Aussie twang

When you work with a lot of English people, you quickly become accustomed to their accents, to the extent that you don't notice English accents anymore. Moreover, you assume that you sound like everyone else and forget you have an Australian accent. I think this comes back to self-perception: No one thinks they have an accent - everyone else has an accent! That all changes when another Australian comes on the scene. One develops a remarkable ability to identify other Australians - even on a packed bus you instantly pick out anyone with an Aussie twang. It's really comforting to find another Australian in this way and I often feel a bizarre sense of affinity as if we have a collective bond.

But the opposite can also be true. Soon after I arrived I was taking a look around Soho early on a Saturday night when I came across a loud (yelling), obnoxious bunch of morons staggering up the street. They were completely smashed (at 6pm) and although in their early twenties, were carrying on like teenagers. Everyone was avoiding them: it was cringeworthy. But then I realised one of them was wrapped in an Australian flag! (This was before I developed instant perception of Aussie accents). They were all Australian! I felt embarrassed and ashamed. A uni friend encountered a similar group on the Tube and was so embarrassed by their behavior that when they asked whether she was also Australian, she told them she was from New Zealand! 

I guess these sorts of encounters help create the image of Australians as beer-swilling louts. It is easy to stereotype in this way when people stand out because of their accent (or appearance). Yet I would argue (from what I have experienced, not just seen and heard) that regular drinking is far more ingrained in English than Australian culture.