Multicultural Australia

[den]

In the office today:

Me: Do you know how to do concrete?
Employee: Dude! I'm a wog!
Me: Of course! Stupid question. Sorry.
E: And so you should be.

Comments

[damienps.livejournal.com]

And is his backyard green concrete?

[tatterdemalion.livejournal.com]

LOL

ahhh eat your heart out One Nation 8-)

[incognita.livejournal.com]

Please explain the term "wog" to this ignorant American :) :)

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

wog is an Australian of Italian descent. ;)

[incognita.livejournal.com]

somehow I knew it would be you that responded to my comment :)

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Not just Italian, now-days. It refers to anyone from, or descended from, the European side of the Mediterranean. The parents of my employee came from Greece, but he was born in Melbourne.

[haggis-bagpipes.livejournal.com]

I still don't know if that means he could or couldn't do concrete.

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

Well, Melbourne is the second biggest Greek city in the world, after Alexandria. ;)

[nateprentice.livejournal.com]

Yes, we Americans don't have that term in our lexicon. Therefore it doesn't exist.

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

see above ;)

[brucebergman.livejournal.com]

We had (past tense) "wop" for Americans of Italian descent, but it is one of those words no longer used in polite company.

It was close enough that it was one of my guesses. But as I've seen with UK and American discussions we share an allegedly common language (And Oz and NZ are right in their with yet two more variations) but the Devil's in the Details...

America calls it a "Fanny Pack" and the UK people blanche. They call it a "Bum Bag" and we get to snicker. Trunk=Boot, Hood=Bonnet, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

You have to stop at the initial over-reaction, step back, and realize that the speaker might not have meant the innoicent or humorous statement as the grave insult you received. Or vice versa.

--<< Bruce >>--

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Wog was, for a while, a derogatory term in the 60s and 70s. Then in the 80s the children of the immigrants grew up and embraced the term. They called themselves Wogs and suddenly the insult was gone, vanished with a "That's bloody right, mate! And don't you forget it!"

[brucebergman.livejournal.com]

And if they managed to take all the sting out of it, that's all well and good.

As opposed the the Nuclear N-Word - the African American community grasped the word and took it over for themselves - but as opposed to the reaction you would expect of making that word "not derogatory anymore for anyone" you don't even think about using it if you are of the "doesn't tan, straight to 3rd degree sunburn" crowd.

Even if use of the N-Word as a term of acceptance is allowed in private with that person, use it with other people present (of any color) and it suddenly turns back into a grave insult again.

Go figure...

--<< Bruce >>--

[thakur.livejournal.com]

Most of the concrete workers I have met on construction sites seem to came from Asia or South America

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

There's plenty of Kiwis, too. The son of a good friend of mine, for instance.