Australians
This is somewhat a sweeping statement, but in my experience Australians have to be the most prejudiced, intolerant people on the planet.

At school, we used to have to read a chapter of a book, then designate the next person to read the next chapter and so on....obviously a lazy teaching technique, but then I was two years younger than the rest of my class due to the fact that at the time we had a reasonable education system here, and, well....they didn't, meaning that topics covered in most classes I'd covered years ago and was very bored.
Anyway, every.single.time. that I was designated, my name was spoken; only it wasn't my name, it was "Pomme". After a severe beating one lunchtime, for doing nothing other than standing against a wall...and for being English, I refused to answer to the name "Pomme" and didn't acknowledge the fact that it was my turn to read. The teacher grew angry and shouted "Pomme, your turn to read!".
Now, every day, I would be regaled with tales of how stupid the English were, how violent they were (this was the 80's so the only thing in the news about England at the time in Oz were articles about football puchups), they ridiculed me about the fact that we drove on the other side of the road from them...until they discovered that they in fact drive on the same side as us. It was relentless, for 18 months. My friends consisted of 1 Canadian, I Italian, 2 English kids and 2 Australians (both of whom had English parents).

Obviously, I would tell my parents about these things...only to find that my dad was getting the same sort of treatment at work. One of the drivers where he worked was showing him the ropes one night; it was pissing down, and large cane-toads were all over the road. The driver would swerve into oncoming traffic to make sure he was maximizing the amount he could squash. My old man asked him why he hated them so much. "Well mate" he said, "they're from wog land aint they?"

One of my friends (one of the English ones) was called "Nobby" - not a nickname, his real name was "Nobby". His family had moved to the UK in the 60's and in an attempt to integrate into UK society his father had named him after a football player he knew at the time. So, the poor bastard was called "Paki" on a regular basis, his name was Nobby and he was a "Pomme". He didn't stand a chance. The moment he turned 16 he moved back to the UK (in the 80's, in London, when I'm guessing that we were not as tolerant of immigrants as we are now). It must have been bad if he preferred it here to Oz with regards to the beatings and abuse he was getting.

Now I can't hear the accent without thinking how stupid it sounds.

Thank God they only work in bars in London and not in proper jobs when they're over here ;-)
(dchurch bah, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 19:41, 14 replies)

Apparently the disdain extends to Yanks too
In 2006, I visited Brisbane. As a Yank abroad for the first time, I was a bit bewildered, and keen to talk to just about anyone. I knew nothing about sports like rugby, but knew how much the Aussies liked it.

On a train, I spotted a fellow and his girlfriend in yellow-and-green rugby jackets. I knew there had been a big game that evening and wondered who had won.

I approached and asked "did Great Britain or Brisbane win today's game?" The girl friend corrected: "Australia defeated Great Britain". The fellow, somewhat sarcastically, asked "do you know where you are?" I cheerily answered "Barely!" He asked, concealing disappointment, "you're an American, aren't you?" I answered yes. Girl friend said, "oh, we've seen many international folks today - Germans, Czechs, etc." I continued, "you see, when I flew into Brisbane on Wednesday, I flew in with the Great Britain rugby team." Rugby guy answered, "then you must have felt right at home." I said, "no, rather...."

He interrupted: "Listen! I hate Pommes and I hate Yanks, the two most loser nations in the world!" Girl friend said "hush, don't be rude." At that point I broke off the conversation He then began muttering all kinds of venomous anti-American things to the girl friend, amongst which I heard the name George Bush mentioned several times.

Thankfully, however, I did not have to go to school with the lout.
(Perv With A Dog had his eyes pecked out by scrub jays on, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 21:27, closed)

It's quite odd.
Sure, over here, we joke about Yanks, Germans etc... but there's not one I've met of either country that I wouldn't buy a beer for - I think that's true of most Brits, yet when in Australia - I've been back a few times since school days to visit family - they actually spit venom when certain (if not all) nations are mentioned.

I'm pretty sure it's jealousy. I've wracked my brain to think of what Australia has contributed to the world and can only come up with the rotary-clothes line. A space saving device for a land with more space than most others.
(dchurch bah, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 22:19, closed)

Philo-Americans Too
I also met a girl eager to shed her Aussie identity so she could slip unnoticed into LA. That was strange too. But, 99% of the folks seemed happy the way they were.

There were a few water-saving innovations in AU I liked quite a bit:

The toilet option of a half-flush;
Tanks to collect rainwater from the roof; and,
Automatic carwash using almost no (recycled) water.

And the best advertising slogan in the world, for a discount brand of dog food. Chum (with chicken): 'So chumpy you can carve it!'
(Perv With A Dog had his eyes pecked out by scrub jays on, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 22:44, closed)

I'm
pretty sure the roof-rain-water tank originated in Berlin.
(dchurch bah, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 23:04, closed)

And that paragon of tolerance
HRH Prince Phillip invented the half flush so that wee got only a bit bit a huge brown log poking out the top of the water could get a bit more to get rid.
(Wagane, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 16:17, closed)

Auzzzie
Whenever I get called a pom I reply right you are Auzzie..I live in New Zealand. Works every time.
(micmac is happy as a pig in shite, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 21:31, closed)

me a 'pomme' in nz too
No idea how pom/pomme is truly meant to be spelt (is that not the masculine/feminine spellings respectively?!)

The bit that minorly irritates me is how everyone presumes I'm from London (because lets face it, England is a suburb of London, isn't it), until I open my mouth. then a select few think I'm Scottish, the rest, still London!.
Yup, Scouse accents vs Scots accents. Easy to mistake?

But they don't really seem to have the regional accents the same here, except in South Island they're supposed to roll their rrrrr's a bit more.

And yes, when I get the whole 'accent/difference' thing pointed out, I quite often tell people I have no idea what the difference is between Ozzie and Kiwi accents. All sounds the same to me. (I can actually tell, but it seems to rile the kiwis a bit!)
(maggotriddendirtbox fast, feral and sharp as a tack since, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 23:49, closed)

My boss calls me a pom.
He is a Kiwi and has lived in the UK since 1990.

I don't really mind too much as he doesn't mean it offensively and the banter works both ways.
( Anthropos Was making beer on, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 9:43, closed)

No wonder.
It's "Pom" or "Pommie." If you can't even spell your own insulting nickname, you deserve every particle of abuse hurled your way.

That being said, Queensland has to be the most racist and prejudiced state in the nation, and I come from a racist, prejudiced shit-hole of a place in deepest, wettest, darkest country Victoria.

Google the Fitgerald Inquiry if you want to read up on how crappy Queensland has been.
( argyleblanket The man on the roof works for me, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 22:35, closed)

Pommy
...or Pome (prisoner of mother England)...or...POM...or, indeed, Pomme...or Pummy (from Pummy Grant assisted immigrant)...or Pomh (or inverted Pohm) - Prisoner of Maidenhead (prison).

Indeed, whilst in Brisbane I saw it spelt Pomme - and since then assumed that his was the correct spelling, since it originated there.

I do remember at the time (mid to late 80's) that people would say, "Queensland police...the best money can buy".
(dchurch bah, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 23:03, closed)

They think we're stupid and violent?
Aren't they descended from our criminals?
( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Fri 2 Apr 2010, 2:24, closed)

Strange...
I'm out in Brisbane at the moment, on exchange for 6 months, here till August and everyone I've met so far has been lovely friendly and gone out of their way to help out... the only twats I've met so far have been in clubs, but thats where they always are worldwide.
(The_Mighty_Spleen, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 10:29, closed)

Yeah
this was the mid 80's so it may have changed by now, although I got news the other week of one of the few Aussies in the school who wasn't a complete cunt - after excessive bullying at work, he finally gave in and killed himself.
(dchurch bah, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 12:32, closed)

A lot of them seem to work as private school teachers, in my personal experience.
They were all mean though.
(The Artist Formerly Known As &c You can order curries ONLINE these days., Fri 2 Apr 2010, 12:16, closed)