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West Australians have definitely got less and less friendly over time. When I'm walking in the fairly affluent middle class suburbs of Melville maybe about 1 in 10 people will say g'day or show any sign of friendliness. I think mostly it's either shyness or wariness. The Aussie lifestyle is highly private; one's life revolves around their castle, their mob and maybe (if they're lucky) their extended mob and work colleagues.
I found alot of friendly Melburnians, actually; they're probably like New Yorkers, kind of brusque but always ready for a chat (some of them). Sydney still feels hostile and impersonal. Every time I go there there seems to be an 'incident': being shoved on the escalator and being told to 'get out of the way!', seeing a German backpacker I was travelling with ask a man for directions and him being told to '**** off!' In over 20 years of living in Perth this very rarely happens.
That is very unfortunate, I haven't seen a tourist dismissed like that before....
being shoved on the escalator, yeah if its peak hour & you dont want to walk up it, stay to the left
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozgal
That is very unfortunate, I haven't seen a tourist dismissed like that before....
being shoved on the escalator, yeah if its peak hour & you dont want to walk up it, stay to the left
I think I was, either way impatience is no excuse to be rude.
West Australians have definitely got less and less friendly over time. When I'm walking in the fairly affluent middle class suburbs of Melville maybe about 1 in 10 people will say g'day or show any sign of friendliness. I think mostly it's either shyness or wariness. The Aussie lifestyle is highly private; one's life revolves around their castle, their mob and maybe (if they're lucky) their extended mob and work colleagues.
I found alot of friendly Melburnians, actually; they're probably like New Yorkers, kind of brusque but always ready for a chat (some of them). Sydney still feels hostile and impersonal. Every time I go there there seems to be an 'incident': being shoved on the escalator and being told to 'get out of the way!', seeing a German backpacker I was travelling with ask a man for directions and him being told to '**** off!' In over 20 years of living in Perth this very rarely happens.
You are very correct about the few acknowledgements from the few folk out on the hoof.
Lived in Applecross,in the nineties on coming to Perth,and can tell you was taken aback somewhat by the lack of verbal communication by the affluent folk there.
A dog may have assisted i felt in lubricating the way towards a little social interaction,from what i witnessed,but rather strange how pretenious so many appeared and have a desire to almost hide behind some imagined social position,snobbish and shy.
So not entirely convinced it being a new development although i expect it has become even more wide spread during the course of time.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdCanadian
I thought it was "uhstraylia."
that's what it sounds like when I hear people down under say it.
The 'A' in Australia is more often pronounced as a 'schwa' (unstressed syllable) in the way one would say the word 'a' unstressed. Like the sentence, 'we are a lucky country.'
I notice many people also say 'Austral-ya' instead of 'Austraylia.'
in my experience I have found those in Perth insular and wary of other people (of course not my Perthling buddies on this site)... just in general, in when I have visited there.
Not so in my experience on the east coast.
I'm one of those people who think of something and smile on the outside, the amount of people smiling back at me (when I zone back in) is quite high.
When I use to go for walks where I grew up, it was very common to say "good afternoon" if you passed someone on the footpath, less so in Sydney .... but I am living in Chatswood at the moment
I have to agree with Ozgal, there are times when I randomly catch someone's eye when I'm out for a walk, more often than not they smile or make some sign of mutual acknowledgment. If my dog is with me, I'll often get some nice comment about him or people stop and actually want to engage in conversation about him.
I also think friendliness levels is a city vs country thing. Where I grew up in the Wimmera region of Victoria, most people would say g'day or acknowledge you in passing, or wave you through at an intersection. It's not so obvert here in the city. Country life, back then any way, seemed a lot more relaxed and easy going, more positive, outgoing attitudes, in comparison. I find it's harder to make friends here and city people are generally more aggressive, for obvious reasons.
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