A study in shirking (and contrasts)
by Jamie Snashall on May 6, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
As the semester draws to a conclusion, it’s probably about time that I answer the clamour of voices from home (well, ok, maybe one or two) who have asked me how you the workload for a Master’s degree that’s done and dusted in just a year. Let me defer to a number of people, all of whom are better qualified than I to answer.
One colleague of mine, a long-serving military man, has the following credo:
It’s only a lot of reading if you do it all.
On that topic, this recent article from the Citizen is well worth reading.
Or former five star general and US President Dwight Eisenhower, who attended the Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in the 1920s. A biography by Geoffrey Perret records Ike’s view of his course:
Everyone who stayed with the course, in fact, graduated. It was like being at Harvard – people dropped out, but nobody flunked out.
The Pope, a primary and being a small ‘r’ republican
by Jamie Snashall on April 26, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
Apologies that there’s been nothing for 10 days – I’ve been more exhausted than befuddled as we head into ‘finals season’ - although this version has nothing to do with footy finals in September back home! It feels like plenty has happened both here and in Oz since I last posted.
Pope Benedict XVI has been in the US and has a website (www.uspapalvisit.org) dedicated to covering the trip. Not only that, but just as the President of the US has Air Force One, the Pope has – I’m not kidding – Shepherd One! The papal visit has, predictably, turned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Gordon Beige with very little media coverage of his time here.
Oh my Lord
by Jamie Snashall on April 16, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
An earlier posting discussed the high levels of religiosity in the US and the idea that social inequality brings economic insecurity and corresponding higher levels of religious adherence. A friend suggested that, given the dismantling or weakening of many elements of the Australian welfare state under John Howard’s government from 1996 to 2007, it might be worth further research to see if religiosity has increased in Australia over the same period. There’s an Honours thesis topic for an enterprising student (assuming, of course, that such a study hasn’t already been done).
On a related note, Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama got himself into hot – maybe scalding – water with these comments at a fundraiser in San Francisco last week:
You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Maybe he’s familiar with the Inglehart & Norris research?
Barracking for Obama and wearing thongs
by Jamie Snashall on April 12, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
I haven’t yet taken a look at ‘the lingo of the gringo’ and today is as good a day as any to compare Australianisms with Americanisms. Before I get started, thongs are worn on the feet and not on/around the derriere!
When you meet someone here, they will often say ‘What’s up?’ At first, I was totally perplexed and answered ‘Nothing’s up.’ Then I realized it’s much the same as Aussies asking ‘How are you going?’, which is not a question about the mode of transport proposed for getting somewhere, but more an all-purpose way of saying ‘Hello’ or ‘Gday’. Of course, usually it’s abbreviated to ‘Owyagoin?’.
Speaking of abbreviations, what’s up (!) with people signing off their emails with ‘Best’? Best what? Simply the best? Personal best? George Best? Email etiquette in Australia says that if you’re familiar with the person with whom you’re corresponding, you can end the message with ‘Cheers’, otherwise go with ‘Regards’ or ‘Best wishes’.
Springfield and the rock
by Jamie Snashall on April 6, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
As I said one day last week, in spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. Here’s one of the most revered presidents in US history, Abraham Lincoln, wooing his wife-to-be, Mary Owens, in 1837:
This thing of living in Springfield is rather a dull business after all…I’m afraid you would not be satisfied. There is a great deal of flourishing about in carriages here, which it would be your doom to see without sharing in it. You would have to be poor without the means of hiding your poverty. Do you believe you would bear that patiently?…What I have said I will most positively abide by, provided you wish it. My opinion is that you had better not do it. You have not been accustomed to hardship, and it may be more severe than you now imagine.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin describes his marriage proposal as “one of the most curiously unappealing ever penned” in her book Team of Rivals. I’m grateful to my colleague David for sending on the quote.
The imperial march (or maybe it’s April?)
by Jamie Snashall on April 1, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
I couldn’t let the significance of today pass without some comment. The weather was warm – 17C or 63F – leading me to believe that winter was completely gone. Alas, it was an elaborate April Fools’ Day hoax on the part of Mother Nature. Tomorrow will be 9C or 49F and later in the week we’ll struggle to a top of 6C or 43F. Will this ever end?
I read this morning that the US was finally going to move into the twentieth century (forget the twenty-first) and adopt metric instead of imperial measurements. This would mean an end to pounds and ounces, feet and inches, gallons, pints and quarts, miles and – my personal bugbear – embracing Celsius rather than Fahrenheit. Then I remembered it was the first day of April …
Of marsupials and (soy) flesh for fantasy
by Jamie Snashall on March 29, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
I start with these words from the newspapers this week: ‘vegan strippers’ and ‘wombat rape’.
OK, now that you’ve recovered from laughter/astonishment/head-shaking (strike out whichever doesn’t apply), take a look at this article which has all the ingredients to be a proud member of the ‘Only in America’ club. I love the idea that you can simultaneously engage in activities both politically correct (not eating meat) and incorrect (visiting a strip club).
But lest you think I only want to poke fun at strange behavior in the US, here’s the next best thing for Australians: making fun of New Zealanders, our neighbors across the ditch (as the Tasman Sea is called). The arresting police officer told the court that alcohol played a large part in the accused’s life and, to use an Australianism, you’d have to speculate whether he was a stubby (beer bottle) short of a six-pack …
Guns n’ Weather - Appetite for Refrigeration (and Destruction)
by Jamie Snashall on March 27, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
Lord Tennyson famously said in his poem ‘Locksley Hall’ that:
In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love
It’s almost the end of March, spring has officially sprung and, while today it’s double figures (in Celsius) outside, a cold change with snow is forecast for Friday …
People talk of a beautiful winter wonderland when the snow falls and silence descends on the outside world. That’s true – up to a point, that point being when the snow blower operates at midnight as it clears paths and the reversing noise of the plow truck adds its chorus to the cacophony.
Winter brings different fashion here, especially for women. Ugg boots are worn in public, while colored and patterned wellington boots (gumboots in Australia) are common. I referred in an earlier posting to the Aussie tendency to abbreviate everything, so gumboots become ‘gummies’, not on any account to be confused with the gummy shark (otherwise known as ‘flake’ and a very popular ingredient in fish and chips).
Sacred and secular - Easter AND spring break
by Jamie Snashall on March 24, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
Never let it be said that I lack courage. This entry was originally going to cover religion, politics, sex, alcohol, guns, sport and many other controversial topics. But hey – do I really need to run the risk of incurring multiple death threats all in one day … why not stagger them over the full week to live on the edge (it reminds me of ‘The Bachelor Home Companion’ where PJ O’Rourke encourages the liberal use of salt in all foods, taking time to remind us that “Salt keeps your blood pressure up to the pitch of modern life”).
We’re always hearing about the religiosity of the American population and of the influence (for better or worse) of religion in politics here, making the country something of an outlier when compared with other advanced industrial democracies around the globe. When I compare my country with the US, I see a common heritage as ‘settler societies’, English as the dominant or only language spoken and Protestants historically as the major Christian denomination. Despite these similar traits, the two countries are very different on secularization and religiosity.
Language and leaders (new and fallen)
by Jamie Snashall on March 18, 2008 in Befuddled Foreigner
The biggest issues here this week are the economic meltdown and the continuing fallout from former Governor Eliot Spitzer’s dalliances with prostitutes. I note that the epicenter for both events is New York … start spreading the news indeed!
It’s funny how interest rates here are likely to be slashed to revive the US economy while the robustness of the economy back home means the mortgage repayments on my apartment after a few interest rate hikes on my meager student savings are almost killing me.
I was thinking about different meanings for words in Australia and the US. Consider this sentence:
“I’ve got an appointment with the solicitor”
In Australia, this means “I’ll be seeing my lawyer” while here in America, well … (Although I guess for Mr Spitzer it means both things simultaneously!) Read more
