jad n rich

Avoiding the most common pitfalls

Do not search out a suburb that has a high majority of poms, a curry house and regular coffee mornings for english people.

Do not set up a group of fellow poms to talk to at your local surf club.

Do not phone home to your mother requesting parcels of english knickers, bras and vests.

Do not hope you find an english boss who will take pity on you and employ you without a the 9 month license process.

Do not get the phone number of every english kid in your childs school.

Do not walk around coles looking for tetley, persil and gravox.

Do not set up a society for all the UK educated children who by way of a 24 hour flight are now 'gifted'.

Do not act disrespectfully at tupperwear parties, sneaking in booze and pointing out they were popular in 1970 in the UK.

Do not set up a UK soccer team with a union jack strip.

Do not make yourself stand out by bravely standing in 38 degree heat and saying how mild it is, and above all do not TAN.

karenjc

Would it be ok to say on a really hot day that i would not mind a nice cold pint of carling

mr mover

YUCK!! definite give away ......................... mm

karenjc

I'll have to stick to my xxxx gold then

lel_smiff

These are all good points, but while i'm at work they're often asking me about what I used to do, and what I used to eat, brandnames etc back home, so I find I do talk about home a bit.. but that's only really because they ask.

One funny conversation that lasted a half day was about Cadbury's. I declined an offer of cadbury's dairy milk because i just don't really like it, and one of my colleagues (jokingly) accused me of being snobbish and not wanting to eat Aussie brands... I couldn't let that one go... Every person bar one thought that Australia were the founders of cadbury's chocolate and were telling me I was wrong. They only started to agree with me when another aussie said they'd been to the cadbury's factory in Bournville and that I was right, I showed some of them the cadbury's website too that shows he settled in Bournville first.

I guess the above is a situation you should avoid when trying NOT to be called a bloody Pom!

OzSheila

That's because growing up we were led to believe that Cadbury's was indeed an Australian brand. I am sure we were told it came from Tasmania. I was very confused when I went to Cadbury's World in the UK (B'ham?) and discovered that it was not an Australian brand and that they didn't even show the Tasmanian location on their world map.

BTW I wouldn't touch the Dairy Milk here either. It truly is disgusting - tastes and feels like candle wax (think they need to add something to it so it doesn't melt so easily in the hot climate). If you want the real stuff you need to buy imported chocolate.

Amazulu

Totally disagree. I'm not a pom. I love it here too & see it as home. I say be whatever you want to be. Don't try & conform to a standard if you don't want to. I get on great with Aussies & have Aussie mates but I do it on my terms. They take it or leave it. I hope to live here for the rest of my life but I will never be an Australian.

Like I said, be whatever you want to be.

mr mover

Don,t you feel most aussies feel sorry for you,? Coming from "such a backward war torn country" this is the impression most aussies have of Sth Africa. People could not beleive i was going to visit relatives there, "why do you want to go there?, it is too dangerous" .................. mm

Amazulu

The thing is Hard Yards my South Australia ocker (bogan?) friend, is most Australians are insular, inward looking & know nothing of the world. They are also noted for talking a lot of crap.

mr mover

Even worse :scared: ,,,,you know why they call it XXXX ,"no one in Queensland can spell beer" .......................... mm

lel_smiff

hehe. that'll be be why they didn't want to beleive me. They all said it was Tasmanian and said that I was just another Pom trying to take away a little bit of Aus history as well as their cricket. I must admit I did quieten down after they said that, but it was shortly after that somene agreed with me that Cadbury's did start in England.

At Christmas the MIL sent me some Bournville. I took it into work after so they could sample some and they all thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I was forgiven for shouting them down! Chocolate always works with my work colleagues...

karenjc

Just trying to help the local industry. From what people tell me they would rather not be able to spell than live in South Australia

BadgeIsBack

very true.

On a more serious note, just because something goes wrong doesn't mean it's Australia's fault. It's Australia's mistake, but it's probably your fault...

an old saying.(!) I reckon people come here and set themselves up for a fall just by their personality type or attitude. I can tell them off a mile away. They were the same in England too.

MrsDagboy

You'll fit right in then .

Amazulu

Just as well as you have.