The Aussie Humour Thread

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

“DUELLING” - 1800’s

 

There was a time when a gentleman's reputation was worth dying for.

In the 1800s when powerful, educated men determined to defend their social standing felt they had no other choice, they would meet on a duelling ground, weapons in hand.

Duelling was a means of protecting one's honour. A process of ritual and rules. A form of dispute resolution so valued that, although illegal, lawmakers often turned a blind eye to it.

Words that can kill

Sometimes it only took one word or phrase to set two men on the duelling course.

Slurs such as "liar", "coward", "rascal", "scoundrel" and even "puppy" were "serious insults that somehow or other got to the core of who you were as a gentleman, and often necessitated a visit to a duelling ground," Professor Freeman tells ABC RN's The History Listen.

"As counterintuitive as it may seem, duelling was not about killing. Duelling wasn't about revenge. Duelling wasn't about trying to gun down your enemy.

"It was to redeem an insult that had been made against you by proving that you were willing to die for your honour and enabling the person who gave the insult to go out onto the field redeem himself," she says.

Duelling was always illegal.

"Society tolerated it, even though theoretically to kill somebody in a duel was murder," Dr Banks says.

"You actually find that, for instance, judges in trials did everything possible to ensure that the defendant acquitted."

Dr Banks says the powerful in society – judges, lawyers, army officers and parliamentarians – all shared an honour culture.

At times, honour was a quality successful careers depended on, says University of Sydney historian Catie Gilchrist.

"If he was a gentleman involved in commerce, his word was very much something that he relied upon," she says.

"In the military, an officer was always a gentleman and so if he felt his status as an officer had been impugned, then his gentlemanly status had been impugned as well."

Duelling in Australia

Perhaps the last duel in Australia was between Major Sir Thomas Mitchell and Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson in 1851, in Centennial Park, Sydney. Thankfully both men walked away with their lives, and only Donaldson's hat was damaged in the altercation.

Dr Gilchrist says Australia even had its own particular set of duel-inducing insults.

"The worst thing to call a gentleman was a 'black guard', which meant a lowly menial person," Dr Gilchrist says.

"Consider yourself horse whipped", is another insult that comes from this time.

"Don't forget everyone rode horses back then ... the horse whip was an instrument of social placing. A beast, a convict, a child and a slave might be horse whipped," Dr Gilchrist says.

The 'fundamental absurdity' of duelling

It might seem paradoxical, but duels were actually intended to reduce violence, rather than increase it.

"It's so framed by rituals. You're not supposed to look angry or act out of anger," Professor Freeman says.

Dr Banks describes duels as a "halfway point" between the medieval world of generational feuds, think William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and the modern mindset.

"What the duel does is it says, there's been one moment of encounter to determine a particular issue and after the encounter's over, that matter is solved," he says.

"It marks a period between the indiscriminate violence of the medieval period, when say, homicide was about 10 times as common in the UK as it is today, and the modern way. It's a transition point."

Slowly, duels began to be seen as "ridiculous" in Britain, he explains.

As the Church increased its power and influence, duelling presented a growing contradiction to its edict, "thou shalt not kill". From 1810 the Church campaigned against the practice.

American political scientist John Mueller says at this time many began pointing out "the fundamental absurdity" of settling differences with duels.

And while Dr Banks concurs that duelling is "a ridiculous way of solving human problems", he doesn't see that as distinguishing it from many other practices.

"All societies have belief structures that are not rational," he says.

Perhaps not all of them, however, have such very high stakes.

 

[Buckshot Bear]

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

[DeaconKC]

Egads! I snorked coffee at that! ^

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Alpo]

7 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:

This is what I think of

 

 

My mother grew up during the depression. Born in '28. And her family was poor. But she told me about spending the night at a schoolmates house. And breakfast the next morning was biscuits and milk gravy. No bacon, no sausage, no eggs. Biscuits and gravy. Because while Mama's family was poor, these people were POOR, and that was all they could afford.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

9 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:

Well then, you're wrong aint cha?  

 

Biscuits and gravy "my style" (Southern style biscuits with sausage, Tabasco sauce, and fresh ground black pepper) are the basis of life.  A side of four or so slices of bacon, OJ / AJ 50-50 mix, and coffee to round it out.

 

One serving a day will keep you going until you're at least 82 years old....and beyond.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 5/8/2024 at 4:38 PM, Buckshot Bear said:

Uh....which one is the Quokka? 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

[Alpo]

26 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

I need to have this one explained. I have never heard of Nestle bounty.

 

I did a search and found that Nestle makes a series of vitamins called bountiful.

 

Then I decided that that looked like a candy, so I did a search on bounty candy. It's a chocolate covered coconut thing, like a Peter Paul mounds. But it's not made by Nestle, it's made by Mars.

 

So what the heck is a Nestle bounty?

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

On 5/9/2024 at 9:38 AM, Buckshot Bear said:

 

4 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Uh....which one is the Quokka? 

 

    ................... it's the one that wants to kill you.   

[Buckshot Bear]

7 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Well then, you're wrong aint cha?  

 

Biscuits and gravy "my style" (Southern style biscuits with sausage, Tabasco sauce, and fresh ground black pepper) are the basis of life.  A side of four or so slices of bacon, OJ / AJ 50-50 mix, and coffee to round it out.

 

One serving a day will keep you going until you're at least 82 years old....and beyond.

 

I must admit 'biscuits & gravy' sounds a bit like the bloke I knew once that had an iced finger bun with sardines filling for lunch everyday.

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 5/11/2024 at 1:25 PM, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

 

    ................... it's the one that wants to kill you.   

You gotta be more specific than that.............and good luck with that.  It's been tried a whole bunch of times and I'm  still here.  Some of those guys that tried ain't.      

Edited May 14 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

15 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

 

12 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

 

 

MMMmmmmmmm ......... ham and cheese sammich and some hot chips .......  mmmmmm..  

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

Ya' always had to remember to take the baby outta' the stroller though.

 

[Buckshot Bear]

Wouldn't folks have kittens over these today!!!

 

[Brazos John]

2 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:

That's what SHE said!

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Buckshot Bear]

[Sedalia Dave]

21 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

 For shame @Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062

 

 

 

[John Kloehr]

37 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

If they were both ducks, I would get it and laugh. 

 

But I'm gonna need this one explained. Yes, joke ruined, but I don't get it.

 

On edit: I'm not blond either, so legit not getting it.

Edited May 14 by John Kloehr