BS: Of wombats and men

Subject: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Grab
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 07:54 AM

One to amuse Hilda Fish, and anyone else Down Under. Especially Aussies who wonder what Kiwis get up to in their time off.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4453980a10.html

Sadly Mudcat doesn't have a "WTF?!" category...

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 08:23 AM

I'm not sure what the appropriate punishment should be. It's unclear from the story how much of the "rape charge" was a fabrication or a by-product of inebriation.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Leadfingers
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 08:24 AM

The Mind Boggles !

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 08:47 AM

I mean really!

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: bobad
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 09:59 AM

The wombat was last seen sauntering off down the street smoking a cigarette.

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 10:40 AM

It boggles the mind. His lawyer insists he wasn't drinking. Maybe that was the problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: TheSnail
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 11:08 AM

weelittledrummer needs to know about this.

thread.cfm?threadid=109834&messages=19#2299184

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: RangerSteve
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 02:49 PM

Slight thread drift, here - For years, I thought "wombat" was a made-up name. To U.S. ears, it sounds funny. I've seen pictures and film of wombats in action, but everytime I see or hear the word, I still have to reassure myself that it's a real animal. I'm surprised that with all the bizarre cartoon characters around these days, there isn't a wombat. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's a funny word. I'd put him in army gear and cal him "Combat Wombat". I spent a lot of time as a ranger patrollin alone. I've had time to think up things like that. I need to be with people again.

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Joybell
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 07:21 PM

Has this any connection with the old, old Aus. joke? :

We call him Wombat because he eats, roots, and leaves.

Can't help thinking it might.
For Americans who don't know the alternate meaning of "roots" -- it's used here as a verb for f**k's.

My American husband had some trouble with the word when he first came here. He was always telling friends , "I'll be rootin' for ya!" Usually he was told, "Thanks, but I can do my own rooting"
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: JennieG
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 08:51 PM

Wombats are terrific, they are known as 'bulldozers of the bush' because when they decide to go somewhere they go......and nothing, not fences, not doors, not walls, nothing, gets in their way. You have to admire such tenacity. I have a collection of wmbats (unfortunately not real ones!) and I like 'em. Real wombats are gorgeous.

W.O.M.B.A.T can also mean "waste of money, brains and time". And don't we all know some people to whom that can be applied??!!! including perhaps the aforementioned Kiwi?

Sorry Kiwis, I love youse all - one of my grannies was a Kiwi - but you must admit this bloke is a bit - well - odd?

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 09:48 PM

I've seen "wombats" in the bush sunning on rocks next to their burrows but I still imagine them flitting through the Eucalyptus trees. It's not easy reconciling reality with imagination, especially when it comes to wombats.

There's also a great children's book about a wombat.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Becca72
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 03:18 PM

I always imagine them as a creature from Star Wars for some reason...

RangerSteve, LOL!!

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Grab
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 09:15 AM

Steve, my wife had a pair of dark-green fuzzy tracksuit bottoms ("jogging pants" for Americans). Because they made her arse look large, furry and rounded, we called them the Wombat Combats...

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: RangerSteve
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 01:12 PM

it's nice to know my strange thoughts are not so strange after all.

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Rowan
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 06:18 PM

The major wildlife rescue organisation in NSW (WIRES) has had lots of experience dealing with rearing infant wombats (mostly Vombatus hirsutus) and they are truly a delight until they (like most adolescents) want to exercise their independence.

They want to burrow and they create havoc inside a house if they can't make their own way outside; even then it's wise to encourage them to use a half-buried concrete drainpipe as the start of their burrowing, or your garden will look like a miniature bulldozer has been let loose.

At the same time, they want to express their affection to their familiars. In the wild they do this by giving a healthy bite to the buttocks of their friends. If the friend is a wombat (taxonomically, not the sort Joybell described) they'll have a reinforced bum to minimise any damage but people don't have such protection. This behaviour is the usual indicator among carers that the wombat is ready for release into the wild.

And the phrase Joybell mentions, when I first heard it in the 50s in Melbourne, was the punchline to a story about an American serviceman leaving his Oz Doxie very late after a date (like the Brits, Australians had some reservations about American behaviours during WWII);he was invited to check the word in a dictionary.

"Wombat; n. Animal commonly found in Australia. Eats, roots, shoots and leaves." Although the comma after "eats" is implied by the speaker rather than appearing in print.

It's an old joke and the title of a book on punctuation but the author didn't realise the distinctiveness of the Oz version until she came here to promote her book.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 07:30 PM

"Sniff, Sniff! Waaah! He don't write, he don't call". . .

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: JennieG
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 07:53 PM

Grab, in Ozspeak tracksuits are called trackies, and pants are daks. Hence, your wife's hairy arse pants would be known as tracky daks.

And if they aren't in good condition they would be tacky tracky daks.........

This could go on for quite a while!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Leadfingers
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 07:58 PM

Someone DID tell me a long tiime ago what W O M B A T was an acronym for , but all I can remember is Weapon O?? M?? B?? Anti Tank !
Thats the 105mm Howitzer I am referring to !

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Rowan
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 08:14 PM

There's also a great children's book about a wombat.

Charley, that's probably "One woolly wombat" but I can't recall the bibliographic details.

Some years ago, on Oz ABC, there was some great footage taken by starlight imaging of the courtship rituals of Gippsland wombats. It included the trials of a male who found the object of his desires was on the other side of an electric fence. He'd apparently experienced the rigours of electric fencing before and was not relishing a repeat. Thirty metres or so from the fence he put his head down, psyched himself up by practising his "start running at full tilt" routine, complete with audible snorts and squealsm and then...

Head down, he was off, full tilt at the fence (which while electrified, was also reasonably strongly wired); his momentum (about 40kg at 30km/hr) carried him through it completely, with only a brief squeal as he got zapped. And he then proceeded to court his love.

Successfully!    Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Grab
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 08:27 PM

"Diary of a wombat" by Jackie French. One of the great kids' books.

Jennie, I don't want to even start on that, or I'll be thinking of the next few additions all night. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: JennieG
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 12:35 AM

The sleekest wombat we have ever seen was a few years ago on Wilson Promontory in SE Victoria. He/she was strolling across the road in front of the car in front of our car, in no hurry as it knew we would all wait until it had crossed. It was quite a large wombat with long black fur that rippled in the sunlight (it was about midday) and looked in exceeding good health. There were signs in the camping area saying "do not feed the wombats, they are wild animals and have been known to tear into tents looking for food"; I'd be wild too if someone was feeding me then stopped doing so.

A few years ago my son was driving back to Sydney late at night from a gig in Canberra when he hit a wombat at about 2am - score: wombat 1, Stephen's little blue car nil. Go wombats!

Jackie French lives in southern NSW at Araluen, in wombat country. She has/had a 'half-way house' for wombats that were a bit old for hand-rearing any more but not quite old enough to go back to the bush on their own. They come and go as they please, then when they are ready to go back to the bush they stay gone. I think she may be coming to visit the school where I work for Oz children's book week later in the year - hope she brings a wombat or 2 with her!

Cheers
JennieG who is very fond of wombats in case you hadn't guessed

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Rowan
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 05:47 PM

JennieG, your son's experience reminded me of two vehicular encounters with wombats, one (coincidentally) at Wilson's Prom.

When I was doing my fieldwork at the Prom I was driving to Five Mile Beach in a Karman Ghia VW belonging to my supervisor and didn't see a wombat run across my bows. Even though I had been driving at about 30kph, the right front wheel assembly was pushed backwards about 2" and the wombat just ran off.

Some caving friends of mine ran into a wombat in their LandRover at Yarrangobilly. The wombat ended up wedged under the diff so they jacked the vehicle up to extricate the wombat, which immediately ran off. But the casing of their diff was cracked.

Score so far? Wombats; 3, cars; nil.
They really are the animal kingdom's version of a tank.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: SINSULL
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 06:56 PM

I was at an animal sanctuary outside Brisbane (same place I was attacked by a kangaroo) and saw a wombat on the other side of a fence. I cooed and chatted up to him and he let me scratch his head. All was well until a horrid woman with a voice tht could etch glass came up behind and bellowed "EWWWWW! A wombat!" He and I (luckily) were simultaneously startled and I got my hand away from his teeth in the nick of time.
We both glared at the woman who sheepishly disappeared.

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 07:05 PM

G'day Leadfingers:

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: Leadfingers - PM
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 07:58 PM

Someone DID tell me a long tiime ago what W O M B A T was an acronym for , but all I can remember is Weapon O?? M?? B?? Anti Tank !
Thats the 105mm Howitzer I am referring to

That's (roughly...) Weapon Of Mobility Battalion Anti Tank ... and it's not a howitzer, rather a carriage-mounted, large calibre, "recoilless rifle" firing an H.E. shaped charge projectile. It seems to have been replaced by something called a MOBAT ... but I don't have the data in front of me. (Undoubtedly up un the WW ... somewhere ...)

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Of wombats and men
From: frogprince
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:20 PM

I'm a little wombat, short and stout....