The Beginning

Antipodal Posting

First, a comment about the title, for those who are unaware, “antipodal” is an geographically biased, ethnocentric term referring to southern polar regions. Many times, “antipodal” is used to refer to Australia, or New Zealand, whereas (based upon my understanding) it would be more suitably reserved for the Antarctic.

Notwithstanding, antipodal casually refers to a region that is not North American and is supposed to describe something that is peculiar or different, which Australia most definitely is. Why then have I used “antipodal” in the title of my updates? Simple, it appeals to my sense of humour. For some, I’ve introduced you to a new word and for others I’ve managed to provide you a basis of which to launch an argument that spans geography, politics, culture and word use.1 Enjoy. There

The entire discussion of “antipodal” in fact reminds me of Dennis Leary’s character in If Two By Sea, where he was flummoxed by the word “propitious” and didn’t understand why people didn’t just say “wicked good”. Since we’ve discussed that “antipodal” isn’t quite an accurate usage in reference to Australia, and in the spirit of Dennis Leary, let’s refer to my experiences in Brisbane as “exceptionally different”.

Seeing a place as different is a difficult proposition, as you naturally view your new home from the perspective of all of your previous experiences and your own biases. So Brisbane is very different than anywhere else I’ve been. (See using “antipodal” in the title still works!)

The free television here is brutal. The North American content is limited primarily to episodes of Two and a Half Men, Sienfeld and Cougar Town. Cougar Town has set off series of investigative pieces in the local media about the phenomena of “cougars” and the young men that are drawn to them. Seriously, post adolescent men that are interested in sexually aggressive, independent women who are uninterested in a commitment and can buy their own drinks? Really? This is news? However, it does underscore how sensationalist and inflammatory the local media can be.


Other than pedestrian or dated sitcoms and inflamaotry news coverage, sports makes up a tonne of the television here. Australians seem to love sports without any discsrimination whatsoever. If you are inclined, and up early (as I have been with Spencer from time to time) you can watch North American sports live.




1 Further, there is a further defination of antipodal or antipodes with a specific application in mathamateics and geography, both referring to points of origin and their opposite.