General Banter

I love this site. The respect and friendship was so obvious from 1st viewing that I became a member. I have NEVER done that before and- as you may or may not have noticed - have been posting ever since. I never posted anything before either. I think this says a lot about this site.

Though I agree that the 'no profanity' and the 'play nice' rules enhance this ambiance(sp), I must say i was a smidgen annoyed when my 'd.a.m.n' was changed to 'drats'. I thought I was being appropriately-and remarkably- clean. Also 'drats'is a pretty culturally biased; American term. I'm not against censorship in this context, but ethnocentricism gives me the drats!

BuffyBuff: Whoa. Do we have an automatic censor here? I did not know this. However, I can honestly say that what is most needed here is a Harry Potter spell check. Toward then end of my posting session, I am cross-eyed and jelly-brained and cannot "do spells."

Speak to me about 'drats.' How is that culturally biased? Never gave it much though but I assumed it was a contraction for dead rats or something equally unpleasant but relatively innocent. Kind of like telling your buddy he smells like an old goat. Insulting yes, but only harmful if there is an old billy goat standing directly behind, waiting to butt you through the goal posts of life.

So good to be chatting to you one on one. I've admired your work; longtime reader first time talker.

I'm not on any soap box here. It was merely an observation. I mean I'm white Australian, we don't have much of 'culture' to be sensitive about. We have ethics but they're more about what we adamently don't believe in rather than what 'we' do. Don't get me wrong I'm not putting Aus down, we are very proud of what we don't believe in; worth dying for and thousands have. One of those things we don't take to very well is being told what to say and what to do. Which probably explains why our economy and international relations isn't that great but it does make us surprisingly, very easy friends and pretty drats! good swearers[sic].

'Drats'= dead rats hey? Wow!
The only time I have ever heard this word is in Peanuts comics when I was a kid.

My ire was raised on this topic when, after the 'drats!' incident, I noticed that someone had become a new member with the name 'sh.t' (wonder if this will get through. If it doesn't I hope you can figure out what I'm getting at). When I tried to bring notice to this fact, my 'sh..' became 'Oh pooh!' Isn't that hilllarious???!!! Obviously you can type naughties in the name box but not in the postings. Anyway, with all the censor changes the whole point got a bit lost so I didn't bother bringing it to notice until now. Thanks for op. to air.

I NEED spellcheck evry minute of the day.

Buffybuff: I'm with you. I don't like being jerked around either. In this day and age of "political correctness" and "homeland security" I find rules and regulations are becoming more oppressive. At the same time, the USA government seems to be moving further and further away from the will of the people. Not a happy situation.

In any event, your complaint is a small part of a gathering whole. Where is it headed? Into the dark ages, I shouldn't wonder.

But don't give up on us Yanks. We love Aussies. You remind us of the way we used to be.

So what exactly is a Bunyip?

i think what kills us in our goverment is the seperation of parties no one want to just get along they want power, and to instill rule every where things would work allot better if we were not american or brits but rather people, who are created equal and can work to gether to better us all it is so out I know but i can still dream that it could come true just like one day i will be able to go wingardia levyosa and my tv will move it self, yes I hate lifting hevey objects around my house

Global community yay!! I think we're doing our bit right about now. I really like being Australian but...well except for the fact that we keep letting Brit. and Am pull us into wars.

Bunyips, where to start. They've been made into cute little cartoon charaters but for the indiginous they were far from it. I don't think they're really old spirits; they're not Dreamtime/creators of the land, animals..everything. Some reckon they started like stories of the Boogey Man, to keep kids away from waterholes (or billabongs) so they wouldn't drown. Maybe. I think there might be more to them than that. A lot of weird stuffs gone on around Aus. billabongs, a waltzing Matida comes to mind.

well i feel that the chines are takeng over andthey should because i love those let guys (slow joyfull tear drops)

BlueBird. So glad that I happened to be on board (hee hee - man! I LOVE a pun!!!) to greet ya. Welcome on board! (hee hee there's the 'board' pun again!!! ) I'm so looking forward to gettin to know you.

Any questions, just ask me and I'll gladly wait with you for some-one else to answer it.

This is a silly conversation! I like it.

Why do you need to know about charms?

I RESENT THE 1st YEAR COMMENT!

only joking...

This is an old topic, but worthy of comment. Speaking of ethnocentricities and the diff between Yanks and Aussies - I've heard BuffyBuff call it The Philosophers Stone. Pretty weird. Its always been the sorcerers stone here and in the movies. Were the books printed differently? Did they change the movie for parts of the world? I've gotta know! Its strange.