> > I'd like to thank dingdong for the concept of "the tall poppy syndrome." It's named after the saying "it is the tall poppy that is the first to be cut." This phrase may only be endemic to Australianspeak, I think.

That's a very common phrase and concept in New Zealand too. I was always led to believe it was *solely* a New Zealand thing. Maybe part of the syndrome is believing your own country is the only one that's lame enough to have such a syndrome.