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South Australia’s tourism authorities have asked the media to refrain from using “Radelaide” and “the City of Churches” to describe Adelaide, following the AFL’s Gather Round.
Media outlets who arrived in town to cover the event over the weekend were instead asked to reference region’s wineries, or that nice Afghan restaurant they have near the airport.
Rather than embracing the historic nicknames for fifth most populated city, the South Australian Tourism have attempted to discontinue it, and similarly dated terms, under an optimistic memo titled “content exclusions”.
“Please don’t refer to Adelaide as RADelaide,” the statement reads, in reference to the term made popular by youth broadcaster Triple J in the years after the nation’s first commercially viable Australian hip hop band the Hilltop Hoods took the city to the world.
Howeverm, many skeptics are theorising that this memo may actually be somewhat of a stunt aimed at getting people to say Radelaide even more, because that’s what it has definitely done.
Although ‘Radelaide’ and the slightly creepy ‘City Of Churches’ has to be better than other nicknames that the city has been anointed with over the years.
Namely, ‘The Capital Town’ a nickname that points fun at how small Adelaide is.
Or ‘Adders’ a local term that appeals to the Australian love of abbreviating (see also: SOUTH AUSSIE)
Then of course there is former Prime Minister Paul Keating’s rather politically incorrect nickname for Adelaide which was ‘Dubbo With Poofs’ – a term that shines light on the city’s clunky attempts to merge a cosmopolitan arts scene with rural infrastructure and a predominantly close-minded population. The city has also been referred to as Bendigo With Trams.
Lastly there is ‘The Serial Killer Capital’ – which is more of a statistic rather than a nickname, aimed at highlighting the inherent urge of Adelaide residents to commit the most grisly and twisted murder sprees in Australian history. Other terms include ‘Barreltown’ or ‘Murderlaide’
There’s also the town’s own self-deprectating and fairly uncreative nickname of Shitadelaide.
The Betoota Advocate is inclined to throw our support behind a Queenslandified nickname of Adelaide such as ‘The Laide’
