Chalk up another victory for the forces of political correctness in their never-ending battle against common sense. The ever-so-sensitive management at the Sydney Sea World has decided that fairy penguins (named something like two centuries ago because they”””re the smallest species of penguin) need to be renamed, lest visitors with a taste for sex with the same sex take offense. From now on, Sydneysiders who visit the park had better refer to the creatures by the ultra-creative, flawlessly boring name of ”””little penguins.””? According to a spokeswoman for Sea World, ”””We didn’t have any complaints about the name of the penguins, but someone thought they could be seen as offensive so we decided to change it to little penguin instead”””. We just didn’t want to upset the gay community. The new name is more politically correct.”

Gay community groups in Sydney aren”””t buying into this load of codswollop. “I don’t think our community is that sensitive about those things. If the penguins were called poofter penguins or something more direct then it might be a problem, but I don’t see the name fairy penguin as a mickey-take at all,” said the chairman of a local gay support group.

Well, good for Sydney”””s local gay community. I”””m not a very politically correct guy, and my cartoonish stereotype of Australians is crystal clear. Australians are not a politically correct people. They all talk like Paul Hogan, and the closest they get to being ”””sensitive””? is after they”””ve downed a few of those cans of Foster”””s Lager that are roughly the size of a garbage pail. And then they just get sloppy and sentimental and start making bzzwrrt-bzzwang noises on the didjeridoos they carry in their marsupial pouches, along with those great big knives they”””re liable to threaten you with, grinning charmingly all the while. And they”””ve all got pouches. Even the gay ones.