Is There A Britpicker in the House??!! A Very Silly HP Post

[darklotus1211]

I hope you'll forgive my demented sense of humour - but I was thinking what would HP be like if it were written with an Australian flavour, and this little piece of insanity came to me.

The incongruity of Australianisms (is that even a word???) in the setting of the very British HP universe cracked me up - hope you enjoy(?) it.

You'll find the

Comments

[darklotus1211]

Glad you enjoyed my moment of madness! If you have a relative who lives over here, you'd most probably not have needed the translation so much!

I think the trouble is that some Aussies suffer what we call 'the cultural cringe' regarding our oh so colourful and imaginative use of language, and would prefer us to sound more 'international'. Their choice, of course, but personally, I love our Aussie English, and our slang always brings a smile to my face.

People do still say struth, crikey, beauty, and the rest - a bit less in the city, but any Aussie could easily understand all the language I used in this - and most would have used nearly all of it at some time or other, so you were quite correct in using it.

I read Morning Falls, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and found H and S's sons' language structure quite genuine - so there you go...

Sheila meaning girl or woman isn't used as much as it used to be - but, like much slang, it will no doubt gain popularity again in the future. It started falling out of favour in the 70's with the feminist movement, but I still hear it used, if less often. Lately, though, a lot of the slang from that time is making a comeback, so it may be on the rise even now.

Even the most 'cultured' of us still use simile and metaphor an awful lot - it's our style of speech.

And, yes, we can't please everyone, can we? I thought you did a good job of it, personally!

[teddyradiator]

I had a bit of luck with the fossicking last night, and managed to scab up a few bum nuts in a local chook yard

I forgot to mention how much that made me laugh. I actually love the different ways people speak. It seems to me that Australian English is both colourful and very descriptive. I remember reading the Thorn Birds and the poetry of Australia and how it related to them because it was written by the people who lived it and therefore had a rhythm and grace all its own. It's so distinctive, and relaxed. There is just this sort of laid backness to the language and how it is used.

Here in Southern America, we are just lazy. We slur words together, we make these gutteral noises that are meaningless to anyone but us. Jeff Foxworthy is brilliant about highlighting them.

Yowntoo - We're going to the mall, yowntoo?

ahait - I want you to beta read this for me. Ahait.