(no subject)
I'm a Canadian who's lived in Australia for four years. In that time, I've incorporated a large number of Aussie slang words and phrases into my lexicon. The prosody of my speech has even become more Australian - although, of course, I still have an identifiably Canadian accent.
Sometimes, when I speak to friends or family in North America on the phone, they comment on my "pretentious" use of such words as reckon, fortnight, petrol, and bloke. I try to explain that my dialect has naturally [and subconsciously] adapted to become more similar to that of my local community, but to no avail. Nope, I'm putting on airs by "deliberately" not saying think, two weeks, gas, and guy.
What makes this even more laughable is that some of the slang I've picked up is decidedly... earthy. In an Australian context, using these phrases would definitely be the opposite of pretension in every way.
Has anyone else encountered this phenomenon?
Sometimes, when I speak to friends or family in North America on the phone, they comment on my "pretentious" use of such words as reckon, fortnight, petrol, and bloke. I try to explain that my dialect has naturally [and subconsciously] adapted to become more similar to that of my local community, but to no avail. Nope, I'm putting on airs by "deliberately" not saying think, two weeks, gas, and guy.
What makes this even more laughable is that some of the slang I've picked up is decidedly... earthy. In an Australian context, using these phrases would definitely be the opposite of pretension in every way.
Has anyone else encountered this phenomenon?