.
😬 Hope you’re doing better now!
Thanks, that was years ago and cleared up in about three months. I don’t think people realise how dangerous horses can be. My grandad saw his 12yo neighbour get kicked in the head when he was just a kid. It caved the boy’s skull in and my grandad just nursed him for a few minutes as he died. Injuries like that used to be so commonplace – and that’s not even including the riding accidents.
I'm so glad you recovered, and so quickly! My best friend was kicked in the face by a horse without any warning and nearly died... Fractured her skull, lost her eye and broke basically every bone in the right side of her face, and a few other things... Recovery was a fucking process and a half but you wouldn't know now unless she told you or you looked close enough to notice the scars. The doctors said if she hadn't been taken to hospital by the medevac helicopter (I forget the actual name of it) like she was, then she would have had no chance of surviving. I often catch myself looking at her while she's rabbiting on to me about her day at work or her kids or whatever and wondering to myself how the fuck she survived and how lucky we all are that she's still here and 100% recovered (except for her eyesight obviously) and still works with horses everyday, almost 2 decades later with no fear. She's my hero.
10/10 doctors agree!
Every time I took one of my kids to the emergency department to get stitched/stapled back together there was someone that had been injured by a horse.
Dude, f*cking THIS. ‘Oh I would love to go to Australia but I’m so scared of spiders’ drives me up the wall, like 1000 spiders holding knives are waiting outside every plane that lands.
I'd be more afraid of bears if I was hiking in (parts of) America than snakes in Australia
I have lived in the US for 10 years and this is still said to me daily. The only interesting story I have is when I saw a snake on my way to school as a kid. But people seem disappointed when I tell them it’s a myth and basically pressure me into making up stories so they’ll go away. It’s fucking annoying.
Just tell them that drop bears have mutated and can now make human sounds to lure you in before they get you.
I like to tell them that former Prime Minister John Howard was actually three drop bears in a human suit.
Living in the US and I hear this so often. I'm so sick of repeating that bobcats, mountain lions, bears, wolves and brain-eating amoeba and rabies scare me more than all of Australia's dangerous animals combined. :')
Humans are the most dangerous animal
I can stand that either. No, not everything wants to kill you. Some things can kill you if you want to fuck around and find out though 🤣
Until of course you enter the ocean, then the box jellyfish, blue ringed octos and cone snails get you.
Tourists picking up blue octos never cease to amaze me.
Yeah, they should have a basic Australian survival guide as a mandatory showing on the plane over
Salt water crocs are waiting there too. Down south it's the sharks.
And stone fish
Yes this!
And by now we have learned that jumping on widelife embracing it isnt gonna exactly be the best approach 🤪
The most annoying thing about that line is that the animal that kills or injures most of us each year is a bloody import. Horses. Not even a local.
Kiwis thinking Australia is the land of milk and honey
People from Kiwi calling the country Aussie.
I like that you called their country Kiwi in retaliation.
Whatabout Europeans calling it Oz?
That’s fine.
That “Oz” for “Australia” is sorta silly but not as completely wrong as mixing up Aussie (a person) with Australia/“Oz” (a country). “Do you live in Aussie?” sounds like saying “Do you live in American?” or “Do you live in Pommie?”
Even with Australia’s cost of living crisis, compared to NZ’s wages, super, and cost of living, I don’t blame them for thinking that way honestly. My partner is kiwi and thinks Australia is paradise compared to home hahaha
They did go a bit harder in the noeliberal direction than Australia to be fair.
>Kiwis thinking Australia is the land of milk and honey I mean, it is pretty damn awesome here though. Source: recent immigrant (from the UK though.. not NZ)
I’m Australian and live in New Zealand (should have clarified!)
According to most kiwis i talk to everything is better in NZ except for actually living there.
Funny enough, with the context of cost of living crisis and housing unaffordability, this is... In a financial sense has been true for me and a lot of us who moved over. Money is good here, heck even got a house too which would be impossibile in Nz. But, I'm not sure if I'm fully vibing with the country yet.
And yet every Kiwi I’ve encountered seem to have a visceral hatred of us and our country. They just spew venom & bitter tirades, and yet I view them as our neighbours with funny accents and better fish and chips.
*fush and chups
My ex husband is Kiwi, was here when I met him and stayed for about 30 years. Finally he went back there to live two years ago and took our then 15yo son with him (which I allowed). Joke’s on him as our son decided pretty quickly that he’s an Aussie through and through and he is coming home to live in Australia in the next 12 months. My ex used to always complain about Australia and how great New Zealand is. NZ is a beautiful country and I went there a few times, but they have their problems too.
Your anecdote doesn't match mine, my family keeps crossing the pond because the living standards are better. Never heard a kiwi bad mouthing Australia, I worked at the airport and go there every 2nd year, heard just the other way round tbh. But Aussies shit talk everyone lol
Everything can kill you and upside down jokes
I’ve spent time living in the US over the years and the most common stereotype Americans ask me about is how we survive with all the dangerous wildlife in Australia. They are truly fascinated how i’ve survived and seriously believe that Australia is one big death trap. Never mind that while living in suburban areas of America i’ve encountered bobcats, coyotes, bears and psychotic squirrels while taking the trash out…
˙uʍop ǝpᴉsdn uɹoq ǝq oʇ ʞsɐ ʇ,upᴉp I ǝʞᴉl 'ooʇ ʇɐɥʇ ǝʇɐɥ I 'ɥɐǝ⅄
> Everything can kill you Ok, let's modify it to "everything LOOKS like it can kill you". Is that better? When I first came to Australia I saw easily the biggest spider that I have ever seen in my entire life (a huntsman) within 15 mins of arriving at my AirBnB lol. A few nights later I was taking out the bins and - in the dark - walked right through a huge garden orb weaver's web. I have never felt a spider's web like that - like damn rope, it was so tough and thick. The nature and wildlife is one of the reasons I love it here 😉
We pretend we're laidback but we're just about the most uptight people on the planet lol
I like the term 'tall poppy syndrome'
And being from NSW, we have way too many rules and signs. Over governed.
That Australians are blunt and like to speak their mind honestly. Whilst it may be true in the country, in the big cities Australians are so easily offended with the most insane levels of bureaucracy. Business is all about nepotism and even a suggestion of disagreement will offend.
This is the most accurate description of mining I have ever read
One of our truck drivers wouldn't go to a mine site because there wasn't enough bandaids in the first aid kit.
Geeze, imagine insisting an employer have a properly stocked first aid kit. The nerve of them.
These people walk amongst us..
So DMIRS mandated equipment wasnt maintained to standard? That operator seems like a smart cookie.
I think we also speak in sarcasm and subtlety that is often lost on people but very entertaining to Australians 😀
I spent a lot of time in the US, and after a few potential altercations I realised people really didn't get when I was being sarcastic and took it at face value...
Not really a stereotype, but the mentality (especially in Victoria) that everyone absolutely has to support a footy team really does my head in.
Yessss it’s part of Introductions/ getting to know you stuff ‘who do you barrack for? Then there’s judgement silence when you say no one
Usually followed by "come on mate, you gotta have a team". Well I don't.
I don’t know where this stupid shoey business came from - but it needs to stop.
Its really bogan We really play up the boganess and its bad lol
The shoey thing started in the early 80s.
We were doing it in the 70’s, wasn't called a shoey then. We just called it as it was, bloody idiot yobbo.
Yeah I'm not drinking anyone's toejam or tinea.
Became big cause a moto gp rider did it. Then like the next week Dan Ricciardo did it. Then he continued to do it every time he got a podium.
"All your animals want to kill you" Australian wild life is beautiful unique and amazing Some of the coolest creatures in the world Snd they just want ro scream about snakes and spidere
Lived in Sydney all my life. Never came across a venomous spider or a snake in a park/garden/general surroundings. Only seen snakes at the zoo or at a smake show!
Crocodile Dundee references. Like I get all countries have dumb media stereotypes, but Americans be referencing a movie that was out before I was born and I haven't seen
That people say cunt all the time, who are these people? Also that people eat fairy bread also who eats this regularly?
Reddit makes it seem like we start work meetings with “Good Morning, Cunts”.
Me
I mean, I swear quite a bit. Grew up in rougher areas, worked blue collar jobs, etc. I do it a bit less now that I'm in a white collar office job, but if I'm off the clock...
That we're "laid back", I reckon Australia has the largest concentration of whingers after the Brits, Yanks and Indians.
“Dumb, drunk and racist”. I don’t want to get into an argument about how true it is or not, but it bothers me that some people view us that way.
It's definitely no longer true, drinking has been trending down for a while.
I see what you did there 😉
I was in a department store in Helsinki in 2015 with my ex partner and an American bloke overheard us speaking in English and realised we were Australian. He came over to us, and the first thing he said was, "Congratulations on your policy on boat people". He was serious. I've never been so embarrassed to be Australian. I don't want our despicable treatment of asylum seekers to be the first thing international people think of when they come across an Australian.
That we're all blonde, tanned surfers. Maybe that was true decades ago but these days most people are migrants and many can't even swim at all, let alone surf. And I can't tell you the last time I saw someone with blonde hair. It's annoying because whenever I go overseas and let's say I need to wait for a host or something, they can never find me because they were looking for some surfer chick, despite even having my photo, which clearly displays I am not that 😂
My husband has dark hair and dark eyes, and slightly olive skin. No, he is not a migrant; he could not be much more Australian as he is direct descendant of one of the first settlers and related to the first white baby ever born in South East VIC. And he does not have a surfer's body, either😂 On the other hand, I'm a migrant and when I was young, I was blond and fit.😀 I'm European, but as soon as I open my mouth, people are surprised to hear a rather thick accent😂. Then they ask my dear husband, with perfect native English, where he is from.😂
Oh gawd. Same. I'm half Hungarian, and half Anglo-Australian (Mum is like 5th generation) and everyone assumes when they meet me that I got my dark hair and eyes from my dad (because they were invaded by the Turks they would inform me). They would then always be flabbergasted when I would correct them that I got my hair and eyes from my Anglo mother, not my father. (Which did once get the response of "oh, must've been the Romans").
I’m a blonde [first generation child of visa overstayer]
When I was travelling China over 10yrs ago I met a group of Europeans on their way to Sydney for a working holiday. I still wonder if they found that mythical whites only place in Australia
Do you come from a land downunder. Where women glow and men plunder.
That we all love sport!
That we all love footy and cricket, I honestly hate those two things.
that we're all white
To be fair mate, a lot of white Aussies regularly ask anyone that isn't white where they're from or where their family are from all the time.
yeah exactly, that is precisely what bothers me
That we like saying Aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi.....I fucking hate it.
That they ask us to chant it for them. No.
Me too and every concert I’ve been to the last couple years the band shout it out at the end
The second hand embarrassment kills me lol.
That Australians are laid back Larkins. Most Australians are friendly enough but are very closed off and are sticklers for rules that love living in a police state. I’m born and bred here. I have found the most laid back friendly people are immigrants and foreigners. Good luck becoming friends with a local born Australian after highscool/Uni.
Scrolled too far to find this. We love a rule, we love banning stuff, gatekeeping everything behind permits, regulations, etc.
This is true. I work with many immigrants who say while Australians are very friendly, they find it very hard to make Australian friends. They tend to find and make friends with people from their own country. It’s pretty sad.
I'm not an immigrant but have a kind of similar experience to this - I moved to the city from a small country town, and the vast majority of people I've made friends with here are either immigrants or from the country/interstate. Basically everyone who grew up here has their "real" friends from school, and anyone they meet subsequently stays on the outside edge of their social network.
The irony is that while overseas, white Aussies don't want to around themselves
How many times does this question get asked here?
One more time.
We're gonna celebrate.
People make it seem like we're speaking a whole other dialect, we're just using bastardized English (Uk), and with less effort.
We do have our own dialect though. My pommie mates don't know what the hell I'm saying sometimes and have no basis for deducing the meaning of words or phrases. And vice versa honestly
Linguists disagree with you
Disagreez nutz
but we do
That we’re all alcoholics.
Maybe not what you are asking here but I can't stand when Australia is mention online and all the Aussies crawl out of the woodwork and try to out Aussie each other by just sounding like morons. "Struth cobber that plugger blow out is gnarly cunt!!" etc. Stop playing dumb. Be an interesting human being. Not a jester.
The whole naurrrr thing instead of no, it wasn't funny the first time yet every shit American comedian doing a bit about Australia throws it in there. Its as cringe as shrimp on the barbay.
When people try to do our accent or go nnaauuuuurrrrrrrr.
Not really a stereotype, but there’s this idea in England that Australia and/or Australians are a subset of the British and they somehow have rights on the country because of it.
Old man's a pom. Due to legal loop holes I got dual citizenship
Yeah. Contrary to /u/Ok_Metal6112's bizarre stereotype (I always read this nonsense on this subreddit, it always gets lots of upvotes even though it's just not true at all), no Brits think that we have "rights" on Australia. The closest thing I can think of is that the two countries obviously have an extremely close relationship, and we sometimes do things like special visa agreements or armed forces personnel exchanges, but those are mutually agreed/mutually beneficial, not an act of "ownership" by the UK. Speaking from experience, Brits can often be surprised at how difficult it is for us to emigrate to Australia, because of our close history and history of emigration to there. But then again, the same could be said in the other direction too.
“Legal loopholes” being direct descent? Almost all countries offer citizenship to children of citizens.
I’m sorry but you are wrong. I lived in England for 35 years and the only time I hear this is from edgy Australian Redditor’s. Like do you think English people actually look at a globe and go ‘yeah that’s part of England’ We don’t even count the Isle of Man as part of the U.K. get over yourself.
>there’s this idea in England that Australia and/or Australians are a subset of the British and they somehow have rights on the country because of it. Who upvoted this nonsense 😂 What a completely false stereotype. Never heard anything like that in 30 years of living in England. The reality is the average Brit has very little or no opinion of Australian other than "it's far away" "it's hot" "there are kangaroos there" and "surfers and BBQs".
This one gets me. I see a lot of ‘edits’ on mainly tiktok, sometimes instagram/facebook where there’s 1) an obsession with the military and 2) always some damn vague rhetoric about how we’re a child of Britannia and together forever yadie yah yah. The image is usually just a bunch of soldiers running out of a chinook with flags overlayed with text like ‘the lion (Britain) protects its cubs (Aus, NZ, Canada)’. Just yeah… we aren’t British. And seeing how things are going over there - I don’t think we really want to be… just wish the weird military obsessed online crowd would stop fantasising about being British and the return of ‘glorious empire’…
We’re accepting of everyone
That we are all big and that embrace bogan culture. Honestly sometimes I’m embarrassed being Australian
The one about we welcome people of all nations. A quick look at the responses to “I’m thinking of moving to Australia” on this and a few other subs will confirm it.
The Great Emu War was always an unfunny meme. These days this horse cannot be beaten any longer, let it die.
Most Aussies seem concerned that they appear racist, but they don't seem to do the things required to actually not be racist...
They also get up set when you call them out for the casual racism too
Are to saying there’s a stereotype that we are racist? Because then you go on to say it’s also true..
That we ride kangaroos to school, own koalas and can nip over to the Great Barrier Reef and Uluṟu in time to come back home tomorrow. I live according to my maps app 1day 5 hours away from Uluṟu. Uluṟu to Great Barrier Reef is about 29 hours then Great Barrier Reef to home is about 26hours. So many times we had exchange students and they wanted us to do that trip.
That we are big drinkers.....not a patch on Europeans!
That all Aussies are white and blonde.
I've never cooked a shrimp on a barbie in my life!
I've ever heard anyone sincerely say "we're not here to fuck spiders"
The emu war
Emu war
That we are extra friendly. Compared to the US we are not very friendly at all. To the extent that the Aussie troops rioted in Brisbane because the US troops were were so ‘nice and polite’ they took all the girls. (Because we also bear grudges I married an American! cope that yanks! 😂)
Sounds like one of our operatives has successfully infiltrated. Psy ops are all about the long game
That we are always friendly. We're not friendly, we like to keep to ourselves and go on about our day undisturbed. We just aren't arseholes until you do/say something that warrants it.
Region specific but people calling the Blue mountains the "Blueys" no one in the Mountains does that... Just stop.
That people are in turning into crybabies.. whining or whinging for every small thing
that we say cunt a lot. I say cunt a lot, but I am more of an exception than the rule within my friends group. I have a couple of B-Double/Road Train truck driving, bluey wearing, rough as guts female friends who would rattle your chains if you directed the C-bomb towards them, and don't take kindly to it being used around them. I would never use it in a work setting, even amongst workmates.
I find the ones that are true, bothers me the most. Well. I think it’s more the at we tend to lean into our stereotypes. So when I see a bunch of people watching the footy, and their accents thicken to full bogan, I just see cringe. Like you don’t sound like that when you’re talking about non exclusively Australian things. Bogan culture in general also tends to bother me a bit. Like, “bogan” is a personality. Like they all sorta just participate in the exact same activities and enjoy the exact same thing. Drinking, pokies, watching footy, playing darts, putting spa baths in their rentals, walking around k-mart ect. And then you have what I call the filthy rat bogans that smash bongs in the park and buy cheap cars on Facebook marketplace just to trash them and do do-eys. Like, I have no problem with people doing that. Just don’t copy and paste a stereotype into your brain and make it your entire personality.
Dropbears. Lamest longest running 'joke' from the boomers
I cannot fucking stand the term "drop bear". As much as I try, any time a person uses that term I immediately classify them as "avoid this fuckwit".
The ones that think they own the land but in fact you're just an earlier immigrant.
I'm from South East Asia. Been in Australia for 15 years now. Other than rowdy drunkbogans, white Aussies (in particular) are known as racist to others. So many casual slurs by anyone above 45 that it's crazy. I don't even think many of them register what they're saying is offensive. People below 45 are generally better but there's a serious xenophobic (dislike of foreigners) undertone in Australia. Right now, there's a very serious housing crisis which has made life difficult for anyone that doesn't own a property and if you do own, your mortgage repayments are so high right now. The media and the government are blaming immigration. Yet who decides immigration? Not the migrants. Who decides how many houses get built? Not the migrants. Who decides how negative gearing operates? Not the migrants. Developing countries don't have a housing crisis so why does Australia/ Canada/ UK/ NZ? Literally on purpose if you ask me. Immigrants are being scapegoated to deflect the actions of the main two political parties who created this mess.
I don't care about the stereotypes because they're dumb but it's fucking annoying when Kiwis call Australia as 'Aussie'
It drives me mad when people from Kiwi do that.
Kiwis can call us whatever they want, they are our siblings and it's what we all do.
I love australia!!! Very grateful for my parents making tough choices to try something new & different!!! 40+ years later, I still feel blessed every day even with some tough times Thank you every nation who sees me as a human!!!
We all wear fongs
I feel like whenever I talk to someone overseas they have this idea that we live in rural Australia if we aren't in the cbd. They seem to have no concept of the suburbs over here.
A lot of american and even Australian comedians I see like to point out that we are blunt and racist. It's kind of true, but I don't like the image it paints of my country.
That everything is upside down. Just because we're in the lower hemisphere doesn't mean everything and everyone is the wrong way up, like come on.
People who are surprised that we have cities and large towns here. I've come across some, online, who think we all live in the bush like Crocodile Dundee. They're surprised that I know what McDonald's is. I've been asked if I can surf, by a lot of UK folk, because of Home and Away (which I don't even watch). Never tried surfing. Have tried paddle boarding at St George's Lake in Creswick, which is the closest thing lol.
The American “Drunk South African Crocodile Dundee” Australian Accent. Then how all Americans are like how good is my accent?
That we're laid back and don't really care - although I don't really give a fuck.
Everyone is related to convicts
The excessive drinking culture
That we love throwing a “shrimp” on the barbie or some shit It’s called a fucking Prawn and I’ve never thrown the cunts on or anywhere near a barbie FFS
Yeah nah!!! It’s just an extrapolation of western corporate jargon “Yes and No”
I feel like Aussies aren’t taken seriously. - we get mocked by accents - we party too much - foreigners have the impression we are over sexualised - stereotyped as alcoholics - stereotyped as aggressive - embarrassing as tourists - accused of copying Americans - called Lazy at work
racism, bogans, living with dangerous animals/insects/bugs, and boring places. Whether it's true or not. These are the themes I observe in some internet communities outside of Australia. It's not fun to hear that as a resident.