Australia is called Oz???
 

Hi - Sorry to ask a dumb question...but how else will I learn. :)<BR> I notice references to Australia as Oz. Why this nickname? The only Oz I know of is the one Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man and the cowardly lion visit. Thanks.

I found three things via searching the web....Oz is another way of spelling "Aus", which is an abbreviation of "Australia", so "Oz" means "Australia".<BR><BR>"Oz" came about as a nickname for Australia because, in an Australian accent, it sounds sort of like the first syllable of the country's name, or is one way to pronounce the abbreviation "Aus." (The connotation of a wonderful, far away place isn't bad, either.) And "Ozzies" is used as a nickname for the people who live there because it sounds a bit like "Aussies." I don't think there's a direct relationship between the nickname for Australia and the land of Oz, although there have been some stories of Australian soldiers singing "We're Off to See the Wizard" on their way to fight in World War II.<BR><BR>The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz".<BR>

WOW! Thank you for that really comprehensive answer. I appreciate the time you took to write that and inform me and probably alot of others.

Hi guys!<BR><BR>In actual fact, with an Australian accent 'Oz' sounds exactly like 'Aus' and 'Ozzie' is exactly how we pronounce 'Aussie'. (The 'ss' is pronounced 'zz' - very confusing for non-Australians!)