It was in light of the recent bikie gang violence that I realized you could be fluent in English and not understand Australian newspaper headlines.
The confusion, naturally, arose from the word "bikie," which, as those of you with dictionaries handy can testisfy, is not a word. Furthermore, even once you get past the Australian slang which has condensed "bicyclicst" to "bikie," you still must discern that we're not talking about vicious handlebar stuntsmen but hard core motorcyclists who are engaging in vicious acts of, well, murder. Not at all the juvenile pranks suggested by a wayward gang of more or less benevolent 10-speeders.
It's really been quite serious lately, with shootings at the airport, brothers dying, lawyers dying, all sorts of horrific mayhem. All under that splashy "bikie!" heading.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
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2 comments:
If you think about it though, American motorcyclists are referred to as bikers, too. One just has to take it in context to know which kind of bike is being referenced.
hooray for bikies! oh, wait... unhooray! I meant unhooray!
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