Wilf

This lad (lass?) fooled me into thinking he/she was true scots but it seems that there is nothing under this kilt but a would-be ozzie. What must the ozzies think of the brits when we are represented by the likes of this DragdUp? I do not notice ozzies coming back from the mother country wearing bowler hats and sounding like Hugh Grant but these legal asylum seekers from Britain are trying to be Paul Hogan straight off the 747. What has our country produced in the last few years?

pommie bastard

Must be careful that lady I married was born on the wrong side of the Roman Wall , good job us English keep you lot the Tories love men in skirts its a Public school thing.

Ceri

One thing I have noticed - and this does not apply only to Aus - it applies to SEA as well - An English person is more likely to slag off his own country, denounce his own, than a Scot or a welsh person.

I find that a lot of English people sort of shuffle around and are scared to say "I'm proud of my country". - they are more likely to denounce their own land than stick up for it - it's one thing which I do not get!

Everybody should be proud of who they are - what makes me sick is people trying to be something that they are not,. And yes I totally agree - an adult can not pick up an Aussie accent in a year - it's a put on accent . I can spot a Brit accent here in Aus a mile off , even if they are trying to speak with an Aussie twang- even if that person has been here 30 years ( young Kids pick it up very easily - adults don't) . Your accent mellows over the years that's all and you pick up a new sort of accent - a mixture of new and old .

My family back home think I sound Aussie - don't make me laugh! Here in Aus - people always ask where I'm from - they know I'm not an Aussie by my accent, but they can't seem to put a finger on the accent - been accused of being Scottish, Irish, S.African and even American - lol . But yet when I talk to family and friends back home they say I have an Aussie twang . Your Brit accent just mellows out that's all if you live abroad for long while - next people will say I have a Sing accent (been accused of this too by friends and family- lol when I was living there" "OK la" I don't think.

Cheers

Jeannie1

It takes guts to live anywhere as an English person!!!

pommie bastard

Yes and admit to being English and proud of what we have given this planet.

Megalania

Be grateful for the planets' tolerance!

pommie bastard

Captain Cook all I can say is why did you not play dum and sail on, we could have dumped the cons elsewhere as we had most of the planet.

Jeannie1

Until the rest of the planet woke up and decided to get a life.

Megalania

You revel in percieved reflected glories, all you see is glistening gore. Your time is past and was but a fleeting moment of insanity.

pommie bastard

Only with our help and Betty still looks after a few who are too young to look after themselves.

Badge

"I find that a lot of English people sort of shuffle around and are scared to say "I'm proud of my country". - they are more likely to denounce their own land than stick up for it - it's one thing which I do not get! "

That's the problem in a nutshell. Unlike the Irish, the Welsh and the Scots we are not "allowed" to be proud. I used to be and at college I was acused of being right wing by my Guardian reading, sandal wearing lecturers. For many 30 somethings educated in the early 1990s it has been drummed out of us. I had a lecturer at college in 1995 who told us that there was no such thing as English culture. It was all based on negativity. There seemed a brief resurgence in the late 1990s with "Cool Britannia"..

Any proudness often manifests itself as unnecessary negativity, overbearing, or then an accusation of arrogance - ask any Australian or New Zealand rugby fan when an English fan celebrates a win. Look at the tribal nature of soccer and some of the fans overseas. Look at English blokes in Bondi beach in Australia - an embarassment of oafishness, loudness and the locals saying bloody English!! I can always tell the English from the Aussies in the Eastern suburbs - the English answer and shout in to their mobiles on the buses - I was cringing with embarassment - the aussies were polite and subtle.

How can we be proud when films like Braveheart make fools of us?(!)

badgers

Badge

Your accent mellows over the years that's all and you pick up a new sort of accent - a mixture of new and old .

I can agree with this after my last post. Its not Australian to an Australian - but it is to a Englishman. It also depends where you were. If you were in an outback town with country boys then it is likely that any accent you pick up will be extreme. If you are in suburbia - probably not.

badgers

Badge

This made me laugh. There's an element of truth in this one. It's all part of the "not cool to be middle class" any more thing. Its the first thing I notice when I go out on Saturday nights in suburban London districts. Everyone talking in this garbled, one -upmanship, laddish swanky way. and that's just the girls!! :-)

I notice the well heeled middle class blokes at work affecting the same accents. If you've grown up in Richmond Upon Thames then you would have been used to plenty of nice accents at the college there ten years ago and know something is happening.

Oh to be in Australia where relaxed is the by-word.

badgers

paulspell

Jacqui,

As all the others have said, great post.

My wife and I are desperate for a move to Oz, probably near Perth somewhere, but are still in the early stages and are hitting a few problems, mainly the with the points (I need to find the right career path as my current job doesn't count for much).

I would be really grateful if you can give me any advice or even just tell me how you went about the whole thing, how you got accepted etc. If you don't want to post this you could email me. let me know what you think.

In any event glad to hear things are working out and good luck.

Wilf

Badger, you are in the early heady days of being in love with Oz. After a very short while, you will notice the hairnet and rollers, the nagging, the false teeth, and the wrinkled bum, and your past love will start to look a bit tatty round the hem. Then you will need a sense of humour. Fortunately, you have one - well, you must have if you are emigrating to somewhere as lost as Oz.

False cockney accents are no worse than false oz accents. Ozzies are very common in Oz, and so to become one is to become boring and commonplace - this makes life easier, but makes you less worth knowing, and not someone to be looked up to. Be yourself in Oz, do not try to "assimilate" but be an Englishman abroad. Do not be ashamed to be English - it is a fine thing.