source : the age
Andrew Cohen of Glebe reports on more tertiary snobbery: “Straight out of one sandstone edifice in College Street into Sydney University in 1973, even the ‘bolshies’ from Fort Street, North Sydney and Moore Park schools soon became accustomed to referencing the rivals as the aforementioned ‘Kenso Tech’ (C8) and ‘Macquarie Teachers College’.”
When he was at high school, Tony Everett of Wareemba’s maths and physics teacher was studying chemistry at the University of NSW: “He referred to ‘the other place’ as ‘Camperdown High’, to where I landed.”
For an international take, Chris Fenn of Moruya recalls certain adversaries referring to Eton as “Slough Comprehensive”.
“I was one of those Leaving Certificate candidates who preferred to read the Classic Comic version (C8) of Wuthering Heights rather than the book,” admits Max Redmayne of Drummoyne. “I wrote the exam essay on the basis of the comic and got an A, job done.”
“Fifty years ago, as ‘Fiz’, the ‘illegitimate’ daughter of the Wilson family of Beecroft, I accidentally broke their treasured Airfix model of a Lancaster bomber (C8),” confesses Fiona Spicer of Greenwich. “The father of the family had been the wireless operator of ‘G for George’, based at Binbrook, Lincolnshire. Over the years I was constantly reminded of the incident. Years later, for his 80th birthday, I searched for, and found, a replacement kit. I had only five days to complete the complex task and to redeem my earlier misdemeanour. High on glue fumes, I succeeded and brought a tear to his eye.”
A bit of context now on the current sporting debate (C8) going on here, courtesy of Lance Rainey of Grafton: “By transposition, the abbreviation of Association Football ASOC became SOCA and then soccer – so soccer is a legitimate name for the sport. A bit like ‘Rules’ for the Australian game.”
Peter Rose of Caves Beach thinks it “ironic that Labor MP Josh Wilson apparently struck a soccer opponent in the face, and addressed the accusations at a press conference called to discuss battery storage!”
“Having worked as a pharmacist myself, back in the ’80s before computers, I can vouch for the difficulties incurred as far as deciphering some prescriptions,” says Genevieve Frederiksen of Roseville. “Then I ended up marrying one of the culprits, and we only found out recently that our son had no problem forging his father’s signature (C8), which enabled him to avoid ‘boring’ school activities.”
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