wierdness about middle names

I come from a Chinese Malaysian background and spent my early life in the newly separated Singapore. For chinese people middle names are a vital part of our name and are freely told to everyone. In fact when we are more formal, we use our middle names. My name is Yap Voon Yee, or yewenyi in Mandarin. Yap Voon Yee is in Hokkien.

So I was very surprised to find, when I came to Australia as a 5 year old, that Australians are afraid to tell you their middle name. They are embarrassed or even hostile if you ask. They give all sorts of excuses from not wanting to sound like a snob to bank security. It is totally weird.

For the best part of a decade, I looked on in stupefied confusion at this at this weird behaviour. Then one day, I discovered why Australians hate their middle names. I was watching a school friend and her young child. I have seen this behaviour several times since with other people. When the child was naughty, she scolded him by calling out his name in full. So the real reason is: Australians do not like their middle name because they associate it with being a bad person. If they tell you their middle name, they give you power to scold them. Of course, this is an unpalatable thing to do.

uncles and aunties

In the culture where I come from, Uncle and Aunty are often used as an honorific. If you have adults who are close friends of the family, they are honoured by calling them uncle and aunty. So it was a bit of a shock when I discovered that people here in Sydney think that calling people uncle or aunty is a term of derision. It seems that they think that people who do this are gangsters.

the opposite of smart

It seems that they have only just worked this out. Certainly lots of people are talking about it.

In my mind, the opposite of smart is stupid.

Now, I know that most of these people don't think this. But they must be bit slow to think that I think of it in the same way as they do. Here is a definition from Wikitionary. Strangely their version of smart does not seem to form part of the English language.

smart

Definitions from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

English

Etymology

From Old English smeortan, from West Germanic *smertan, whence also Old High German smerzan.

Pronunciation

• enPR: smärt
• Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)t

Adjective

smart (comparative smarter, superlative smartest)

Positive smart

Comparative smarter

Superlative smartest

1. exhibiting social ability or cleverness
2. exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books
3. good-looking, as a smart outfit
4. cleverly humorous, in a way that is rude and disrespectful however; wise guy.

   He became tired of his daughter's sarcasm and smart remarks.

Antonyms

• (exhibiting social ability): backward, boorish, dull, inept
• (exhibiting intellectual knowledge): ignorant, uncultivated, simple
• (good-looking): garish, outré, tacky

Synonyms

• (exhibiting social ability): bright, capable, sophisticated, witty
• (exhibiting intellectual knowledge): cultivated, educated, learned
• (good-looking): attractive, chic, stylish, handsome

let the good times roll!

Obviously the opposite of a good time is a terrible or bad time. Anyone who does not like good times is weird and strange.

U.S. officials say broken satellite will be shot down

Quoting NEWS.COM: They are shooting it down because:

President Bush ordered the action to prevent any possible contamination from that hazardous rocket fuel on board, and not out of any concern that parts of the spacecraft might survive and its secrets be revealed, officials said.

The fuel tank is believed sturdy enough to survive re-entry, based on studies of the fuel tank that fell to earth after the shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. Officials said that the slushy frozen fuel would have then been released wherever it came down.

"This is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings," said James Jeffrey, the deputy national security adviser.

Of course, we believe every word of it!

friends

I have always considered the opposite of friend to be enemy. But in Sydney they think that it is acquaintance.

Here are some extracts from my dictionary:

friend
noun
1 a close friend companion, soul mate, intimate, confidante, confidant, familiar, alter ego, second self, playmate, playfellow, classmate, schoolmate, workmate; ally, associate; sister, brother; best friend, kindred spirit, bosom buddy, bosom friend; informal pal, chum, sidekick, crony, main man, mate, buddy, bud, amigo, compadre, homeboy, homegirl, homie; archaic compeer. antonym enemy.

ORIGIN Old English frēond, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vriend and German Freund, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to love,’ shared by free

• a person who is not an enemy or who is on the same side : she was unsure whether he was friend or foe.

working from home

Being in the telecommunications business, I have always thought that we should encourage people to telecommunicate as it would be good for business. So I was somewhat surprise to find people at work being against working from home. I think that we should encourage all forms of telecommunication as it would get people used to it and then drive up business. 

A few weeks back I discovered that people in Sydney have some bizarre misuse of this term which probably explains their unexpected dislike for working from home. The people from work say things like "It'll never happen". The people I spoke to said that working from home was infact just another way of saying - we stayed out all night, probably met someone we liked and stayed at their place. One would guess that this was probably after a night of sex.