Xenophobic backlash

[pennydreadful]

Nah, my is for everyone - especially pissy internet malcontents who think they can bust my chops. Their folly amuses me, for any attempt to do so is futile, as it's a well-known fact that my chops are unbustable.

Much like the T1000, I absorb any attempts to inflict damage with nary a scar or mark remaining.

Also, if we're now having some type of cross-cultural vocab lesson, it behooves me to let you know that it's "g'day", not "good day". I can teach you heaps of great Aussie slang. Like "drongo". And "wakka".

[Klunk1234]

Every day people learn new things. What are drongo and wakka means? So I know when I travel to Australia one day.

To me, Aussies sounds like U.S Southern people ( Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama) with a British accent. Don't get me wrong, I like that strong Aussie accent. People said you guys, use a lot of diminutives like barbie for barbecue. Also, I like English ( England) and Scottish accents and for the American ones, the Bostonian and New Yorker accents.

Too bad, Mel Gibson lost his Aussie accent.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

Nah, my is for everyone - especially pissy internet malcontents who think they can bust my chops. Their folly amuses me, for any attempt to do so is futile, as it's a well-known fact that my chops are unbustable.

Much like the T1000, I absorb any attempts to inflict damage with nary a scar or mark remaining.

Also, if we're now having some type of cross-cultural vocab lesson, it behooves me to let you know that it's "g'day", not "good day". I can teach you heaps of great Aussie slang. Like "drongo". And "wakka".

Thank you, Penny, I now have two more words to add to my arsenal when dealing with drongos and wakkas.

Now, are we going to continue this cross-cultural enlightenment circle jerk, or shall we get back to insulting each other?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Klunk1234

Every day people learn new things. What are drongo and wakka means? So I know when I travel to Australia one day.

To me, Aussies sounds like U.S Southern people ( Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama) with a British accent. Don't get me wrong, I like that strong Aussie accent. People said you guys, use a lot of diminutives like barbie for barbecue. Also, I like English ( England) and Scottish accents and for the American ones, the Bostonian and New Yorker accents.

Too bad, Mel Gibson lost his Aussie accent.

Sometimes it takes me a while to realize that an Australian isn't British. It sounds like it's between the standard American and British accents. I didn't know Chase from House was Australia until someone pointed it out for me.

When did Mel Gibson move to the States? He's always been American in my eyes, regardless of having been born in Australia. He seems to consider himself American.

[plastroncafe]

Mel was born in the US, but his family moved 'down under' when he was a kid.
So technically...he is American, even though he didn't spend the bulk of his childhood here.

[shuriken]

Thread kinda derailed. But that's not always a bad thing
So Prowler, how does Brazilian Portuguese differ from Portuguese Portuguese?
I was born and raised in Chicago and am said to have an accent. i can't hear it but I believe it. Also grew up speaking Spanish because my folks are Mexican and that was my first language. Older I got I sorta developed an ear for various Spanish accents. I could kinda tell if one is Spanish, Mexican (Guatemala is tricky though), Cuban, Puerto Rican, or from like South America (I can't really tell Colombian, Argentinian, ect apart)
I find accents and dialects so damn fascinating sometimes.

[pennydreadful]

Originally Posted by Klunk1234

Every day people learn new things. What are drongo and wakka means? So I know when I travel to Australia one day.

To me, Aussies sounds like U.S Southern people ( Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama) with a British accent. Don't get me wrong, I like that strong Aussie accent. People said you guys, use a lot of diminutives like barbie for barbecue. Also, I like English ( England) and Scottish accents and for the American ones, the Bostonian and New Yorker accents.

Too bad, Mel Gibson lost his Aussie accent.

We do indeed! Use a lot of diminutives, I mean - we shorten a lot of words and just slap "ie" or "o" on the end. A journalist can be referred to as a journo, we call our post office workers posties, poker machines are pokies... and then weirdly we'll apply diminutives to short words that will make them longer - like if someone's named Tom, they can be called Tommo. I think it's less about abbreviating words to save time and is more a cultural thing to make interactions more informal/friendly, as Australians are generally very relaxed when talking to others.

Apparently Australian English uses more diminutives than any other language!

Re Mel Gibson, I'd say he probably hangs his hat in America for career reasons; most Aussie actors seem to.

As far as Mel being considered an Aussie actor, I think it's one of those things where Australians are used to having very few celebrities that are known internationally, so our media tries to claim anyone who was ever in Australia as being Australian, regardless of their length of time here. The Australian actors that have made it big in Hollywood don't have much of a distinct accent either (Hugh Jackman, Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Chris & Liam Hemsworth etc) so I'm guessing that they if they do have a bit of an accent to start with, they work on making it more neutral-sounding for career reasons/broadening their casting options etc. Plus it probably also depends what part of Australia they grew up in - depending on your region, the Aussie accent can differ quite drastically and range from being pretty unnoticeable to very broad and nasal-sounding.

Personally, I'm inclined to say that you yanks can have Gibson, because, well, the dude's a dickhead.

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Now, are we going to continue this cross-cultural enlightenment circle jerk, or shall we get back to insulting each other?

Can we do both? Actually, I think it'd be cool if a thread about xenophobia were turned into a cross-cultural exchange where we all learn different things about each other's countries and customs (and learn that differences can be cool).

I'mma start by telling you all how to insult someone in Australian, because whenever anyone's learning a new language, they always want to learn how to swear first (well... I certainly do! ). Ok, so if someone's being really silly/making a fuss over nothing, we say that they're carrying on like a pork chop. If we're having a go at someone for being lazy, they get called a bludger. If an Aussie tells you to go root your boot, that means we're telling you to go f*ck yourself. Of course, the correct comeback if someone tells you to root your boot is to say "I would if there was a c*nt like you in it".

A classic Aussie curse is to say "I hope your chooks turn to emus and kick your dunny down". (Chook = chicken, emus are one of our native birds which are quite large, and dunny = outdoor toilet). It's a very old saying from back when Australia wasn't as urbanised and people used to have outdoor facilities. Basically, the tone of the insult translates to "up yours/I hope you have bad luck".

Oh, and in Australia, we jokingly insult people we like (as well as insulting people we don't like) - so if someone's giving you sh*t and they're Australian, it could mean that we either really like you and consider you a mate (friend) or we just really think you're a dickhead. Context and tone will play a big part in helping you to determine which.

Affectionate insults are very common here as well - like, if you say to someone "ya wally", it means you're a bit of a dork/a bit silly, but we like you. Drongo and wakka are the same thing; basically, you're a bit of an idiot, but we like you - though drongo can be used in a negative context, it's quite rare these days and it's generally a term of affection (for example, my dad would refer to me as a wakka or a wally quite often as a kid).

If someone calls you "mate", it can be friendly - or it can be hostile (actually, we'll call people we don't even know "mate" as well - you can use it as a greeting for people whose names you can't remember, you can call your taxi driver "mate"). In the same way, there are situations where calling someone a c*nt over here can actually be a friendly thing as well - it can still be considered hostile as well (and if you're here as a tourist, it's generally not advisable to use the term unless in a hostile sense, because it can absolutely come off as offensive and presumptuous. Again, tone and context are key here, as well as location (this is very much an urban working class thing and absolutely not to be done in the country) and one's relationship with the person.

This is probably something that seems really weird to non-Australians and to fully explain it, I'd have to really go into Aussie bloke culture, the Australian value on mateship in general (ie, it's one of our core values), and the Aussie cultural attitude towards larrakinism, which in turn requires an explanation on the average Australian's casual disregard for authority figures and blase` attitude towards class differences with an emphasis on giving everyone a fair go regardless of whether they're a banker or a brickie. Which again, goes right back to our use of the word "mate" - the word started out being used between the British convicts that were dumped here when referring to one another, and was also used by the convicts when referring to their jailers as a way of expressing that the jailers were not considered to be better than the convicts. Again, as we started out as a dumping ground for British prisoners, it goes a long way towards explaining why we're a bunch of cheeky buggers in general.

Ain't learning fun, everyone?

I think we also use a lot of British insults over here as well - like, calling someone a wanker is really common.

Aaaaaand rest (for now).

[Leo656]

I first learned about the Australian use of the word "Wally" from an issue of Justice League Quarterly, where Power Girl and The Flash traveled to Australia for some reason. This was when the Flash's real identity of Wally West was common public knowledge, so throughout the entire story everyone keeps laughing at him whenever he introduces himself.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by shuriken

Thread kinda derailed. But that's not always a bad thing
So Prowler, how does Brazilian Portuguese differ from Portuguese Portuguese?
I was born and raised in Chicago and am said to have an accent. i can't hear it but I believe it. Also grew up speaking Spanish because my folks are Mexican and that was my first language. Older I got I sorta developed an ear for various Spanish accents. I could kinda tell if one is Spanish, Mexican (Guatemala is tricky though), Cuban, Puerto Rican, or from like South America (I can't really tell Colombian, Argentinian, ect apart)
I find accents and dialects so damn fascinating sometimes.

Oh boy! Where do I even begin...

Well, Brazil being a huge country has a lot of accents/dialects. Portugal has some, but with the exception of a few wacky island accents, they're all fairly easy to understand for most PT people. Although, I've heard that many Brazilians have trouble understanding Portuguese accents, but never met any who didn't understand me except for some different words and slang. There's a striking difference between your standard Portuguese and your standard Brazilian Portuguese accent. Generally speaking, Portuguese people tend to eat the vowels and abuse the "sh" sounds, while Brazilians emphasize the vowels more, which makes people think Portuguese people sound kinda Slavic while Brazilians still sound like they're speaking a Romance language.

Now, when I read a newspaper or scientific article in BR-PT, the differences are minimal. Sure, they add accents where we don't and write "me esqueci" instead of "esqueci-me" and also use the gerúndio more often such as "Estou comendo" instead of "Estou a comer" like we do. We never say "Estou comendo". Plus, Brazilians seem to treat everyone by "você" while we use "tu and "você". the former being informal and the latter formal... but apparently the Brazilian usage of "você" is informal, which is weird.

Now, when ti comes to slang and overall not so good grammar... then BR-PT gets quite unintelligible for me. Like, when I read Brazilians typing in slang in online comments and such, I'm like "WTF, this makes no sense". Because in Portugal we type in a more formal and strict manner. And believe it or not, I watched the movie "City of God" in my 10th grade class... with the subtitles on. Because it was set in a slummy area where people spoke a lot of slang and thus used terms that don't exist in the European variety of the language.

Let's just say that someone from the rural Azorian island of São Miguel going to north western Brazil would be like An American from the Deep South(yes, I know there's more than one accent in that big region, but you get my point) going to like Liverpool.

And that's how I can sum up the core differences. Now as for vocabulary... it can be quite different at times. I'll just list some:

English: Train
Brazil : Trem
Portugal: Comboio

English: Cup(sports competition)
Brazil: Copa
Portugal: Taça

English: Breakfast
Brazil: Café-da-manhã
Portugal: Pequeno-Almoço

English: Suit
Brazil: Terno
Portugal: Fato

English: Butcher
Brazil: Açouge
Portugal: Talho

English: Goal Keeper
Brazil: Goleiro
Portugal: Guarda-Redes

English: Team
Brazil: Time(from English "team")
Portugal: Equipa

English: Bus
Brazil: Ônibus
Portugal: Autocarro

And the funniest one: In Brazil "bicha" is slang for "qu*er" while here it just means... line. As in a line where you stand in waiting. Although we also say "fila". Plus, they call candies "balas" which here just means "bullet". So if someone from Brazil goes into a café here and asks for "balas" people will just look at him wondering if he carries a gun.


The differences between BR-PT and EU-PT are wider than the ones between, let's say, Belgian French and France French but not as wide as Swiss German and Standard German.

And then there's also Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé e Príncipe, Guiné-Bissau which also speak Portuguese. Cape Verde speaking a creole version of it. And there's some Asian communities that speak Creolized Portuguese. Goa and Macao are also former Portuguese possessions, but I don't think most locals in those places still speak Portuguese like many in Hong Kong still speak English(at least that's how it is in Sleeping Dogs...)

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

This thread just got unbelievably amazing.

Like... DAMN!

[shuriken]

^^RIGHT

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

Can we do both? Actually, I think it'd be cool if a thread about xenophobia were turned into a cross-cultural exchange where we all learn different things about each other's countries and customs (and learn that differences can be cool).

Yes lets do that.What better way to say f**K you xenophobia than this.
The world needs more cross cultural exchange and interaction.
And Prowler thanks for the Portuguese lesson. I know a bit of Portuguese people that go to school here in Carbondale (Southern Illinois, like 45 minutes from Kentucky) and there are also quite a bit of southern dialects here.

As for Spanish I know quite a bit difference between Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Mexico if anyone cares to know.
English-car
S-Spain-automovil
S-Mexico-Coche, carro (can't put accents)

English-Shower
S-Spain-Ducha
S-Mexico-Banar, regaduera (pronounced re-ga-de-ra)

English-funny
Spain-Gracioso
Mexico-Chistoso (cheez-to-zo)

English-snack
Spain- Bocadillo
Mexico- Gusguera (gooz-ge-ra)
There's a bunch more too obviously but that's what came to mind.
Also-Kinda neat that Xenophobic backlash can be interpreted as a "backlash of Xenophobic nature" as well as a Backlash to Xenophobic behavior in a completely open minded and anti Xenophobic way. food for thought.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by shuriken

^^RIGHT

Yes lets do that.What better way to say f**K you xenophobia than this.
The world needs more cross cultural exchange and interaction.
And Prowler thanks for the Portuguese lesson. I know a bit of Portuguese people that go to school here in Carbondale (Southern Illinois, like 45 minutes from Kentucky) and there are also quite a bit of southern dialects here.

As for Spanish I know quite a bit difference between Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Mexico if anyone cares to know.
English-car
S-Spain-automovil
S-Mexico-Coche, carro (can't put accents)

English-Shower
S-Spain-Ducha
S-Mexico-Banar, regaduera (pronounced re-ga-de-ra)

English-funny
Spain-Gracioso
Mexico-Chistoso (cheez-to-zo)

English-snack
Spain- Bocadillo
Mexico- Gusguera (gooz-ge-ra)
There's a bunch more too obviously but that's what came to mind.
Also-Kinda neat that Xenophobic backlash can be interpreted as a "backlash of Xenophobic nature" as well as a Backlash to Xenophobic behavior in a completely open minded and anti Xenophobic way. food for thought.

Really? Thought Portuguese people in the States usually stuck to some areas in California, Hawaii, Massachussets, Rhode Island and New Jersey(inb4leojokes). Or maybe they are from a more recent immgiration wave since about 300-400 thousand people left the country in the last 3 years due to the crisis.

[pennydreadful]

I don't know a hell of a lot about Portugal except that you have Prime Ministers and a public health system like we do here in Oz, gay marriage is legal over there (still not over here), and the laws with drug possession are much more relaxed, so drug use has actually gone down? (Which I think is really cool, given that we've got a major ice epidemic going on over here).

What are some of the things that you feel define Portugal as a country?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

I don't know a hell of a lot about Portugal except that you have Prime Ministers and a public health system like we do here in Oz, gay marriage is legal over there (still not over here), and the laws with drug possession are much more relaxed, so drug use has actually gone down? (Which I think is really cool, given that we've got a major ice epidemic going on over here).

What are some of the things that you feel define Portugal as a country?

Well, you already know some things. So that's not so bad. And in case you don't know this, our capital is Lisbon, we're a constitutional republic and were a former colonial power.

Huh... homogeneity and national unity? We're arguably the oldest country in Europe and our borders have been the same for ages now. There have never been any civil wars here and there's no regional movements asking for independence, per example.

[shuriken]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Really? Thought Portuguese people in the States usually stuck to some areas in California, Hawaii, Massachussets, Rhode Island and New Jersey(inb4leojokes). Or maybe they are from a more recent immgiration wave since about 300-400 thousand people left the country in the last 3 years due to the crisis.

That could be so. And actually I just had a brain fart there .
The people I know are actually Brazilian, I musta thought about Brazilians and just put Portuguese cuz I got caught up with the language and whole conversation that I didn't realize it until later. My mistake. But it's always interesting to take note where certain groups of people tend to migrate to.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by shuriken

That could be so. And actually I just had a brain fart there .
The people I know are actually Brazilian, I musta thought about Brazilians and just put Portuguese cuz I got caught up with the language and whole conversation that I didn't realize it until later. My mistake. But it's always interesting to take note where certain groups of people tend to migrate to.

Well, if you don't speak the language, it's not surprising you might not be able to tell its accents apart. If someone showed me a clip of, I dunno, let's say a Spanish speaker from South America, I'd have to guess his country randomly.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Hmm, this is all very interesting. Down here in the "Friendly State", we mostly have German and Spanish speakers, and Korean in some areas. The Latinos are mostly from Mexico, which makes sense given that we share a border with it. In the area I live, there is a sizable population of them, probably because it's a small rural town with a lot of farm work and construction due to the highways, and oilfield workers. There are some towns here (mostly along the northern part of the state, especially near the Red River basin) that are of mainly German descent, and still have a lot of German families. There is even a well-known Texas "German" beer, called Shiner Bock. (I'm sure some people here have heard of it.)

Other than that, the state is pretty much what you see on TV, with a LOT of flat plains country, as well as a few areas that one might not expect- we have Palo Duro Canyon which is very scenic and colorful, Big Bend State Park which contains the bottom end of the Rockies, and the Piney Woods in East Texas, which is a hue area of tall pine forest.

[Papenbrook]

Originally Posted by shuriken

http://usuncut.com/news/9-hate-crime...media-ignored/

I think it's super messed up the way some of these bigots are going about hurting and assaulting people for their beliefs and or appearance. On a lighter note this: (9th article snippet)

“It’s a teachable moment,” Ahmadiyya Muslim Community spokesman Salam Bhatti told the Associated Press. “As we do raise awareness of attacks in mosques, we will see mosques do not respond in violence. Islam teaches us to teach peace.”

Also anybody think the U.S. state governors denying refugees are ever going to change their stance? Can they even do anything legally to stop them?

People don't just change overnight.

It will take a long time before society starts to change. We will go through many wars and tragedies in order for that to occur, though.

Maybe in about a hundred years from now, people will start to tolerate others.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Purple Kraken

People don't just change overnight.

It will take a long time before society starts to change. We will go through many wars and tragedies in order for that to occur, though.

Maybe in about a hundred years from now, people will start to tolerate others.

Considering no one in history has ever gotten along, I wouldn't hold your breath now.

Points for cheering everybody up, though! Optimism is a rare gift and something to be cherished.

[Papenbrook]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Considering no one in history has ever gotten along, I wouldn't hold your breath now.

Points for cheering everybody up, though! Optimism is a rare gift and something to be cherished.

I know you're being sarcastic, but it's the truth. Let's be realistic. It will take a while for society to change.