The Trans-Tasman Rivalry
Australians are the butt of Kiwi humour (and vice versa) — even at the highest diplomatic level. During the 1980s, then Prime Minister of New Zealand Robert Muldoon was asked about the increasing exodus of New Zealanders leaving the country to work in Australia. His comment was that by doing so, they were raising the average IQ of both countries. The joke derives from the Will Rogers phenomenon.
In general terms, Australians are stereotyped in New Zealand humour as being brash, boorish and lazy. New Zealanders, in return, are seen by Australians as being behind the times and mocked as "South Seas Poms" on account of their supposedly closer ties with Britain ('Pom' is a slang word for 'British person' which is used by New Zealanders and Australians).
Read more about this topic: New Zealand Humour
Famous quotes containing the word rivalry:
“Sisters define their rivalry in terms of competition for the gold cup of parental love. It is never perceived as a cup which runneth over, rather a finite vessel from which the more one sister drinks, the less is left for the others.”
—Elizabeth Fishel (20th century)