‘Least sexy word’: Aussie sledge for Americans goes viral
Australia’s “least sexy word” is suddenly going viral at the Paris Olympics - and being turned on our number one rivals.
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The Aussie swimming team has the world all saying the same thing after a red-hot start to the Paris Olympics.
The gold medals won by Ariarne Titmus and the all conquering women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team won’t be the last for the Dolphins in Paris and it’s fair to assume national anthem ‘Advance Australia Fair’ will be getting played again throughout the meet at the Paris La Defense Arena.
The Paris Games has been described as a duel in the pool between the Aussies and superpower Americans — and so far the rivalry has lived up to the hype.
Australia’s haul of two gold medals and two silver medals is bested only by the Americans, who have two golds, three silver and one bronze.
Competing with the might of the US has the world asking why exactly is Australia so bloody good at swimming? There is a simple explanation to the mystery — and it’s a simple four-letter word: “Girt”.
The term has been hiding in plain sight in Australia and it’s fair to say even some Aussies wouldn’t know what the hell it means. It’s “encircled”, by the way.
Well the country has woken up, and suddenly we are all so girt it hurts.
The term has become a catch cry of Australia’s swimming campaign — and equally a sledge that has been directed in the direction of the USA team.
The term was trending on Twitter during the first two days of competition after a humble question by American TV producer Franklin Leonard was met with a barrage of responses.
“Why is Australia so good at swimming?” he asked.
The top response summed it up perfectly.
“Because we’re literally girt by sea,” one fan posted, with the comment being viewed more than 260,000 times on Twitter.
It triggered a wave of cheeky responses.
“Are you even girt by sea bro?” one posted.
https://t.co/3aCYTiclSMpic.twitter.com/QADxJAtlXj
— triple f queen 🌼 (@fleaflofloyd) July 28, 2024
One Twitter user wrote: “Americans being so mad about Australia being better in the Olympic swimming is soooooo good. Like you guys aren’t even girt, how can you think for a second you make for good competition?”
Some Aussie fans enjoyed pointing out to Americans that the nation of 333 million people isn’t even “girt” because of its land borders with Canada and Mexico.
It’s the unbroken coastline Down Under that makes the country united in girt.
Some referenced the disappearance of former Aussie Prime Minister Harold Holt, who famously disappeared after going for a swim in 1967.
“Australia is so girt by sea that we misplaced one of our Prime Ministers in it. True story,” one fan wrote.
Leonard’s next question was also flooded with “girt” replies.
“There are many nations surrounded by water. It’s not a good answer,” he posted.
One response summed up the mood: “Yeah but there’s a difference between surrounded and being girt. Girt is a mindset.”
It shows how rapidly the term has made a comeback that Aussie swim champ Cate Campbell last month described it as the “least sexy word in the English language”.
Campbell was speaking on Channel 9’s Today Show when she was trying to diffuse the controversy that surrounded her comments that described the Americans as “sore losers” following last year’s world championships.
She said she was delighting in the fact that the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ wasn’t played as many times as Australia’s national anthem.
“I know that I brought the Star Spangled Banner into it and that was a big mistake,” she said.
“But if you want to have a go at Advance Australia Fair, I kind of don’t mind because we have one of the least sexy words in the English language in it, girt?
“Girt, it probably only comes behind moist and secrete. Go for your life (Americans). But you know what I’m a proud Australian and I will sing that anthem proudly for the rest of my life.”
Suddenly we are all girt by sea once again.
Originally published as ‘Least sexy word’: Aussie sledge for Americans goes viral
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