#australian stereotypes

[shadeops21]

Rules/Recommendations for writing an Australian character/OC

(The following is just a list of things I personally feel should be included or considered if one makes a character of Australian nationality, descent or heritage. It by no means is a hard and fast ruleset, but just things that can be done to enhance a character’s flavour or add a little authenticity)

Shortened nicknames for fellow characters that follow Australian Shortening Conventions: multi-syllablic names are condensed down to one, and an -a/ah, -o, -zza, -y, or -sy is added, eg: McKenzie (or and Mc name) > Macca, Damien > Damo (Day-mo), Jeremy > Jezza.

Swearing. This is actually a common trap I’ve seen, with some Australian characters being less reserved in their language than others. This will depend on the specific background of your Aussie, as vulgarity is moreso a commonality in smaller cities and rural spaces, and less so in larger built-up cities. That said, we do tend to through the more vulgar words around with greater frequency than other cultures, with f### and c### being thrown around more freely.

Slang. Again another trap, especially with older “stereotypical” Australian slang that I personally hear more from my grandparents and older uncles and aunts and less so my own peers + 10 years. That said, some terms are still used very frequently and have no generational boundaries, including but not limited to: ute (pickup truck), bottle-o (liquor store), servo-o (service/petrol station), “the shops” (any centralised marketplace from your general stores to large malls), booze bus (roadside randomised breath testing/DUI checkpoints, some which do both alcohol and drug testing), hoon (reckless driver, typically young males in cars too powerful to handle at their skill level).

Weather tolerances. This varies based on a character’s geographical background, but you’ll find that most Australians have higher than normal levels of tolerance to extreme heat. However, those that live around the Brisbane latitude and north have decreased tolerances to cooler temperatures, decreasing the further north you go. (Personally I find myself pulling on long sleeves and hoodies after it hits 20 or cooler.)

There’s probably more here, but it’s approaching 10pm for me at time of writing, so for my Aussie followers/mutuals, please feel free to expand upon or add your own tips or recommendations to writing Australian characters in a believable fashion. Curious to see what they are!

#ramblings #australia #australian characters #definitely not trying to project my own personal feelings onto others #but the number of stereotypes i read in fiction and fan fiction is starting to aggravate me #like some of y’all have never actually spoke to an Australian person and it shows #even if i am guilty of employing some of these tropes and stereotypes to an extent in my own writing

[healpimp]

seeing ppl say tf2 has "no diversity" compared to ovw is so wild. the mercs literally all mentally ill AND they have pyro.

#this is a joke post #i might like ovw but the diversity is pandering #still thinking abt the diversity chart and how they made zarya straight like aight bitch #ovw having a diverse cast is fine. it works for ovw bc of when it came out and its vibe #tf2 came out in 2009 and is a big funny haha play on stereotypes #for example heavy is the big russian macho guy but he isn't stupid in fact he is well read #soldier at first glance looks like he would be republican but any prolonged exposure to him #and you understand he just has rabies #engies texan but has 11 phds... for some reason #and demoman is scottish and just happens to be black #its a joke abt how black men in shooters are always afro american bc its popularized that way thru movies #anyone who thinks tf2 has no diversity is kinda lame bc obv they dont know zhanna or miss pauling #or that all australian women have beards #or that merasmus is genderfluid (???) #like i like ovw and care abt it a medium amnt #but ovw isnt nearly as heartfelt as tf2 #they took some cowardly decisions w ovw #like whatever they did to zarya in ovw 2. god. #and putting genji in pants #and de-assing reaper. unforgivable #like declawing a cat. unethical. how will he defend himself now.

[zahri-melitor]

Reading Digger Harkness as an Aussie: why he’s specifically written to wind me up, the undercurrents of many of his appearances, and why he’s voting No in the Voice referendum.

(Okay if you know ANYTHING about Digger and about the Voice you already knew that, but making this current-relevant!)

George “Digger” Harkness is Captain Boomerang. He’s traditionally written by DC to be specifically, deliberately annoying and disliked. Due to this he’s simultaneously quite cleverly written while also being the laziest character stereotype imaginable.

One of the things that drives me up the wall every time I read him in a book is that due to a clash of a few things in his character design, the subtext he’s evolved over time is remarkably complex, but also geared to make me despise him. Also I can’t tell how much of it is deliberate on the writer’s part.

The first thing you need to understand is that Harkness is very specifically putting on a level of Australianness for his audience (the usually American characters around him). The fascinating thing in this is that, unusually for this trope, his writers are often aware he’s doing this. The common term for this is ‘ocker’. You can notice this in the language he uses: it’s specifically peppered with ‘Australian’ words and phrases.

Now this is a pretty common thing for writers to do to demonstrate a character is Australian. It sounds like someone trying to write Crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin. However, to my ear (and years of putting up with this), the way it’s done for Digger is…off. It’s not the standard terrible way it’s used in American media, but it’s equally not written naturally for how an Australian who natively speaks ocker/broad would use it. Digger’s playing it up, and he’s playing it up badly. (the closest comparison I can make than an Australian might understand is he sounds more like Russell Coight than Steve Irwin, with all that implies) He wants people to think he’s an Australian stereotype.

Heck, let’s break down his name for a demonstration of this.

Captain Boomerang: this is a very, very, loaded name. Digger’s specifically racist, and he’s racist in a very White Australia Policy sort of way. The writers are aware he’s racist. He uses a boomerang as a symbol as he’s Australian (surface level) but they’re also specifically drawn as white a lot of the time, both in his costume and in the weapons themselves. They’re not plain wood or decorated with traditional art. They’re white. He has a history of making boomerangs and promoting them in Australia for sale, as a white guy, which is uhhhh Not Great. He’s assumed a traditional piece of Australian Aboriginal weaponry and culture as his own, and he’s painted it white. He’s asserting that it’s his culture now and has stripped it of its traditional meaning. (Also his boomerangs often don’t come back, and have sharpened edges and are used wrongly). He doesn’t like Black People ™ but also uses a weapon specifically associated with an oppressed minority in his place of origin. The white supremacy attitude is very much coded in.

“Digger” as a nickname: oh the way this clashes and interacts with the fact he uses ‘Captain’ as a title! Digger as a term is a general nickname for Australian Army soldiers. It comes from the Gallipoli landings and the trenches of World War I. By using it as his nickname, Harkness is evoking a whole HOST of imagery and specifically nationalist cultural imagery surrounding Gallipoli as a ‘birthplace’ of Australian identity, something that’s been weaponised particularly by the Australian political right for the past 30 years as a national symbol. In the stories that a country tells itself about who they are, Harkness is evoking a very major one and also one that can read as quite toxic if not done carefully. (if you need a quick entry to the way the nickname makes me wince, look up ‘Cronulla Riots’. That’s the sort of person his name is evoking for me) The other problem on top of this – this is a soldier’s nickname. Harkness has never been in the Australian military (as far as I can tell). Combined with the fact he uses the title of ‘Captain’, he’s suggesting he’s got a military background that he 100% does not have. He’s a giant hypocrite. Now being part of the military in Australia reads differently to being part of the military in the USA, in how society sees it, but this is still not on. It’s not a natural nickname for an Australian to have, in his circumstances. It doesn’t even make sense as a traditional ironic nickname given by his friends. Which means he picked it himself. And for that style of nickname…choosing your own? That’s considered to be poor form and trying way too hard. (And nicknames are culturally important! For the personality Harkness is trying to present to his audience, he SHOULD have a nickname like this. My father’s is ‘Bones’, for instance. But choosing your own, and choosing one that implies traits that are not yours to display? Really really bad form)

Basically in summary, Harkness is very much coded in a lot of ways to essentially be the Australian equivalent of someone who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With that sort of view of his home country.

What is fascinating is that when Harkness interacts with other Australian characters, they do not like him, so the writers are aware that he’s been written to be this level of objectionable.

Now, some of this coding in his character has just accumulated over 60+ years as stereotypes have evolved and things have become ever more socially unacceptable. But the interesting thing here is that the writers ACKNOWLEDGE that unacceptable behaviour from Harkness.

I hate him so much. And I also want to fix his dialogue, which suffers from being written by Americans, to include a bunch more extremely country ocker sayings. He NEEDS to be saying things like “stone the flaming crows” and “fair shake of the sauce bottle” and “flat out like a lizard drinking” and “I didn’t come here to fuck spiders”. Because he’s putting it on. And these are the sort of things he’d lean in to to convey that level of “oh I’m not from around here, I am quoting Crocodile Dundee at you but you didn’t even realise” that he’s written to have.

#dc meta #captain boomerang #I had to only gesture at a bunch of things but there’s so much more to dig into here #he’s very cleverly written as hateable #this man has a southern cross tattoo! #he would fly the Eureka flag without having the specific union connections to still make that acceptable! #he’s an ugly Australian stereotype

[wellthebardsdead]

The thing I like most about junkrat is he radiates the energy of a neurodivergent person who never had to/never learned how to mask to make neurotypical people ‘comfortable’. And I love that. Literally everyone else in Junkertown just didn’t care and let him exist.

Sure he still got on their nerves but he never masked.

It’s also why I get so unbelievably pissed off with how fucking nasty all the other Overwatch characters are with him. Like, wow, thanks, nice to know you’re all the same sort of people who beat me into masking up until my adulthood. Fuck you.

It’s another reason why I find his interactions with Hanzo so refreshing. Hanzos first interaction with him was hostile, but not towards Jamie himself or his personality, he literally just wanted his treasure lol. But later on his interactions with him are sweet. Hanzo feels comfortable being himself around him, fragile and depressed, and Jamie’s response? Humour and kindness. He asks if he wants snacks, tries to be helpful etc. i think it’s lovely.

Junkrat is unhinged from years in a heavily radiated isolated environment, but his behaviour and personality resonates with a lot of folks like me.

I’m just glad he at least has a friend in Hanzo. ~Bambi

#side note can non Australian companies quit portraying aussies as a bunch of crazy mad max stereotypes? please #or give our First Nations people some rep #overwatch #overwatch shitposts #Junkrat

[sixth-light]

The success of the mouthpieces for the show damane aside, I hope Madeline Madden got a really good chuckle out of getting to literally spit the dummy before her character's big comeback moment

#wheel of time #wot tv show #australia #for the confused: 'to spit the dummy' is a stereotypical Australian expression #meaning 'to lose one's temper (particularly in a childish or overreactive way)'

[john-pancreas]

I think sometimes my

John pancreas’s brain is so sick of hearing and seeing spy being week you know?

like not even being able to lift sniper

who’s only like

and inch taller (MAYBE have you seen those heels??)

so I think my brain overcompensates which my headcanonns of spy (well it is just CANON that spy can lift sniper but you know)

so in my mind spy can carry heavy

just dead lift that big man

a car? SURE! That’s my big tall French rectangle

you can do anything sad man <3

#tf2 spy #tf2 #tf2 headcanons #God I love spy #He is just so #french and interesting #People don’t let themselves explore the character #Without falling into stereotypes that is #That’s fine though you folks have fun <3 #But I swear if I see one more spy can’t carry the string bean of an Australian #John pancreas will LOSE it

[schadentekkers]

#shane haste #tmdk #njpw #mygifs #uh he looked really good in this vid #sometimes he reminds me of an animal and i can't ever think of what. a dingo maybe #or maybe i'm just australian stereotyping

[the-elusive-soleil]

Anybody else think that the Noldor in the First Age have a saying similar to our running joke about "everything in Australia wants to kill you", except it's everything in Beleriand wants to kill you?

#I mean due to Morgoth's influence probably most of the Beleriand wildlife is stereotypical-Australian levels of homicidal #and the ones that aren't might *seem* homicidal or weird to fresh-off-the-boat Valinoreans #silmarillion #first age #flora and fauna speculations #this will probably show up in a fic of mine somewhere

[achillean-knight]

JUST watched a video about the Afton's and I really love their British accents, but I've seen people dislike it so.... I'm curious. Reblogs or comments welcomed, I really want to know people's thoughts on this!

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #Afton #the aftons #poll #I'll be honest I love them being british it feels intimidating and makes them unique amongst all the american accents. #I'm also notoriously known for liking British voice acting over American because rarities like the amazing work for the aftons and #final fantasy 16's whole bloody cast feel much more familiar and nicer to me. Probably because the amount of american accents I hear in.... #EVERYTHING feels like it's a little too much all the time. #I'm not british but maybe it's because my accent (being australian) is very close to it that I feel more connected to characters with #foreign accents rather than American. Plus I love the evil Bri'ish stereotype. #About that actually I love how Wiliam doesn't SOUND like a cliche British villain. He sounds just like any other bloke and it's terrifying. #Michael having that british accent that was well executed and full of emotion added LAYERS to his character #and ELIZABETH oh my god I can't imagine her with an american accent. #It's so weird to me that there's a chance that they're going the American accent route with the Afton's after so many years of bri'ish. #Was the yelling in the trailer (I believe) for Security Breach actually Afton talking to Vanessa or something? MF sounds like Monty #I have nothing against the new VA for William I'm just very confused and actually genuinely sad at the loss of PJ being William :') #Correct me if I am wrong and that voice ISN'T william (I could see it being spring bonnies voice instead??? kinda like how Baby is american #but I'm afraid we'll loose the british Aftons WAAA #ALSO ADDING TO THIS #It's driving me nuts who was the british lady in Matpats timeline video #WHO WAS SHE AND WHERE CAN I FIND HER VOICE AGAIN (Was it in the VR tapes?? I'M SO CONFUSED)

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads

The Last

slow building apocalyptic thriller

an american academic is at a conference in a remote Swiss hotel when a nuclear apocalypse strands him with just 20 others

50 days in, a body is found in a watertank and he becomes obsessed with investigating to find out who did it

even though the remaining people are just trying to quietly survive as supplies slowly dwindle and the winter approaches

#the last #hanna jameson #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #so I read this because there’s an aromantic side character! #she’s an interesting/complex character who has a friends w benefits thing with the MC #a few stereotypes but like she actively counters them #the only weird thing about it is that it’s implied she’s a republican who voted for the ppl who started the nuclear war….. #like. would a right wing person identify as aro lmao #but also like i’m okay with not all ‘representation’ being good people. #as for the rest of the actual book i found it quite interesting overall! #i enjoyed that it wasn’t just 'fighting dangerous people to survive' immediately like a lot of the postapoc genre #(though i wonder how much food they had to be fine for 2 months??) #though there is a bit of that in places when they leave the hotel #a lot of interesting characters and like.....discussion on what different kinds of people would do in that situation #the australian accent (audiobook) of the australian character…..not sure about that LMAO #also I don’t believe the internet would still function after half the world has blown up? like this thing needs upkeep right #there’s a bit where the MC is talking to two dudes who start talking like: so are we gonna repopulate society? #and being creepy about the women. and the MC is obviously like: yikes! #but also nobody even suggests like……we could just die? without repopulating humanity whatever the fuck that means? #why is that concept not even brought up?????? i am horrified that anyone would consider having children in that scenario. christ. #anyway i guess yeah overall a few things im like hm about but it's a pretty good book #aromantic books #(also the MC has a wife on the other side of the world but like. there's not any actual romance. his thing with the aro woman is offpage)

[jackrileysblog]

#jack riley #the man from snowy river #australian celebrities #australian things #australian flag #australian stereotypes #australian culture #australia #advertising #australian icons male #australian icons places #australian icons #australian icon #australian icons dress up ideas #australian icons a z #australian icons dress up #australian legends and myths #australian legends stamps #australian legends and icons #australian legends cricket #australian legends cricket team

[codgod]

I love your idea for an egg, do you have any ideas for what they'd be like?

yea!!!

banjo would LOVE the ocean, first of all. love swimming, love sharks, love the beach. maybe i’m projecting a little but also i have met very few people here that don’t like the beach/swimming. also, mostly because of their namesake (a famous poet here) they’d really like stories, especially writing their own about their adventures every day. probably enjoys fighting mobs and doing dungeons just for the hell of it, not necessarily for the loot. and VERY ENERGETIC just a fun little guy all round. and for a little more projecting they really love music <3

and for general personality, mostly nice and laid back but also just a little passive aggressive/sarcastic at times lol

#.qna #okay the music is also because of their name a little #banjo paterson wrote the lyrics for waltzing matilda (unofficial australian national anthem) #(it’s a song abt a homeless guy stealing a sheep then drowning himself when the cops catch him) #anyways can u tell i’ve been thinking abt this for a little while lol #i mean this is just a lot of australian stereotypes but yk

[soft-serve-soymilk]

Cannot sleep :/

#just pav things #lying awake here with Inigo meta thoughts #specifically the nuances of why he never intervened when Archie and Dism were fighting #He is torn between these two ideas of reality— whether Archie is dead or alive. That is true. #But eventually the latter idea takes more of a foothold; which is just a recipe for mental disarray #It’s a break from the comfortable cycle of self-hatred and destruction. So this new thought has to be counteracted to maintain inertia #So as I understand it he’s now caught on those lingering feelings of abandonment that Archie has left him with. and he is Not Happy. #Because just as he interpreted himself as being a replacement for Dism #He’s interpreting Archie and his little motley crew as a further refusal to move on from the past #And because Inigo acts on impulse (as seen best with the 💥 arm getting blown off) he’s using that momentary anger #to distract himself from the core issue as he lashes out ✨ #He’s kind of a hypocrite that one. Stresses the importance of embracing unpleasant memories as a fundamental part of your character #(To the point of berating Idyllia for going the total memory wipe route instead) #but he is ALSO an escapist at heart. Neither of them want their definition of pain so they both have terrible routines to try avoiding it ✌ #I’m sorry if this made no sense Dolphin I will probably do a retake with more braincells in the next few days #You know I’ve been analysing the design of this kindergarten in sydney for VCD #It’s called Nubo. Now I’ve always had a fondness for Scandinavian aesthetics but this is PEAK #So I went down a research rabbit hole and I came out of it with a clear concept for what Amonea Montessori School should feel like! #It’s this sort of cross-concept between stereotypical Australian architecture and hygge #Those oak panels and muted colours and glass everywhere #And I can carry through to an overall unique visual identity for Amonea #After all Byrgir should feel similarly detached from Earth in it’s own subtle ways #Tapping more into solarpunk and that overall comforting feeling for Amonea in particular~ #I’m so happy :D

[llycaons]

omg so we have this guy at my work who has a really strong australian accent and he literally said 'g'day, mate' the first time I met him and another coworker just came in and told us HIS ACCENT IS FAKED like he told someone else he came from new zealand and for someone else he puts on a british accent but this man grew up in virginia lmao

#it was so stereotypical I should have guessed...this man is straight up larping as an Australian at work #cor.txt

[lockandkeyhyena]

i know most australians and even non-australians grew up admiring and loving steve irwin and thats really funny to me because my parents (and my dad especially) who by all counts are pretty dang stereotypical aussies fucking hate him and think he was a nob.

#keep in mind i say ‘stereotypically australian’ as an australian #our stereotypes about ourselves are very different to yours lol #yeen rambles

[seancosy]

my friend's cousin visited him from the US this week and wondered why Australian shops weren't accepting US currency

#american idiots #the currency example is like THE stereotype of US-centricity and it turns out it's true! #how are they all so fucking dense and oblivious to the rest of the world #can i use australian currency in america??????? no!!! of course not!!!!! #it just irks me that the most powerful country is full of the loudest most unashamed idiots