Aussie culture

So, at work today, we were talking about Aussie and slang; this was started by my saying "Bye bye!" to a guy on the phone, and him getting a bit flustered over how to reply (I don't think my "bye bye" was bloke-y enough for him.

So, I mentioned a friend -- M, from Seattle -- who says "Cheerio!" when she leaves -- to which I reply "Wheaties!" None of my co-workers understood (1) Why I would say "Wheaties", and (2) Even when I explained that it was a cold cereal, why I would invoke the name of a cold cereal in response to "Cheerio!"

It finally dawned on me that in Aussie-land, "cheerios" are little cocktail weenies; they don't have that brand of cereal. A brief Google search for sample images of Cheerios and Wheaties (to show my co-workers) revealed to me that both are from General Mills (as opposed to Kellogs, etc.) -- which, come to think of it, I haven't seen around here!

Ah -- those subtle cultural differences!


Also interesting: That I chose "Wheaties" as a archtypical "cereal name" in response to "Cheerios" -- and both are from General Mills. Spooky...