G'DAY MATE

[Maureen K Clifford]

An Aussie Trucking company at a training session recently told its employees that the use of the word Mate was unethical due to cultural differences .... What the???? Fair Dinkum how bloody stupid is that.

Mundrabilla sunrise Nullabor Plain Steve's photo.jpg

G'DAY MATE ... Maureen Clifford © The ‪#‎ScribblyBark‬ Poet.


A memo went around the yard, every bloke got a copy.
A company directive of the new rules to abide.
The use of words the company considered not in keeping with
the image they projected. It was called a 'Workplace Guide'

Some things mentioned were OK they gave the blokes no trouble,
like courtesy to others when driving on the road,
and making sure your load was properly loaded and balanced ,
driving responsibly and sticking to the highway code.

But one think really got their goat for it was un Australian -
from henceforth they were not allowed to use the term of mate
and anyone who was caught out failing to follow this rule
would immediately without recourse be shown out of the gate.

"It's bloody un Australian" the blokes were heard to mutter.
"We'll be a bloody laughing stock when heard on the CB"
"I'll have to zip me lip real tight . Who thought this up? What nutter?"
"I've heard of watching P's and Q's - but this rule? Well! Crikey!"

They claimed it was unethical along with 'love ' and 'dude'.
People would take offence if called by these names so it seems.
Well 'love' and 'mate' are Aussie terms to drop them - that is rude
I'm an old Aussie sheila not the 'madam' of your dreams.

And let me tell you here and now, your thinking mate, is twisted
if you think Aussies of this land aren't going to get irate
with blokes who think our language is in need of modernization
Just leave it be - it's Aussie talk - it's bloody ripper MATE.


***HAVE A LISTEN to the interview with the trucky who leaked the story - the poor bugger mentioned the word mate at least a dozen times in the course of the conversation as one does. It's an Aussie word, ingrained into our language, and psyche for goodness sake. No fair dinkum Aussie is going to find it offensive. Dude and Bro I would agree would and are offensive to me because they are Americanisms, but Mate and Love - Come on!

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A% ... =UAQEv7XfU

[Vic Jefferies]

Love the poem Maureen but hate the political correctness behind the original suggestion.

[Catherine Lee]

Can't believe the stupidity! Good on you Maureen, for writing this poem.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Thanks Vic and Catherine

We were talking somewhere the other day on the forum about opportunities to share bush poetry with a wider audience and I made a comment along the lines of there being opportunities out there it was just a case of recognizing them. This poem is a case in point where like Vic the idea of dropping the term Mate got right up my nose and so I wrote a poem about it and added it, as a comment, onto the FB site that broke the story https://www.facebook.com/9News/?fref=photo

This poem has already received over 80 likes and a couple of comments (active engagement) from people who I doubt have anything at all to do with bush poetry, and they are still coming trickling in about 24 hours after posting it - it is probably old news now BUT the actual post itself has had 3086 people share it and 2.3k people post a comment on it.

Now I am not saying that each and everyone of those people will have taken the time to read my poem but for sure a fair few will have. So getting bush poetry out there is not all that difficult. It may make a difference, it may not - I don't know, but it can't do any harm.

[Bob Pacey]

Ripper Rita ( Mausie )


My thoughts exactly.


Bob

[Vic Jefferies]

Your spot on Maureen and this is exactly what is needed to keep the craft alive.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Thanks Vic and Bob for also thinking outside the square - 18 hours have passed since I posted that comment and that FB post has gone from 2.3k to 2.6k comments, from 3086 to 3563 shares, and my poem from 83 to 119 likes. You just can't and generally don't get that coverage on a webpage...because they are attracting a fixed audience of members/supporters and don't reach outside of the box.

Social media has to be where we are concentrating our efforts to get the word out IMO...and to do that Bush Poetry organizations. events and competitions need to step up to the mark and quickly. Not saying that forums don't have a place - of course they do and hopefully always will, but no reason why they can't be co-ordinated

[Neville Briggs]

What is the word we are getting out, Maureen ?

There are writings two thousand years old that relate stories where people call greetings to strangers as " friend ". The custom is as old as the hills, pal, mate, buddy, amigo, mon ami, it's in all cultures. We even used to address letters as " dear... "
The rush to so-called political correctness is a symptom of the post-modernist virtue of self loathing that they want us to adopt.

If we keep going the new design for the Australian flag should just a white sheet on a pole.

[Jeff Thorpe]

Brilliant observation Maureen MATE.

Jeff