THE GREAT VINCE SORRENTI

I recently used the word “great” a couple of time in the one sentence in conversation. It reminded me of hearing stand up Vince Sorrenti discuss the penchant of Aussies to use that word.

Here is the link, from 2001, in the context of what to name a new MCG sporting stand . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5o71v2VpnM

Transcript:

What are we going to call this new stand? We’ve already got the Great Southern Stand, they’ve already picked the best name, what’s it going to be – the Bloody Fantastic Other Stand? We’ve got ‘great’, great is our favourite word – great mate, the kids are great, mum’s great, I feel great, have a great night, have a great day, I made some great money, I had a great year, I feel bloody great, the country’s going great.

We’ve got the Great Barrier Reef, Great Keppel Island, The Great Dividing Range, the Great Sandy Desert, the Great Victoria Desert, the Great Artesian Basin, the Great Southern Stand, Great Ravine, Great Hall, Great North Road, Great South East, Great Eastern Highway, Great Western Highway, Great Western Champagne, Great Ocean Road, Great Australian Bight, Great White Shark, Great Aussie Outback, it’s bloody great !

We’ve got the Great White Shark. What a fantastic word – shark, a word developed in Australia, ladies and gentlemen, by the first Aussie to come into contact with a shark. He didn’t know whether to say “SHIT ! ! !” or “FUCK ! ! !” – “SHUUUUUCK ! ! !”

And we’ve got The Great Aussie Outback. How brilliant is the Australian Tourism – The Great Aussie Outback – we’re the only country in the world that promotes . . . nothing. ‘Come out and see us, mate, bugger all. And how clever is their slogan - ‘You’ll never, never know. . . ‘ – ‘cos there’s nothing bloody there. It's the Great Aussie Outback.

But the Yanks are different, their favourite word is ‘grand’, we’re ‘great’, they’re ‘grand’.

They drive a Grand Jeep Cherokee, they've got Grand Central Station, Grand Lakes, Grand Falls, Grand Haven, Grand Prairie, Grand Gorge, Grand Canyon, MGM Grand, Rio Grande, fifty grand,

Grand Theft Auto . . . that's called stealing a car in Punchbowl mate. Although we do have the Grand Prix here in Melbourne, that's nice so I come down every year for the Grand Prix, love the Grand Prix. Me and my cousins always come down, they all work on the pit crews down here and let me tell you, no one can get four wheels off a car faster than those blokes, ladies and gentlemen. Punchbowl, where you haven't got neighbours. you've got witnesses.

We're all very happy in Punchbowl, we've just won the contract for the new Outback Survivor Series. Bugger North Queensland, mate, that’s wussie shit, they’re gonna lock five Americans in a station wagon in Punchbowl with a flat battery and see who gets out of that car first.

Have a good night, folks.