Ta, studied stage I logic at uni so I do alright in everyday reasoning without any real flare at it. Have written a couple of book-length polemics under the name G. A. De Forest (see Booklocker.com, Amazon, etc) debunking cherished myths, one on sixties music, the other a childhood memoir about being a boy transported to NZ when I was five... family dislocation, culture shock coming a rapidly modernising USA to NZ, 1960. Currently writing contemporary short stories steeped in everyday realities and a short novel series about street life in Auckland.

@Garbonza So you'd definitely be educated enough that you don't say "Iggs" when you are asking for "Eggs" or "Fesh" instead of " Fish"...….LOL.
A bit of good old Aussie humour here, New Zealand, the Land where the women are frustrated and the sheep are nervous....LOL.

@Triphid Right, and we haven't got "trucks as beeg as booldings" either. Have to admit that Brisbane women are friendlier than home ones. Get it right -- "Fush & chups are deluscious."

Thanks for the solidarity -- maybe what I'm lacking a bit over here, Kiwis often being the ultimate she'll-be-righters, not the staunchest having your back, and hopeless to try and pin down in a fair argument.

@Garbonza Sounds like bruised egos.

The old joke about Australians is

Thanks for the welcome. The Aussie-Irish connection is a spiritual tug. Before she died my mother was talking about settling in Goulburn (where her mother's mother, whom she never met, was from), and she'd never even been to Australia. It's funny about accents. We came from the US with strong Midwest accents -- "Wuts the big idear?" -- "Chicargo, Illinoise!" -- and I still have my burr on those terminal r's, so Kiwis think I'm from Central Otago or Southland. When I visited Brizzie a few years ago I was shown around by a Canadian guide working for the city council who said he couldn't detect anything in my accent but American. That's his perception as a Canadian but he's way off beam because it's no way comparable to anything like a full US accent, and that's been true in my case since 1962 when my 13-year-old sister listened to me and accused this 7-year-old of "turning into a [goddamn] Noozelander!".