I just got to ask you all
 

Last time I was Down Under, I asked a few locals what they thought of the Croc Hunter. The overwhelming response was "Bloody fucking wanker", or along them lines. What is the haterd for that man? Not that I'm a big fan or nothing, but he venom some people had for him down there really caught me off guard.

Yeah, i dont mind him all that much. I guess people could resent him for being famous while also being... you know a little strange and eccentric. I have no qualms about him, but i can see how other aussies would. You see down here we have this thing called 'tall poppy syndrome', if anyone gets any kind of acclaim in any other area besides sport or beer drinking, we like to cut them down to size. This is a serious cultural problem we have that many kinda intelectual types have isolated as being a major hang-up. But it cuts both ways i guess, it breeds a certain humility amongst us that many find endearing, romantic and noble. In short, we dont tolerate wankers. The people we hold in high regard, be it the ones who win Big Brother or sporting icons, are the honest jobbers who are down to earth. Just look at the Mudine Vs Green thread mate to see an example of this. Mundine is a boxer who really talks himself up and does the whole 'Im gonna punch him so hard his children are gonna have briuses' thing, while Green is just a straight talking joe.

Tall poppy syndrome, plain and simple.

Over there, if you see someone with a Ferrari, it makes you want to work harder so you can one day buy one. Over here, we just run a key down the side of it http://www.cybertavern.net/speakeasy.../undecided.gif

So that was you?

Tall poppy syndrome. I'll have to remember that one. I think we got a bit of that over here as well. I will say, people really did seem more down to earth and mellow over there. Man, this has me thinking about the time I spent there and REALLY has me missing Crown Lager. I could live off that stuff.

A lot of people do. Some of them end up living in the gutter and drinking metho instead of Crownies.

My auntie used to spray that shit in her coffee.

Now THAT is off topic...

metho? Crazy. I thought they just bathed old people in kerosene at dodgy retirement villages.

But thats off topic.

metho? New term on me. I still get confussed by some of the differneces in the way you speak and we do. First two days I was there I thought everyone I talked to in the bar was telling me they were angery. DOn't worry, I caught on after a while. :)

metho = methylated spirits. It's 98% (or something) ethanol, plus a few nasty things to make it hard to drink. Used for cleaning stuff, mostly.

As for Steve Irwin, I reckon he's a bloody champion :)

His baby stunt was a tad puzzling, though.

i think another problem some aussies may have with big steve is that he is just too damn ocker... and since he's so famous overseas, he just perpetuates that 'over-the-top' ocker persona that crocodile dundee stuffed down the worlds throat back in the eighties.

also, he did make it big in the US before he made it here... sort of felt like we were forced to like him since he was suddenly hailed as such as a success, even though we hadn't been given the time to make up our own minds.

personally, i don't have much time for him... for precisely the reasons i've mentioned above.

i did, however, laugh my ass off when he was put up as Queenslands pick for this years Australian of the Year Awards.

Eg. of TPS... see above (sorry Bund, but textbook)

well,
this is... sort of...
but this isn't...
its not tall poppy syndrome to dislike someone for seriously damaging Australia's reputation overseas.

but hey, what would our society be without a good healthy dose of Tall Poppy... we'd be a carbon copy of somewhere else...