Its not a 'real' castle I don't think. Not as Brits know them. I remember it quite well...NZ reminds me far more of Scotland than it does Wales though.
14 Years of Zoochat: A Retrospective
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Its not a 'real' castle I don't think. Not as Brits know them. I remember it quite well...NZ reminds me far more of Scotland than it does Wales though.
We've got more interesting (or at least more species!) in aviculture than NZ has.
Not sure how Canadians view Americans. However the honest truth is most Americans don't think anything of Canadians, either good or bad. It's almost as if the country did not exist. I suppose from Canada's perspective that might be a good thing.
You're forgetting the New Zealand accent - the 'henges' he's talking about are those metal things that connect a door to the frame.
Hix
that's not specific to Canada though
Jokes aside - for the benefit of our international members, you do need to understand that the relationship between Australia and New Zealand is very much like siblings - complete with sibling rivalry, specially when it comes to sports.
Australians and New Zealanders will sledge each other mercilessly on the sports field and a foreigner may be mistaken for thinking there is no love lost between the two countries - and they would be right when it comes to sports.
However, just like siblings, if someone else was to attack one of us, the other would stand up for the other immediately and would fight side by side to protect them.
In Australia we regard the "ANZAC" tradition as being part of our core identity - the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps forged their identity in both world wars and other conflicts inbetween and we fight to defend our way of life as brothers and equals.
Also, any Kiwi who is any good at anything is automatically claimed by Australians as their own - whether it be in sport, media, business - or even politics!
Here's a short list of "Aussie" kiwis:
- Russell Crowe (some people may wish to send him back across the ditch)
- Lorde
- Rebecca Gibney
- Sam Neill
- Keith Urban
- Megan Gale
- Crowded House / the Finn Brothers
- Phar Lap
- Weetbix
- Pavlova
Yeah, it's basically just a fancy house. I would call it a mansion rather than a castle, I think.
As for whether the country is English or Scottish or Welsh, it depends where you are I guess. Larnach Castle is in Dunedin, which is a Scottish city (hence the name - which for those not from the UK is derived from Dùn Èideann, which is the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh). Apparently tourists get confused as to how to pronounce Dunedin, which seems weird to me. Christchurch, in the region of Canterbury, is very English (again, hence the names). I'm not sure anywhere would be likened to Wales specifically.
yeah, we love when you do that. Curiously, it doesn't seem to go the other way. Although we do sometimes claim The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) who spent a short period in his teens living in Auckland.
I had to Google Megan Gale though. Never heard of her, and Wikipedia says she's Australian (born in Perth) although notes her mother is part-Maori. Presumably both her parents are New Zealanders?
Of course, there is more cause for the UK Zoochatters to claim Sam Neill as one of theirs than there is the Aussies
New Zealand has turned out to be really good at hiding the citizenship status of people they no longer want and are happy to have leave for Australia - until they decide to troll us all as a nation and claim them back again (eg federal politicians!)
Australia’s latest scandal involves politicians not knowing they were citizens of another country
PoliticsNow: Barnaby Joyce’s citizenship bombshell rocks Canberra
Australia’s latest scandal involves politicians not knowing they were citizens of another country
PoliticsNow: Barnaby Joyce’s citizenship bombshell rocks Canberra
Wow! This has suddenly become a zoo cafe thread!
Wikipedia says he has British citizenship! Unlike Russell Crowe who many times has said he considers himself to be both Australian and New Zealander (although his cousins, who are much more famous in New Zealand, are fully-committed to being New Zealanders), I think Sam Neill wouldn't want to be thought of as Australian. He has better taste than that.Of course, there is more cause for the UK Zoochatters to claim Sam Neill as one of theirs than there is the Aussies
Citizenship is a funny thing. Imagine finding out that you're actually a citizen of a different country than you thought (as in Sim's links)! That would be so weird.
FunkyGibbon
Well-Known Member
New South Wales perhaps
[I can't access YouTube atm, but this would be a good time for Mitchell & Webb's 'Captain's Hat' sketch]
Yes, some countries are a little different in the way they assign citizenship. The problem some of our members of parliament have had relates to citizenship by descent - where they are considered to be a citizen because one of their parents (or grandparents!) was a citizen, even though they were not born in that country and have never lived there.
I think there may even have been a situation where the grandparents left a country and wanted to renounce their citizenship because they didn't like the way the country was being run and now many decades later, the country still considers the grandchild (now an older adult) to be a citizen - even though they never asked for it, nor has had anything to do with that country in the interim.
For most people this means little - but the Australian constitution explicitly forbids you from being "beholden to another country" if you wish to represent our country in federal parliament and citizenship of another country is considered to be a deal-breaker.
did you fail Geography class again?New South Wales perhaps
[I can't access YouTube atm, but this would be a good time for Mitchell & Webb's 'Captain's Hat' sketch]
However, it did introduce me to the humorous video you suggested:
I heard about the citizenship thing and Australian Parliament when it happened, and I couldn't help but think this is such a weird law. What if the North Korean government officially said that all Australian citizens were now automatically citizens of North Korea? Now no one can serve in federal parliament in Australia? That would be a great way to disrupt the Australian political system...
I've just got to fully endorse this. Mitchell and Webb is amazing!!!
I think that you're missing some important bits in the middle of that scenario...
But my point is that any country could make the citizens of another country "beholden to another country" by just giving them citizenship. As I understanding it, the Australian MPs didn't want their NZ citizenship, but the fact that they had it meant they couldn't represent Australia in parliament. Any country can just give people citizenship...
FunkyGibbon
Well-Known Member
I thought citizenship was something you can renounce?