AN Australian woman was branded a criminal by airline officials after "swearing" on an American flight - with a classic, and utterly inoffensive, Aussie oath.
"Fair dinkum," New South Wales woman Sophie Reynolds muttered when told by a air hostess that there were no pretzels for her to snack on.

The next thing Ms Reynolds knew, the flight crew had demanded her passport to note down her details, telling her that swearing at attendants was a crime.

The 41-year-old, who lives in Queanbeyan, near Canberra, was stunned to find three uniformed officers waiting for her when she left the flight in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

"They said: 'You swore at the hostess and there are federal rules against that'," Reynolds told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"And I said: 'I did not swear at the hostess, I just said 'fair dinkum'."

HOW TO DO THE AUSTRALIAN ACCENT

To speak like a fair dinkum Aussie, practise speaking with your mouth closed and without moving your lips or jaw. This stops the dunny budgies getting into your mouth. To you it may sound like mumbling, but other fair dinkum Aussies will understand you perfectly well.

If Aussies can see your mouth moving they will think you're an a**e-b****t, a w****r, a try-hard, or an intellectual. Probably all of these. All are deprecated in Australian culture.

Strewth! they have got to be joking! our "Aussie" slang could sound a bit strange to some, but "Fair dinkum"?
That flight attendant "air hostess" must have lead a very sheltered life, she needs to get out more see the world, visit Australia

I seem to recall you Aussies getting a little upset when Canadian athletes showed up for an event in their "Roots" brand team uniforms.

what would that air hostess make of our Alf "flamin' heck!" Stewart from Home and Away then!

Yeah, just imagine the look on her face if Alf had been the passenger