australian sense of humour

one thing that will help some of you, and its very powerful, is to adopt some of the australian sense of humour. i dont know what you poms are like over thier, but americans definetly have alot of ground to gain in this area.

you have to learn to laugh at yourself. In many groups of friends in australia, the sole entertainment is one bloke having a go at another bloke about his nose, his small thingy, his inability to drink much, his crappy job, nasty gf, lack of intellect, or whatever, and then everyone laughing at that person all day\night :lol:

its not seen as offensive or anything, its just a joke. the bloke bieng picked on will turn around and admit it and make some witty comment, and onwards we go. It really is a great way to get comfortable with yourself and build your self confidence by not taking yourself too seriously.

its a related approuch i guess to how african americans handled some of the discrimination against them, or how homosexuals came to overcome descrimination against them also.

"nigga" used to be a way that whites would belittle black people, a way of showing thier superiority. Over the years, many blacks have taken that term on, and used it with pride. They admit "yer im a nigga, got a problem with that ?" so they have taken away the power that racists used to have.

gays did the same thing, they were called queers, poofters, and all sorts of things, now theres tv shows were they call themselves queer you know :lol:

Alot of us guys in the US do that also... but only when it is among real friends... if it is done outside of friendship or when just meeting someone it may or may not be taken the wrong way. But, I agree I do need to laugh more often.

Laugh more...omg, people think i'm nuts as it is, they say I'm stuck with a permanent grin and they reckon i laugh at way too much. Maybe its because they are so miserable with thier lives that they dont like to see other people happy...well, smiling and laughing anyways. Happy happy joy joy, I feel the need to sing about cows...today is indeed a weird day, i think the paint has gone to my head!

:lol:

Paint your head? That sounds fun... wish I was there to join ya'. Maybe, I can go and I dunno.... paint my body green and go run half naked through a monastery? Is that bad?

Only if you make it a habit Wistful

Tommy i undestand what you're getting at. While it can be good fun I agree and in some strange way build friendships there's a fine line. I've seen mates use it as an excuse to gang up on a person and push it too far. Then they blame this person for not having a sense of humour.

I remember when I used to go to work on the bus.

It would be a grey day, with all the passengers sitting there like they'd just won the lottery, but lost their lottery tickets.

A load of people would get on, "mentally challenged" people who were going to the day-centre. They would be jostling each other, laughing and joking.

It used to make me wonder who were the sane ones there. I know who were the happiest!

I'm always laughing and smiling, I guess it's a way to hide what I really feel so I don't bring too much attention to myself around strangers. Aussies are very carefree though, a little too care free sometimes