quicko: "traditional owners"

The "traditional owners" of the land in Australia, from what I understand, is the politically correct way to refer to the Aboriginal people who owned the land previously.  I hadn't heard the term in Sydney, but it did crop up a few times on my recent trip to Darwin.  (Okay, I backdated my blog!  So sue me -- no, really, don't, please!)

quicko: politics

Okay, this is a general note for Australians:  I know you find it strange, I know you disagree, I know you're just curious, I know you don't mean to be rude, but:  it is rude to ask an American who they voted for.  If I want to tell you, I will.  If I don't, it is none of your business!!

quicko: things i'm getting really tired of australians saying to me

--Are you Canadian?
--Well, you certainly still have your accent!
--Who'd you vote for?

quicko: howdy, partner

So here people don't have husbands and wives.

Well, okay, some of them do, but they don't call them that. They call them "partners."

It's a PC, very socially ept thing to do. "Partner" applies not only to husbands and wives, but also to boyfriends and girlfriends or homosexual partners. It's a nice, neutral way to specify an important person and is a whole lot faster than "that person I'm romantically attached to in some way and probably live with."