Question for Americans

[clifp]

BTW, what you guys call "flip flops", we call "thongs". I''ll bet that confuses a few Americans when they visit here.

They are also call thongs in mainland US . In Hawaii, where everybody wears them year round, they are called slippers. Calling them flip flops or thongs, will instantly label you as Malihini.

 

[Sweetlip]

They are also call thongs in mainland US .

Ah thanks. I did not know that.

 

[Sweetlip]

BTW, if anyone is wondering why a 57 year old Aussie man calls himself "Sweetlip" in these sites, it is because when I first bought my boat a few years ago, the first fish that I caught on it was a Grass Sweetlip.

Fish note - Grass Sweetlip (Lethrinus laticaudis)

...and having once been a sales manager, sweetlip does not seem all that inappropriate as a web name.

 

[lets-retire]

Just curious as to whether one would be better off as a tipped employee working in the United States. I suspect it would be higher pay.

That all depends. If you work in a nice establishment that has expensive items then yes it can be very lucrative. If you work in a dive or someplace that is not busy then you'll likely starve. When I worked a short while at a casino I was talking with one of the cocktail waitresses. She was saying she cleared over $500 per night on Friday and Saturdays in tips. The rest of the week wasn't so good as she only cleared $50-$100 per night in tips. She only made, I think, $2.30-$3.30 per hour though.

 

[ausaus24]

Do people starve to death in the United States ?

 

[REWahoo]

Do people starve to death in the United States ?

Do people starve to death in Australia?

 

[Sweetlip]

She only made, I think, $2.30-$3.30 per hour though.

Gee whizz! Without tips, at those wage levels, people would be emigrating to Mexico.

 

[Sweetlip]

Do people starve to death in Australia?

Let's see, what do people die of in Australia?....

Shark attacks - yes
Crocodile attacks - yes
Taipan (snake) attacks - yes
Funnel Web spider attacks - yes
Stingray attacks - occasionally
Lack of water when lost in the deserts - yes
Box Jellyfish attacks - yes
Stonefish spikes - yes
Redback spider bites - sometimes
Gunshot - getting rarer
Drowning in the surf - yes (especially tourists, Japanese in particular)
Death Adder attacks - yes
Cassowary attacks - occasionally
Car accidents - yes
Poor treatment at public hospitals by foreign trained doctors - yes
Suicide - yes
Drunkenness - yes
Stillbirths - yes
Heart attacks - yes
Asbestosis - yes
Skin Cancer - yes - highest rates in the world
Breast cancer - yes
Lung Cancer - yes
Prostate Cancer - yes
Other cancers - yes
Diabetes - yes
Various other diseases - yes
War injuries - yes
Old age - yes

Starvation? - can't say that I have heard of any.

]

Starvation? - nah - that is the least of our worries.

 

[REWahoo]

Do people starve to death in the United States ?

I'm not sure, but some (OK, at least one) dies from a tiger attack. Investigators probe killer tiger's escape at zoo - CNN.com

 

[ausaus24]

Do people starve to death in Australia?

Yes but only if they get lost in the bush.

 

[REWahoo]

ausaus24, to attempt to answer your US starvation question I'd suggest you try using Google or other search engines. I rarely hear of starvation deaths other than an occasional criminal offense where someone starves a child or elderly person. I don't think you'll find starvation listed among the statistics when it comes to cause of death in the US.

Obesity on the other hand, is a huge problem (no pun intended ).

 

[HFWR]

A blind man walks into a drug store, and starts knocking stuff off the shelves with his cane. A clerks asks if he needs some help.

"No, thanks, I'm just looking..."

 

[dex]

I woke up this morning and began to read the posts. I was surprised to find the post ascribed to me here. I can say that it was written by the Ghost of Future Christmasses. (You can tell that I didn't write it because it was funny, accurate and long.) The tone of the post may happen in the future but it doesn't have to happen if we decide to take full advantage of and enjoy our early retirement. Take it as a warning.

------------------------------------------

A lady walks into a drug store and tells the pharmacist she needs some cyanide. The pharmacist said, "Why in the world do you need cyanide?"
The lady then explained she needed it to poison her husband. The pharmacist's eyes got big and he said, "Lord, have mercy -- I can't give you cyanide to kill your husband! That's against the law!
I'll lose my license, they'll throw both of us in jail and all kinds of
bad things will happen! Absolutely not, you can NOT have any cyanide!" The lady reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of her husband in bed with the pharmacist's wife.
The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, "Well, now. You didn't tell me you had a prescription."

 

[Texas Proud]

Do people starve to death in Australia?

Ahhhh... yes for both....

And the US lead the WORLD in death by volcanic eruption at 3 in 2004...

Fortunately we are not on the list of deaths with Acne...

Opps... tied for first due to bite by rat at 1

Heck, we lead the world again with death by dental caries (cavities) at 5..

Here is a shocker.... lead the world again in deaths from fall from bed at 450...


FINALLY.... I FOUND IT.... Lack of food...


US lead the world at 120... Australia had 4....

this does not include the African or Asian countries as they don't report on them.... and some countries do not even list them this way...


Take a look at your leasure....

NationMaster - Mortality Statistics

 

[Zipper]

This thread brought a tear to my eye.

We spent 1978 in Inverloch Victoria Australia when I taught at Wonthaggi Technical school.

Australia is one of the best countries in the world, equal to Canada.

I loved the beaches and the friendly people.

Do you still "root" for the home team?

 

[Zipper]

Hey Dex, I climbed Ayers Rock and had an "out of body experience"!

 

[REWahoo]

Hey Dex, I climbed Ayers Rock and had an "out of body experience"!

At last, a rational explanation for your posting "style"...

 

[Zipper]

Hey, aren't you Texans the guys that "shoot first", and ask questions later?

Like the Brit that was blasted a few years ago when knocking at a door to ask for directions?

And the rewahoo that shot the 2 intruders last month?

 

[Sweetlip]

I loved the beaches and the friendly people.

Thanks Mate. We have awesome beaches - can be a bit treacherous at times though so it is best for everyone to swim between the flags on a lifesaver patrolled beach. Foreign tourists often don't understand what happens when they get caught in a rip so we lose a few Japs, yanks, poms and germans from time to time to drowning. Also, patrolled beaches are often well serviced by shark spotter planes and helicopters and/or shark meshing offshore so they are awesome beaches and very safe. Unpatrolled beaches? - well I have lived around Gold Coast beaches all my life and I won't swim at an unpatrolled one.

Do you still "root" for the home team?

As often as I can.

Zipper, do you want to explain what rooting means in Australia or shall I?

 

[Sweetlip]

Hey Dex, I climbed Ayers Rock and had an "out of body experience"!

Been there, done that.


Wrote a few postcards on top of Ayers Rock in 1971. (I had hair then)

 

[dex]

Japs

Oh! man, you went and did it. Duck! Fast!

 

[TromboneAl]

Us Aussies are pretty well au fait with American culture

One other thing, Americans don't use the term "au fait" very much. I don't think I've ever heard it, and I had to look it up.

 

[Sweetlip]

Oh! man, you went and did it. Duck! Fast!

? ...and there I was thinking that some of you guys could be offended by my use of the term, "yanks"

I did not know that I would offend some sensibilities by saying. "Japs"

I must also admit that I find the term "African-Americans" a bit weird, though. I understand the sensitivies that lead to its usage but would be like me being called an English-Scottish-Australian.

One other thing, Americans don't use the term "au fait" very much. I don't think I've ever heard it, and I had to look it up.

Thanks Al. Now see how richer you are for the experience.

 

[Texas Proud]

Hey, aren't you Texans the guys that "shoot first", and ask questions later?

Like the Brit that was blasted a few years ago when knocking at a door to ask for directions?

And the rewahoo that shot the 2 intruders last month?

I loved to joke about that when I lived in London... but it kind of is true... sorry to say..

The guy who shot the two robbers last month will probably have charges brought against him (I think he should as he never was in danger, others here do not)... but he probably will not get any kind of sentence if he is found guilty (which might be hard to do)...

Now, compare this to the guy who shot robbers IN HIS HOUSE in England and was convicted of murder.... here in Texas they would not have even taken him downtown for questioning... just carried away the bodies.

 

[haha]

Now, compare this to the guy who shot robbers IN HIS HOUSE in England and was convicted of murder.... here in Texas they would not have even taken him downtown for questioning... just carried away the bodies.

Which may be why home invasion robberies are more common in England than in Texas.

Ha