Trading Spouses this week had a Californian vegan mother swapping with a Cajun mother who did swamp tours. I didn't realise until watching it what a unique accent Cajuns have. My whole American family talk like that, but because I grew up hearing it it never seemed weird. Watching Cajuns talk on television in New Zealand while Californians talked to them (and their speech was subtitled!) made the accent seem very intense. (It also made me a bit sad because I won't get to see my intensely-accented peeps for yonks.) The vegan Californian woman was a self-righteous shrew who needed her ass kicked, and her family and friends were horrible judgemental arseholes too. The Cajun family and friends may have been the worst-dressed people ever, with the worst hair (the little boy had a magnificent undercut mullet!) and the worst-decorated house, but they were nice, and funny, and a lot more accepting of people in social situations. And you know what? I'm sure the Cajuns were (ostensibly hate-filled) Republicans and the Californians were (ostensibly tolerant) Democrats. Man, that country is so fucking weird I still can't get my head around it. I'm sure I've written a variant on the themes of this post every month for the last three years.

In other news, were you aware that New Zealand is the only country in the world to use the word 'scroggin'? Neither was I.