[jgl]

Dean- in Sydney the term is 'Honkey' rather than FOB. Though that would obviously only apply to people from HK. Never heard FOB from my Melbourne friends, but sure, it could be more common that I'd been led to expect. Or it could be different slang for different age groups (I'm mid-30s).

I'm Australian Chinese myself, but don't define myself in terms of race or bits of culture that I may have inherited from my parents. Sure, I went through the usual angst-ridden identity crisis that most teenagers do, but I got over it. What would I think of your friends' behaviour in Australia? Well, it'd be expected of someone who was of high school or undergrad age, but if they're any older than that then I'd find it a bit insecure.

Actually, I do find these ideas fairly interesting. Well, not the FOB thing but how different cultures fit into different English-speaking societies. I've lived in the bigger English-speaking nations, and each one has a distinctly different feel about how large immigrant groups are treated and how those groups define themselves. I find the term FOB, as it's used by say Chinese people to refer to other Chinese people, a bit sad.