seriously, are they really too big?
I saw one about the size of my hand last night just outside my back door. Is that big?
Do you frequently throw shrimp on the barbie?
No Australian ever throws shrimp on the barbie. Ever. They're called prawns. Paul Hogan engaged in an egregious misinformation campaign.
They tell us here that Foster's is Austrailian for beer. Does this mean that beer is Austrailian for piss?
I've never seen Fosters on sale in Australia. I'm fairly sure it's designed to suit British tastes. I tried it once and it was almost as bad as Budweiser.
Though the most popular beers are probably VB and Tooheys, which are almost as bad. The recent trend has been strongly towards higher quality, though, with the development of what I can only describe as a gentrified connoisseur drinking culture (cider seems to have exploded over the past few years).
There's always been two drinking cultures anyway. Beer was for the working man who'd head to the pub after work for the six o'clock swill (pubs would close at 6, so there was a post-work rush). It just had to be cold and refreshing. But then wine is also big (as are wine exports), and serves an entirely different purpose. I think urban office workers and young people have primarily driven the move away from the old fashioned pub culture, because there's less of a need for something whose sole appeal is being cold and refreshing if you've been at a desk all day, or are out with friends.
How strong is Australian national identity?
Strong, but diverse. It's different for me than it is for someone from Cronulla. There's not many other viable levels for people to identify with. We could identify as Asian, and young people probably do more so, but it certainly wouldn't be widespread. Identifying as Asian is usually more wishful thinking, or a pragmatic business approach, than actual identification. On the other hand, we could identify as Sydneysiders, Melburnians or others, but there's barely any difference (just rivalry), and the Australian cricket team unites everyone anyway (it has universal appeal, so is a cross-class leveller too; you're equally as likely to see a bogan watching the cricket as you are a CEO whose been on the SCG members' waiting list for 10 years).
