Austria, Australia in mail mix-up

Feb 20, 2011 |

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Sydney: One is a landlocked, mountainous country in Europe; the other is a vast, island continent in the southern hemisphere. But it seems some people still confuse Austria and Australia.

In the latest sign of collective dyslexia about the countries, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd admitted he sometimes gets his Austrian counterpart's post, and vice versa.

"Yes, we do occasionally get each other's correspondence because the rest of the world doesn't know about the extra syllable," Rudd said, during a visit by Austria's Michael Spindelegger.

It is not the first time the countries, which are thousands of kilometres (miles) apart but separated by just two letters when written down, have been muddled up.

During November's G20 meeting in Seoul, a model of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard appeared in Sound of Music-style traditional Austrian dress, before being hastily replaced.

The mix-up was prophetically lampooned in 1994's comedy "Dumb and Dumber", when Jim Carrey's character tells an Austrian acquaintance to "throw a shrimp on the barbie".

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