Happy Belated Australia Day!

I hope all the readers out there had a fantastic Australia Day, Indian Republic Day, or both! In the spirit of the recently-passed event, I have decided to share an article I published in a friend's newsletter, which I wrote last year following Australia Day.

It seems appropriate that following a certain Australia Day incident that I should compose a commentary about it. No, I’m not talking about the burning of the Australian flag by Indigenous Australians, the drive-by shootings in Rockhampton or even how Nicole Kidman wasn’t in the country to receive her Australia Day honour. What happened is downrightly appalling, and it is rather outrageous how such a thing could happen… and go virtually unnoticed. Unfortunately such occurrences happen much too often.

The incident, which I speak of, is non other than Kate DeAraugo’s massive blunder while singing the national anthem. Actually it was minimal, though unforgivable. Here’s how it happened: on the afternoon of January 26th 2006 I had been watching the Australian Open and after a particular ladies’ singles match, the pop singer sang and decided to commence the line "We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil" with, well, "With" instead. It is probably the most common mistake made when people sing Advance Australia Fair. It is bad enough that many people are ignorantly singing it without the supposedly "most revered" pop musicians (I say this because it has been brought to my attention that she was the latest Australian Idol) not getting the words right to our national song. In primary school one of my music teachers forced our class to learn the national anthem correctly, and for good reason too. I am grateful to that teacher for ensuring that I (as well as my classmates) could sing the national anthem correctly, and not just for the reason to spare myself any public embarrassment but to exhibit that I am a literate (this could be debatable ) citizen who sings with a sense of pride about a nation that has been a safe home to me for the last decade and a half and a place where I have had many wonderful opportunities. Hopefully such aforementioned incidents – should they become noticed – do not reflect Australians’ ignorance and apathy to the world.

Let me introduce you to the word "mondogreens". Dictionary.com defines it as "a series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric". It’s mostly common among younger people and my mum of course. They are actually quite amusing to hear because sometimes they are just simply hilarious. To make light the situation concerning Ms DeAraugo’s indiscretion, let us now look a few mondogreens of lines of the Advance Australia Fair.

"Australians all let us rejoice" --> "Australians all eat ostriches" / "Australia’s sunset oranges"
"Australians all let us rejoice, For we are young and free" --> "Australians all eat sausages, Four minus one is three"
"Our home is girt by sea" --> "Our home is dirt by sea"

Well at least the first few mondogreens are not as frequently heard (I hope!) as the last ones, which are not completely false and thank goodness a certain pop singer did not get caught singing about snags and maths.

Source:
Plaza, A (Ed). (2006). The Newsletter, 2.

Big Bad Wolf

I have just read an article regarding an Indian bollywood actress being the subject of bullying on the English version of Big Brother. The continuance of this pitiful program around the world appalls me, especially in light of the terrible reputation that it has deserved. To the readers out there who are Bollywood fans, please excuse my ignorance of not knowing who Shilpa Shetty is, but I believe that she did not deserve to be humiliated through the media, let alone treated the way she did. In Australia, Big Brother has already caused its own controversy but despite this a new season will return this year. I have not ever been a fan of the show because of its encouragement of misdemeanour and poor values. I am ashamed at the support, and even worse, loyalty, that some (not all) Australians continue to show unto this program. If university honours and postgraduate projects are subject to ethics, why shouldn't this program be taken off the air since it has repeatedly violated ethical code of conduct?

Source: India takes up Big Brother 'racism' with UK

The Breast Thing You Can Do Today

Happy New Year all you bloggers and readers out there! Many of us in this day and age keep "New Year's Resolutions" and I know that in the past I have done similar (but of a more general nature, not as strictly enforced and far more achievable). Usually in the Western World most people tend to make such resolutions based on their needs, and not those of others. Whilst I do believe in self-improvement, I think it's also important to help others who may not have quite the same fortunate circumstances as yourselves. Whilst I am not Superwoman and cannot change the world on my own, I try and help. One day Health Promotion (and Wellness) will be a part of my job description, but who says I have to wait until I graduate to spread the word about health issues?

In Australia we have staggering rates of cancers, particularly breast cancer and skin cancer. In this post I am reusing something I wrote about on my MSN space when I discovered it last year. What some people may not realise is that breast cancer not only affects women, but men. I just realised that this sounds like an advertisement, but please read on anyway. I have also found some Key facts about breast cancer in Australia.

This could be the best thing you do all day. Here is a website that is genuine and is even validated by Hoax Slayer.

By clicking here you can fund free mammograms daily! It sounds pretty unbelievable, but it is indeed real. So, what's the catch? Well, from what I discovered, the free mammograms go to women in the United States, not Australia. Nevertheless, I encourage you all give a little bit of your time to help someone, even if it's not on this continent. Hopefully Australia can follow suit someday. After all, breast cancer figures in Australia are scary - in fact, I'm pretty sure that it's worse here than in the United States.

If anyone knows of a free service like this in Australia, please let me (and other people, of course!) know about it. Thanks!