You Know You've Become An Aussie When.....

A recent post by Genesis over at ExpatMom titled 'You Might Be a Long Term Expat if...' regarding adapting to life in Guatemala, inspired me to compile a similar list here.

1. You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says cobber, sheila or throw another shrimp on the barbie.

2. You understand that the phrase "a group of women wearing black thongs" refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds.

3. You abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in -o.

ie. arvo, combo, garbo, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto etc.

4. When someone asks 'have you slip-slop-slapped today?' you understand exactly what they mean.

5. You can translate: ‘Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas'.

6. You know the words to the national anthem and even understand what the word 'girt' means.

7. You know that New Zealander's are basically our naive country cousins, who have a weird 'fush-and-chups' accent and, for some bizarre reason, think that they invented pavlova. They are to be pitied. They have no hope of gaining the upper hand in the endless sporting rivalry between our two nations.

8. In summer you've experienced the metal seat belt buckle in the car acting as an effective branding iron and the steering wheel being too hot to the touch to actually drive the car.

9. You walk through the bush looking up. Just in case of Drop Bears.

10. The memory of snow seems like a figment of your imagination.

11. You've done the "hot sand" dance at the beach while running from the ocean back to your towel.

12. You've risked attending an outdoor music festival on the hottest day of the year.

13. You realise that lifeguards are the only people who can get away with wearing Speedos.

14. A five-hour trip to go camping for the weekend isn't out of the question or excessive.

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And just in case you wanted to know :

4. Slipped on a shirt, Slopped on some sunscreen and Slapped on a hat. Drilled into Aussies during summer to reduce the risk of skin cancer.

5. Darren and Sharon listed to AC/DC (the band) on the way to McDonalds.

6. Girt : to encircle or bind

9. Definition of a Drop Bear : Drop bears are commonly said to be unusually large, vicious, carnivorous koalas that inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above.They are purely fictitious and an example of local lore intended to frighten children, confuse outsiders and amuse locals.