For an antipodean to be called a "stupid fat Australian" is clearly very insulting. Worse still if they happen to be a New Zealander.
That was exactly what happened when Czech-born Petra Mills unleashed a drunken tirade against her neighbour, Chelsea O'Reilly, in Macclesfield, Cheshire, in September.
The matter may have gone no further, except that it was witnessed by police, and Mills, 31, found herself arrested for racially aggravated public disorder, a charge upheld by Macclesfield magistrates yesterday.
The court heard that Mills had herself phoned police after a domestic dispute with her husband, Michael.
Following his arrest, Mills unleashed the stream of vitriol when she saw Miss O'Reilly, her neighbour of 18 months and a British/New Zealand dual national, providing a witness statement to police.
Miss O'Reilly told the court: "She called me a stupid fat Australian b----. Because of my accent there can be some confusion over my nationality. She knew I was from New Zealand.
"She was trying to be offensive. I was really insulted. She said she would kill my dog. Bizarrely she then blew raspberries at me like a child."
The two police officers who responded to the initial report of a domestic dispute told the court that they had heard Mills use the word "Australian" during her drunken rant.
Mills, who told the court the row had been caused by the stress of an impending house move, said: "Yes, I shouted at her but it had nothing to do with racism.
"I did not use the word Australian. I used to live with an Australian person. She was very nice."
Trevor Feehily, for Mills, said the offence was motivated by Mills's anger at O'Reilly "snooping" and not her nationality.
Chairman of the bench Brian Donohue said: "The word Australian was used. It was racially aggravated and the main reason it was used was in hostility."
Mills, who has since moved to the Isle of Eriska in Scotland with her husband, also admitted assaulting an officer by kicking him in the shin.
She was fined £110 for racially aggravated public disorder and £200 for assault. She must pay her victims £50 compensation and £500 court costs.
