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Words/things I learned watching BBAU from the US

So I want to ask our American viewers why do Americans always use their clothes driers?

I was reading Yanksdownunder and noticed alot of or all the Americans on there seem to think it is weird that Australian use cloths lines instead of using a more convenient cloths drier. What is with Americas fascination with them?

I don't have one but growing up I did and my family only used it if it had been raining for a few days and even then we still might of used an inside version of a clothes line. I guess a drier is convenient if you needed something dried quickly. But why waste electricity when the sun can do it for you.
 
Heard Tully refer to her 'tantie'. The context makes me think she was using this term instead of tantrum. Is 'tantie' an AU term or just something Tully made up?
 
PollyUSA said:
Heard Tully refer to her 'tantie'. The context makes me think she was using this term instead of tantrum. Is 'tantie' an AU term or just something Tully made up?
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Everyone would know what a tantie is. You can also "chuck a wobbly". Same thing :)
 
PollyUSA said:
Heard Tully refer to her 'tantie'. The context makes me think she was using this term instead of tantrum. Is 'tantie' an AU term or just something Tully made up?
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For some reason Australians love to shorten words.....Maybe abbreviations seem more friendly or laid back? It definitely makes our speech patterns less 'formal".
You can usually work out what we mean by working out what something might be short for.....Such as 'tantie' for tantrum, or "pash' for passionate kiss, 'mushies' for mushrooms,'hols' for holidays,'bickies' for biscuits.....

the list is endless....
 
'Tantie' is dismissive. It implies someone is reacting like a child, and needn't be taken seriously. Like Ueys and Wobblies, Tanties can be chucked.
 
Was out driving to an appointment last week (Perth suburb) and we heard bikes coming up in the lane next to us - and following the 6 bikies (Comacheros wearing their colours) was 4 - yes FOUR cop cars and another 2 - yes ANOTHER TWO unmarked cop cars following them. So over the top!!!! Actually it is rather funny seeing the bikies lead the cops around on a merry drive. :D
 
pjac said:
Was out driving to an appointment last week (Perth suburb) and we heard bikes coming up in the lane next to us - and following the 6 bikies (Comacheros wearing their colours) was 4 - yes FOUR cop cars and another 2 - yes ANOTHER TWO unmarked cop cars following them. So over the top!!!! Actually it is rather funny seeing the bikies lead the cops around on a merry drive. :D
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What a waste of money that is. Don't governments know that when they declare war on something (War on Drugs) it does not work.
 
Nope - it just gives the bikies a fun ride and lots of attention
 
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Inigo Montoya said:
So I want to ask our American viewers why do Americans always use their clothes driers?

I was reading Yanksdownunder and noticed alot of or all the Americans on there seem to think it is weird that Australian use cloths lines instead of using a more convenient cloths drier. What is with Americas fascination with them?

I don't have one but growing up I did and my family only used it if it had been raining for a few days and even then we still might of used an inside version of a clothes line. I guess a drier is convenient if you needed something dried quickly. But why waste electricity when the sun can do it for you.
Click to expand...

I've never used a clothesline. Using a dryer, clothes are dry in about 30-40 minutes, I just bought a new gas dryer and it's very energy efficient. It costs about a quarter a load. Even when the weather is good (which eliminates almost half the year), I can't imagine the inconvenience of going outside and hanging stuff up, waiting hours for them to dry, then going back out to retrieve them to save a quarter.
 
Badlands said:
I've never used a clothesline. Using a dryer, clothes are dry in about 30-40 minutes, I just bought a new gas dryer and it's very energy efficient. It costs about a quarter a load. Even when the weather is good (which eliminates almost half the year), I can't imagine the inconvenience of going outside and hanging stuff up, waiting hours for them to dry, then going back out to retrieve them to save a quarter.
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I find the SUN is very energy efficient myself.......

I sometimes use a Dryer living in Melbourne......But in Brisvegas I never needed one........It quite literally takes minutes to dry, not hours..........Same on Summer days in Melb.....
 
Tillyestelle said:
Just wondering if you mean "Bickies"
http://about-australia-shop.com/images/static-arnotts002.jpg

or "Bikies"
http://resources0.news.com.au/image...6400-f554f572-d4cb-11e2-b860-d5a4f7ec6372.jpg
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Last time I was at uni "bickies" meant something completely different =P

Inigo Montoya said:
I was reading Yanksdownunder and noticed alot of or all the Americans on there seem to think it is weird that Australian use cloths lines instead of using a more convenient cloths drier.
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I'm a Melburnian who uses a clothes dryer, but in my defence I have a tiny apartment and no lawn to speak of. I have seen people in my building get some complex string setup going on their balcony, but I am 25 stories up, it gets pretty windy! I'm worried my jocks will end up on top of a tram or something.
 
Badlands said:
I've never used a clothesline. Using a dryer, clothes are dry in about 30-40 minutes, I just bought a new gas dryer and it's very energy efficient. It costs about a quarter a load. Even when the weather is good (which eliminates almost half the year), I can't imagine the inconvenience of going outside and hanging stuff up, waiting hours for them to dry, then going back out to retrieve them to save a quarter.
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Have you heard of Fracking? Very bad for the environment. That is where most of the gas is coming from these days.

I guess Americans are time poor and don't have time to do things like drying clothes naturally. Which is sad.
 
Tillyestelle said:
I find the SUN is very energy efficient myself.......

I sometimes use a Dryer living in Melbourne......But in Brisvegas I never needed one........It quite literally takes minutes to dry, not hours..........Same on Summer days in Melb.....
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Me too. I live just outside of Sydney. On a sunny winters day all I have to do is hang my clothes out in the morning and by the afternoon they are dry. In summer it take about half an hour to an hour to dry my clothes.
In Winter when it rains I hang them up inside and only takes a day to dry.
 
Inigo Montoya said:
So I want to ask our American viewers why do Americans always use their clothes driers?

I was reading Yanksdownunder and noticed alot of or all the Americans on there seem to think it is weird that Australian use cloths lines instead of using a more convenient cloths drier. What is with Americas fascination with them?

I don't have one but growing up I did and my family only used it if it had been raining for a few days and even then we still might of used an inside version of a clothes line. I guess a drier is convenient if you needed something dried quickly. But why waste electricity when the sun can do it for you.
Click to expand...

From what I have gathered, many Americans have much the same attitude to climate change as they do to gun violence, ie my constitutional rights take priority over everything. I was talking to some Americans online once about water restrictions, and they said they would never stand for their government restricting their water use like that.

(Of course, there are probably many Americans who are cognisant of climate change and are prepared to make changes to their lifestyle. When I was in the US, I rarely saw people bring their own shopping bag, but I saw one guy in NYC do it. Also, people in Seattle are really switched on in that way.)
 
3Jane said:
From what I have gathered, many Americans have much the same attitude to climate change as they do to gun violence, ie my constitutional rights take priority over everything. I was talking to some Americans online once about water restrictions, and they said they would never stand for their government restricting their water use like that.

(Of course, there are probably many Americans who are cognisant of climate change and are prepared to make changes to their lifestyle. When I was in the US, I rarely saw people bring their own shopping bag, but I saw one guy in NYC do it. Also, people in Seattle are really switched on in that way.)
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One word comes to mind when reading that sentence. SELFISH.

And I am not saying all Americans are like that. There is what 300 million of them. Some have to be different. Right?
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Have you heard of Fracking? Very bad for the environment. That is where most of the gas is coming from these days.

I guess Americans are time poor and don't have time to do things like drying clothes naturally. Which is sad.
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I'm very pro-environment, but drying on a clothes line here just isn't very practical to save the tiny bit of energy the gas dryer uses. I turn down the thermostat a few degrees, which saves far more gas than the dryer uses. I also drive a Prius and recycle everything, btw.
 
Oh dear....we're on dangerous ground now......

How the hell did we get to "I drive a Prius..." territory?

I hope this doesn't lead to an "I'm a better Greenie than you because I........" type Show-down! ( don't think I could take it!)
 
Badlands said:
I'm very pro-environment, but drying on a clothes line here just isn't very practical to save the tiny bit of energy the gas dryer uses. I down the thermostat a few degrees, which saves far more gas than the dryer uses. I also drive a Prius and recycle everything, btw.
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But how many cycles of clothes will you dry over the life time of that dryer? How much energy will be used not just by you but the majority of Americans? I'm sure it seems like you are not using much but as a whole Americans are.

Where you live how cold does it get during the winter? Here where I live during the day the average temp is 17.7 degrees and at night it is 3 degrees. I rarely use my heater as I find it make me to hot I'll just put on a jumper during the day and extra blankets at night. The only bad thing about that is waking up in the morning. I never want to get out of bed lol.

I think it is great that you care about the environment I'm not having a go or anything. And by no means are Australian perfect in that sense. I'm sure some use their clothes dryers more than they should. I still can't comprehend why people choose to do stuff like drive somewhere when it is in walking distance for example.

Recycling is very important. Here in Australia in the 90s they introduced recycling bins for every home. And reduced the size of the general rubbish bins. So everyone does it. In America do you not have to Recycle? Is it a choice?
 
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