Course Aussies..............

We were sitting watching telly last night, all the family, and this ad came on for Austrailia. With a script like...."..heres your taxi..." and a shot of a small plane with floats on bobbing in the sea......"your table is ready"...and a shot of table set for dinner under aires rock....."the showers fixed"...and a bloke diving in a waterfall etc etc. I guess someone must have seen it too.

Now the funny part, right at the end is a lovely "sheila" in a white swim suit and she says "How the bloody hell are ya?"....at which point our 8 year old protested how rude it was for them to say that and that we shouldnt go to Australia if thats how they talk, and how disgraceful it is to have an advert on the telly like that! After a few minutes silence, our eldest said "dont worry New Zealand is quite a long way from Australia......they might talk like them (meaning aussies) but they are much nicer in New Zealand"

My wife and I just smiled at each other in contentment that the kids know the score!

lol - did you know that advert was originally banned in the UK because it had the word 'bloody' in it. The Australian tourist board were gobsmacked but in reality the banning was good publicity because it became such a talked-about advert! Anyway, obviously the prudish advertising standards authorities decided, in their wisdom, to allow the advert to be shown (possibly only after the 9pm watershed though?). imo, it's not an offensive advert and 'bloody' would be considered a very mild swear word here!

Incidentally, the advert has now been banned in Canada - not for having the word 'bloody' in it but for having the word 'hell' in it [smilie=fool!.gif]

You haven't watched much TV in NZ have you?! Swearing is more common on TV here than you think. That advert where the girl enquires 'So where the bloody hell are ya?' wouldn't be looked at twice by a kiwi. Then theres the 'Bugger' advert from Toyota which was not only broadcast, but also won awards. There was another ad on not so long ago (Toyota again I think) where they had some bulls steal the farmers ute to go in search of cows. Whilst driving through a field of sheep, one bull shouts 'Out of the way, sheep shagger!' and the advert eventually ends when they find some cows with a shot of the ute rocking with giggles coming from within.

OK, so what does "bloody" refer to that is so offensive? I heard theories long ago, but have no idea if they're true...and if true, what's the big deal? In the US, you might hear it as a substitue for f***ing, because it has no impact here.

I don't think it refers to anything in particular, it's just been deemed a swear word that's far too foul for British ears.

I think bloody and bugger are probably the least offensive swear words around!