This week in Australia

[Astrogirl]

"not on" is a British-ism that is also an ANZAC-ism.

Australian-New-Zealand-... what's the AC for?

I am not entirely sure if I have heard "not on" before, but it was clear from context that it means "not okay", "not acceptable".

[Kaharz]

Army Corps

[Kimra]

The ANZAC's were the war veterans from the World Wars in particular.

They are also an incredibly tasty biscuit.

[Kaharz]

Also the subject of one of the most depressing songs ever. The Pouges Waltzing Maltida. My phone doesn't let me get YouTube URLs to link. But it is about the horribly planned attack on Gallipoli in WWI which nearly wiped out the ANZAC* and would have ended Churchill's career if he didn't redeem himself in WWII. Fortunately everyone realized he was insane after WWII as well.**

*and a bunch of British and French soldiers.
**I'm not knocking Churchill as a WWII leader. He was good at that. Peacetime and WWI, not so much.

[Astrogirl]

These anzac cookies look good. But nothing can beat Subway White Chip Cookies.

[Kaharz]

These anzac cookies look good. But nothing can beat Subway White Chip Cookies.

I love those, but unfortunately I lack self control, buy three and then eat them all at once and feel sick afterward . So now I usually just avoid buying them all together.

[Astrogirl]

I also usually buy three, but luckily they don't make me nauseous.

[Felstaff]

Also the subject of one of the most depressing songs ever. The Pouges Waltzing Maltida. My phone doesn't let me get YouTube URLs to link. But it is about the horribly planned attack on Gallipoli.

The Irish and the Scots are obsessed with that song! Eric Bogle, The Pogues... I don't know why. There must be a shared cultural affinity fuelled by centuries of anti-English sentiment. I was at Carr's, a notorious Irish pub a stone's throw from le jardin des Tuileries, this one time. Fairly inebriated, I ingratiated myself with the honky-tonk piannah, and was soon playing requests whilst my erstwhile lover crooned the lyrics, hastily grabbed from popular lyrical sites via her ailing 2.5G EDGE connection. Alongside standards like The Auld Triangle and Lonely Banna Strand, they kept requesting And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. It always brought me to tears, and I have my Kiwi history teacher to thank for introducing me to it, but I wondered why--aside from the Pogues connection--it's an immensely popular ditty in Ireland.

Then again, the patrons were happy with a twenty-eight minute slurred rendition of Johnny B. Goode, so the cultural connection might have been projected by myself somewhat.

[Astrogirl]

What's a piannah?

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

A piano but it has an accent.

[GUTCHUCKER]

A piannah was a popular dish served in bars in the 1920s. I have it on good faith that piannahs were meant to be enjoyed heated, with alcohol.
To quote the musical Chicago:

Start the car, I know a whoopee spot where the gin is cold but the piannah's hot!

[Astrogirl]

I realized only very recently that in Australia fall/autumn [of year X] comes before spring [of year X]. This is so weird.

[Kimra]

Do you mean because Spring is in September? Like the seasons are still in the same order. This is not actually that shocking.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

It was kind of depressing to go through two Falls->Winters in a row.

[Kimra]

It was kind of depressing to go through two Falls->Winters in a row.

You didn't go through three in a row? When you got back to America surely there was a third waiting for you?

I did that when I went to Japan. I just lived in cold for a year and a half.