In Australia, whether in person or on the phone, there is a strict script to follow when greeting someone. Although very polite, it does not source from a need to be civil as much as a need to have a procedure to follow in situations not entirely casual. A way to start on common ground, I suppose. Goes like this….
In Person:
P1) Hi how are you?
P2) Good thanks. How are you?
P1) Good thanks.
-the conversation may now begin.
By Phone:
P1) Hi this is ________, how are you?
P2) Hi, good thanks. How are you?
P1) Good thanks.
-the conversation may begin.
It must go exactly like above or you screw people up:
P1) Hi how are you?
Me) Hello.
P1) Good thanks.
The other day a delivery truck arrived much later than usual. I called out to the driver “Wow you’re late today, been busy?”
to which he replied
“Yeah good thanks mate”.
Now you may be thinking he was being sarcastic, but I assure you not. Because as soon as he said it, there was a pause as his brain finished processing the exchange and realized something went wrong just there. You see the same reaction on just about anybody if you don’t follow the script. You see the effect in other areas too…
It is not normal practice to hold a door for someone in Australia, whereas in Canada its close to a crime not to. So I often hold doors for people and the reactions are three. 1/3 say “Thank you” as they should, 1/3 are taken aback and regard you suspiciously, and the final 1/3 take it as a sign of deference and get rather snooty with you, refusing to acknowledge you altogether.
So next time you meet an Aussie, play with their head a little. It’s good fun.
In Person:
P1) Hi how are you?
P2) Good thanks. How are you?
P1) Good thanks.
-the conversation may now begin.
By Phone:
P1) Hi this is ________, how are you?
P2) Hi, good thanks. How are you?
P1) Good thanks.
-the conversation may begin.
It must go exactly like above or you screw people up:
P1) Hi how are you?
Me) Hello.
P1) Good thanks.
The other day a delivery truck arrived much later than usual. I called out to the driver “Wow you’re late today, been busy?”
to which he replied
“Yeah good thanks mate”.
Now you may be thinking he was being sarcastic, but I assure you not. Because as soon as he said it, there was a pause as his brain finished processing the exchange and realized something went wrong just there. You see the same reaction on just about anybody if you don’t follow the script. You see the effect in other areas too…
It is not normal practice to hold a door for someone in Australia, whereas in Canada its close to a crime not to. So I often hold doors for people and the reactions are three. 1/3 say “Thank you” as they should, 1/3 are taken aback and regard you suspiciously, and the final 1/3 take it as a sign of deference and get rather snooty with you, refusing to acknowledge you altogether.
So next time you meet an Aussie, play with their head a little. It’s good fun.
4 comments:
Ah...I'll keep this in mind when my Aussie friend calls next. Thanks!
Actually, one thing she says that always gives me pause is "Howyougoin'" as one word. Is that a normal Aussie thing too? Because for the longest time I couldn't even figure out what she was saying (I suppose because "How are you going" isn't said here and also because of the one-word thing).
Australians wear masks and drive jerry-rigged doon buggies and welded-together monster cars, and they make life real miserable for Mel Gibson.
The best way to fight em is to trick em.
Fill a tanker with sand and head off West.
And yes, Australians do in fact have knobby knees. It has to do with the calcium rich bedrock of the Australia plate. They are the knobiest kneed people on earth apperantly, with the natives of New Guini coming in second.
Afghanastan has fairly knobby kneed people too.
One more thing about Australia that hardly anybody knows - They got a freakin' laser in the desert that will turn the surface of the moon to glass, and reflect the light back on the electromagnetic spectrum in an "off frequency", thus rendering the planet electronicly dead, all of course, except Australia.
"Ow-ya-goin" is the correct phrase...similar to "Howzit goan, eh" in Canadian.
The rest, knobby knees and lazer beams, is entirely correct.
here in the United States (everyone else just has these free floating states, but ours fit nicely together... except hawaii and alaska...)
the standard greeting (atleast the california side of things) is a 20 degree upward tilt of the head. this motion can be given to anyone and shows see them and mean no harm. but if you make direct eye contanct they will become a) intimidated or even b) violent. they have flung dung...
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