Mate.
What does that word tell you?
A lot. Different people view it differently but it has been used by millions of people the world over for a long, long time.
Recently however, there was an uproar in the Aussie parliament over the usage of the word 'mate' and subsequently utterance of that word was banned.
This followed some serious outcry from the public and I recall reading a newpaper report which quoted the ruling Liberal Party's Mal Washer as saying that 'mate' is the nicest four-letter word he has been called all year!
It appears now, however, that the public outcry did work anyway as the ban has just been overturned according to this Reuters report.
This has been a good weekend read for me, most definitely.
