[LINK] Give it a rest, mate!

[Jan Whitaker]

At 10:03 PM 11/02/03 +1000, you wrote:
>  "If there is a faint hope of this thing being solved without military
>force, that faint hope is for the whole world saying the same thing
>and saying it very loudly to Iraq - and most particularly the Arab
>states saying, 'mate, the game is up'."

At least this one is mild. "The game is up" would translate in America, and 
probably other English speaking areas, and "mate" would at least be 
understood in many places because of Crocodile Dundee movies, even though 
the use of it is quite inappropriate.  That is bizarre, considering Howard 
is talking 'to' an Enemy, Saddam Hussein, and he's calling him 
"mate"?  What?  The leading supporter of 'mateship' as a given Australian 
characteristic that means absolute support and connection with one's fellow 
man?  Since when is SH JH's mate?

The one that really made my skin crawl was LJH saying 'dinkum' in a press 
conference.  Now who do you think understood that?  Oh, right, the base of 
voters for the ultra-conservative right who put him in office.  I'll 
guarantee no one else in the world understood what he meant.  At least he 
left off 'fair'. Maybe he thought that would make it better.

Jan


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