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Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

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Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#41

Post by smaudet »

Joker_vD wrote: post #32
smaudet wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I posit that its due to hardship - not to suggest all Australians are super hard off, but it is certainly true that acronyms/shortened words are more common in rural (think high intensity physical labor) or speed-sensitive contexts (think Wall Street, engineering jargon in a engineering context, such as software, or SMS text-messaging). Given their origins as a prison labor camp, coupled with a legitimately difficult…

And finally I've seen the (variation of the) argument usually applied to the Russians, about their slavish nature ("During the Stalin's reign, half of the country was in jail and the other half was the jailers" etc.) leading to the impossibility for them to form a civilized and liberal society, which is usually retorted with an example of the Australians... being applied to the Australians itself. No, one doesn't nee…

> No, one doesn't need to be of good breed to be freely able to speak multisyllabic words.

Eh? Not what I'm saying at all. Breed has nothing to do with it... circumstance has much more to do with word shortenings... not sure what I got downvoted for...

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#42

Post by bitwize »

jddj wrote: post #4

Some real australiana here. To paint the picture for those who aren't familiar, the industry is enormous and, in NSW in particular, extremely powerful. For a while (still? Not sure) in Brisbane, for example, you couldn't enter a bar after 1:30am unless it was a casino. In NSW the sports clubs, of which there is one in every midsized town, have busses which circulate the retirement communities and bring the elderly to…

Poster I saw on a men's restroom wall in a restaurant in Brisbane:

Fly 1: Bet you I can run up this wall faster than you.

Fly 2: Bet you you cant.

They say Australians will bet on two flies running up a wall. If you have a gambling problem, call this number yada yada yada.

Other poster from the same restaurant:

Win a trip for two to Las Vegas.

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#44

Post by bitwize »

brainwad wrote: post #39
Solvency wrote: post #17

what is it with Australians and having the cheesiest names for everything? pokies. electricians are sparkies. bikkie. spewie. budgie. brekky. it's like a bunch of babytalk only it's said by literally everyone.

Because it's fun to have diminutive version of many words. And because it differentiates us from boorish Americans - or as they are also known in Oz, seppos.

I once saw a sign in Australia warning about crossing train tracks. In the land of the free, the sign would have all the coziness of a Secret Service agent:

    KEEP OFF TRAIN TRACKS - $100 FINE PER VIOLATION
But this was Australia. So it actually read something like this: "Cross tracks safely and only at the provided walkways. Or cop a $100 fine. Don't say we didn't warn you, mate!"

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#45

Post by moomin »

jddj wrote: post #4

Some real australiana here. To paint the picture for those who aren't familiar, the industry is enormous and, in NSW in particular, extremely powerful. For a while (still? Not sure) in Brisbane, for example, you couldn't enter a bar after 1:30am unless it was a casino. In NSW the sports clubs, of which there is one in every midsized town, have busses which circulate the retirement communities and bring the elderly to…

Not Australian, married to an Aussie. I think pokies are an obscenity. And they’re everywhere, they invade as many areas of life as they can.

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#46

Post by settsu »

Solvency wrote: post #24
settsu wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe an equallly interesting question to ask yourself is why you associated those with "babytalk".

[flagged]

You assume I haven't been around babies because I asked why you attributed an entire country's slang to baby-talk? Fascinating.

Guess intellectual curiosity isn't everyone's forte. That's fine.

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#47

Post by pixl97 »

andrewstuart wrote: post #29
ryandrake wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-addicted, casual gambler (I recreationally play 1-2 no limit poker at casinos once in a blue moon), I'd hate to see casinos simply disappear, but yea they tend to be kind of sad places full of the people who can least afford to lose the money in their pocket. Don't know what the solution is. If you outlaw it, you're getting rid of a benign source of casual fun for folks like me who can keep it under control,…

Society pays a pretty high price for that casual fun for people like you. Maybe go see a movie instead.

Vice has a cost. Anti-vice has a cost. There is no such thing as a free lunch and you're going to pay the piper somewhere. While I'm not a gambler myself, the "Just don't do $vice$" moral argument just never works on it's own.

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#48

Post by BobaFloutist »

Joker_vD wrote: post #11
beckthompson wrote: post #5

Man this article is sad. Being addicted to gambling really does suck the life out you.

I've played enough poker (and similar games) on computer (against bots, no real money) to know that 1) I am quite bad at assessing the expected value of my moves; 2) I am quite... what's the English word for someone who gets way too excited from the thrill of gambling and forgoes the caution? "Hasardeux" is French for it, but I don't think "hazardous" has that sense in English? Anyhow, I do know quite well that were…

Poker players would label you as being strategically too "aggressive", but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with emotion, it's just what they would call the way you play.

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#49

Post by 082349872349872 »

Solvency wrote: post #24
settsu wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe an equallly interesting question to ask yourself is why you associated those with "babytalk".

[flagged]

> it's like a bunch of babytalk only it's said by literally everyone.

They must be doing it intentionally to infuriate you (the only cocky in Oz with sufficient snags for the barbie).

Re: Don't bet on the joys of pokies (2011)

#50

Post by BobaFloutist »

brainwad wrote: post #39
Solvency wrote: post #17

what is it with Australians and having the cheesiest names for everything? pokies. electricians are sparkies. bikkie. spewie. budgie. brekky. it's like a bunch of babytalk only it's said by literally everyone.

Because it's fun to have diminutive version of many words. And because it differentiates us from boorish Americans - or as they are also known in Oz, seppos.

Surely it's to differentiate you from the English. We may not be a commonwealth, but surely our origin in common with Australia grants us that much?
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