It could be Australia’s unique sense of humor. Or it could be a sign that the nation’s substantial economic problems are starting to hit home.
Either way, one Australian citizen’s petition to change the name of the Australian currency to “dollarydoos” has hit a chord, gaining more than 50,000 signatures in just five days.
As petition organizer Thomas Probst writes in the Change.org posting:
“Due to global commodity prices plummeting, the Australian economy is struggling. That’s why we need something to stimulate the Australian economy and that something is changing the name of the Australian currency to ‘dollarydoos.’ This will make millions of people around the world want to get their hands on some Australian currency due to the real-life Simpsons reference, driving up the value of the Australian currency.”
Australia’s currency, presently called the dollar, has taken a large but necessary tumble recently due to falling commodity prices and slower growth in China. It’s dropped 25% against the greenback since the middle of 2014 and is presently fluctuating around 70 US cents—a stark contrast to its US$1.11 peak in 2011.
The newly proposed moniker comes from a scene in a 1995 episode of The Simpsons, entitled “Bart vs. Australia,” where Bart Simpson makes a collect call to a young boy in Australia to ask which way the water spins when the toilet is flushed.
Faced with the subsequent telephone bill, the boy’s father looks apoplectic. “Nine hundred dollarydoos!” he screams, in one of the worst imitations of an accent ever to grace a television screen. “Tobias! Did you accept a six-hour collect call from the States?”
For what it’s worth, according to well-known Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki, water can swirl the opposite way in plugholes down under, but only in carefully controlled situations.
It’s a scientific lesson Australia’s leaders may want to consider as they try to prevent their economy from going down the toilet.