We’re quite isolated here in Australia, and our little (well, massive) pocket of the world is kilometres and kilometres away from our friends overseas.
And it’s this distance that can breed many a misconception about what we actually do down here, and what we – as Australians – are actually like.
Take our neighbours across the Pacific Ocean, for example.
According to the average American on the streets of NYC (who, let’s be honest, will probably be the most cosmopolitan-minded of the American demographic) the first thing that comes to mind when they think of our country are kangaroos.
No, not our beautiful beaches, our awesome weather, and our laid-back lifestyle – kangaroos!
When asked what the worst thing about Australia was, many lamented on the the fact that we’re just so far away from them, as well as the fact that we have some of the most dangerous animals on the planet – snakes, sharks, spiders and, according to one New Yorker, boxing kangaroos!
Check out the hilarious video for yourself:
So yeah, apparently our national anthem sounds like a Celine Dion song…
Over in the UK, things fare a little better, but there are still some laughable misconceptions about what we actually do down here. According to the average Brit on the street, we all work in bars and finish all our sentences with a question mark?!
Which basically means we’re all alcoholics and who second guess our every move?
Venturing further into the world, according to some “insightful” posts on a Reddit thread entitled “What does the rest of the world think of Australians?” some people (ahem, Redditer 2bitinternet) are sick and tired of being mixed up with us.
“Austrian here, we’re sick and tired of being mixed up with you guys. Other than that, you’re like the surfer dude cousin of the UK that lives wayyy too far away and should come more often to visit.”
Other users on the thread praised our laid-back, “no worries” attitude to life.
But perhaps one user, Scrappy_Larue, summed it up nicely when he referred to Australians as “A cross between a Brit and an American, three beers in.”
Well played, sir. Well played.
Source: SBS, TransferWise, Reddit