We are proven good lovers, now our country is second best !

[Panamark]

Norway number 1

then Australia.......

I must visit Norway now :)

Australia second best place to live - UN | The Courier-Mail (http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26167306-954,00.html)

[Panamark]

Niger is the worst apparently !

AUSTRALIA is the second best country to live in, according to a measure of global living standards which says Norway - yes, Norway - is number one.

Norway retained its status as the world's most desirable country, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) index released today, followed by Australia and then Iceland.

Niger, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone scored worst in terms of human development and the poorest performing region was sub-Saharan Africa, where states are afflicted by war and HIV/AIDS.

The index was compiled prior to the global economic crisis and used 2007 data on GDP per capita, education, and life expectancy.

Marked differences were still evident between the developed and developing world.

"Despite significant improvements over time, progress has been uneven," UNDP said.

"Many countries have experienced setbacks over recent decades, in the face of economic downturns, conflict-related crises and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and this was even before the impact of the global economic crisis was felt."

Life expectancy in Niger was 50, about 30 years shorter than Norway, according to the index.

Half the people in the poorest 24 countries were illiterate, compared to 20 per cent in nations classed as having medium levels of human development, the index showed.

Japanese people lived longer than others, to 82.7 years on average, with life expectancy in war-ravaged Afghanistan just 43.6 years.

Liechtenstein has the highest GDP per capita in a tiny principality home to 35,000 people, 15 banks and more than 100 wealth management companies.

People were poorest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Five countries - China, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia and France - climbed three or more places from the previous year, driven by greater earnings and longer life expectancy.

China, Colombia and Venezuela also scored better due to improvements in education.

UNDP, which has published the index annually since 1990, said human development had improved globally by 15 per cent since 1980, with China, Iran and Nepal the biggest climbers in the chart.

[Seshmeister]

Right up until the point you run out of water... :)

[Coyote]

I must visit Norway now :)


Word to the wise: Take a shitload of cash with you. The place is mucho expensive...

[Dan]

Apart From The Snakes,Crocs,Spiders,Scorpions And killer Sharks,It Seems Like A Good Place To Live.:D

[Seshmeister]

I can live with that but what I couldn't handle day in day out is the Australian Interrogative Inflection(AII)?

You know what I’m talking about? It’s when speakers put a slight inflective lilt at the end of every single fucking sentence? sometimes in the middle of a sentence? to make everything sound like a question?

It's spread. Now to Britain and? You know? It's now associated with valley girls in the US but really you know it's an Aussie thing?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

[Panamark]

I can live with that but what I couldn't handle day in day out is the Australian Interrogative Inflection(AII)?

You know what I’m talking about? It’s when speakers put a slight inflective lilt at the end of every single fucking sentence? sometimes in the middle of a sentence? to make everything sound like a question?

It's spread. Now to Britain and? You know? It's now associated with valley girls in the US but really you know it's an Aussie thing?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!


We just want to make it all about you ! :)

Honestly I've never thought about it this way.

Is not the basic nature of communication in
any language, basically a game of Q&A tennis ?

Its called a conversation Seshman.... ;)

Unless you are unlucky enough to be stuck with a person who
only wants to speak about their life, and has no interest
in yours ???

Please elaborate, I feel Im missing a point here...

Give me a sentence example.....

[Nitro Express]

Word to the wise: Take a shitload of cash with you. The place is mucho expensive...

It's the HUGE value added tax. When I was in Bergen had a capped molar that started giving me a ton of pain. I needed a root canal. I went to a Norwegian dentist and had the work done. When I went to pay the bill they said I was covered and I said I was not a Norwegian citizen and they said it didn't matter. I figure in the states it would have cost $800 or more. This is why a hot dog in Norway costs $24.

[Seshmeister]

Please elaborate, I feel Im missing a point here...

Give me a sentence example.....

I was trying to think how to describe something on a message board that I could sum up in 10 seconds in a bar with you.

Then I remembered a TV discussion on it some 8 years ago.


It starts at 8 minutes in.

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It then continues

<object width="660" height="525"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KTdFYclpu54&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KTdFYclpu54&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="660" height="525"></embed></object>

[Panamark]

Ah gotcha,

Its really more a "vocal intonation" aspect.
Funny how the Australian accent's closest relative is
the english accent, and the interviewer in the clip
laughs at the whole "AQI" theory and then goes on
to speak in the same similar tones in that questioning
fashion ? :biggrin:

Irony at its best.

I was going to post some youtubes of some of our most
famous people, like Russell Crowe and Steve Irwin and Paul
Hogan, just to prove we dont all talk like that.. but you know,
that I know better ;)

With this point you have chosen to single out Australians, I
want to add my own observations of communicating and the
general intonation and nature of a cultures vocal expression.

The big thing that struck me with my own expression when
I first hit the USA, was I realized that I start my responses
low, and end them higher... Like the response gets more exciting
as it goes along. I found Americans in general were the total
opposite. They tend to start higher and then go lower.
Some are flat. Doesnt make the convo's any less interesting,
just a personal observation. I agree that Aussies tend to sound
excited a lot, yet its not a trait unknown in your own backyard.

As you know I have a good amount of scottish background, and
I've actually found at times communicating in a room full of high
pitched excited scottish accents a little disconcerting. Not dissimilar
to the point you are trying to make here.

Its amusing to me, as I always thougt the stereotypical
Aussie was a little low and slow.. Yet 8 years ago some
dude on a talkback show in the UK with a piece of cardboard
with "AQI" scribbled on it, made you realize this new dimension
we have added to the language that came across on the boats
with us ??

On a humourous note (and a jab back at ya), you gotta laugh
at those movies where the scottish dudes are all high talking
and speakin at a million miles an hour in a deep accent and
they have to subtitle it ! :biggrin:

I have never seen that with any Australian english productions....
So the question of the English language being butchered can definately
be viewed from several angles.

Cheers !

:gulp:

-Mark