“Laid Back” and “Irreverent”: An Ethnopragmatic Analysis of Two Cultural Themes in Australian English Communication

Consider this quotation from a study into Australian-American communication issues: “Australian men and women are friendly, humorous, and sardonic (derisive, disdainful, and scornful)” (Renwick, 1980[1991], p. 22). Surely it poses a puzzle: What cultural logic is at play whereby can Australians be “friendly [and] humorous” and yet at the same time “derisive, disdainful, and scornful”?