US gun culture is 'corrupting the world,' Australia ex-deputy PM says after Okla. slaying

[friendly_iconoclast]

65. Fischer is a xenophobic wowser that seems to have found some fans here

There is a certain strain in Australian politics that mirrors ones we know of.

A politician that bashes Europe and Europeans will always get approval from certain low-information voters here,
while bashing the US and Americans serves a similar function in Australia.

And the term 'wowser'? That's not gerenerally known here- but it fits Fischer to a T:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wowser

Wowser is a term that originated as a slang expression; it is most commonly heard in Australian and New Zealand English. "Wowser" refers to a person who seeks to deprive others of behaviour deemed to be immoral or "sinful".

History

The term originated in Australia, at first carrying a similar meaning to "lout" (an annoying or disruptive person, or even a prostitute).[citation needed] In around 1900 it shifted to its present meaning: one whose sense of morality drives them to deprive others of their sinful pleasures, especially liquor.[1] The term was particularly applied to members of temperance groups such as the antipodean branches of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

John Norton, editor of the Australian scandal newspaper, Truth, claimed he first used the word in 1899,[2] a claim supported by the OED.[3] However some authors[4] claim that the present meaning originated from an Australian temperance slogan, "We Only Want Social Evils Remedied." This apparent backronym is considered a "less credible provenance" by the ANU.[2]

The Australian writer C.J. Dennis defined it thus: 'Wowser: an ineffably pious person who mistakes this world for a penitentiary and himself for a warder'.