• MisterFrog@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    5 days ago

    I dunno about everyone else, but these middle fingers seem extremely well humoured and friendly.

    Is this just an Australian thing?

    Middle finger is a cheeky way to have fun with your friends.

    • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      5 days ago

      She seems like she’s in good spirits (as does the guy in the back), but I could see that being either because they’re all in on the joke together or because she’s super excited to have the chance to flick off a politician she hates and has been joking with her friends about it. Like, I could see reacting like that if I ran into George W. Bush, but it’s more fitting within the actual context.

      I think what tips it over into friendly is that she’s right there. Especially for a former politician (not accurate, but what I originally thought), someone getting that close and being antagonistic would probably be received as more threatening. Though I suspect there’s a lot more wiggle room for that in Australia than in the US, because of guns (which doesn’t even make sense, because the point of guns is hurting someone from a distance, but it might just be the view of any given person as potentially very dangerous) and the culture around politicians.

      • dockedatthewrongworf@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        5 days ago

        At least from my experience there just isn’t the same reverence about the PM as there is about the presidency. We’ve had a PM who would catch the train for official events. A comedy group called the Chaser even did a skit trying to get a hug from the old PM John Howard which I don’t think they could have pulled off in the US.

        • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 days ago

          Yeah, I think there’s a big enough political divide that at this point, it would be hard to find an adult who would feel honored to meet with each of: Trump, Biden, Obama, and Bush, but the culture hasn’t really caught up yet. There’s probably also the fact that the POTUS is likely to have a lot more political enemies worldwide than the PM of Australia, but I agree that most of it is due to the same cultural differences in our perceptions of the word “cunt.”