Sniffles, toilet bowls by the side of the road, accents & Australianisms
"If you build it, he will come" (Field of Dreams)
"If there is a flu, Koala will catch it". (The Doom of Koala)
No please don't tell me about flu shots! It is my Doom - I must catch every single flu that flies past. Also I am so not appropriate for the Codral "soldier on with Codral" ad given that when I'm sick, I must take to my bed and make sad little bleating koala sounds of distress. No soldiering on for me. Then again frequently I see those who soldier on - coughing and spluttering their germs over everyone at work and class. That's not very nice. At least I quarantine myself! What I'm saying is I don't have a lot to say because I stayed at home sick. I've been getting sms's from Se Hyun, Alisa, Zhang Xuan Shou and phone calls from Kim. Se Hyun should already know I'm a flu magnet :)
Things by the side of the road
When I was in Wudaokou the other day, I was walking back to the lightrail station and noticed that lying by the side of the road were - two abandoned toilet bowls.
I didn't stop but as I walked I kept thinking: "How on earth did those get there? Why were they there? Who put them there?" This is China so there's all sorts of weird things lying by the side of the road but this is the first time I've seen two toilet bowls. Having the strange mind I do, I tried to think of scenarios.
Scenario 1
Little Wang goes to visit Big Liu (yes these are real Chinese names).
Little Wang: I brought you a gift! (presents box to Big Liu)
Big Liu: (opens box) Oh .... a toilet bowl..... just what I always wanted ....
Big Liu's Thought Bubble: Good grief, I already have a toilet bowl, what am I supposed to do with this? I know, I'll dump it by the side of the road near the Wudaokou lightrail station!
Then it occurred to me that that wouldn't explain the existence of two abandoned toilet bowls.
Scenario 2
Big Li and Dan Dan are newly weds
Dan Dan: Well I've finished going through our wedding presents.
Big Li: (sighs) We have two toilet bowls.
Dan Dan: What on earth are we going to do with two toilet bowls????
Big Li: No help for it, we'll have to dump it by the side of road near the Wudaokou Light Rail Station!
It kind of reminds me of when I was little. The garbage truck came twice a week to empty our garbage and sometimes if we had more garbage than would fit in the bin, dad and us would go on what he called doing a 'Santa Claus' ie we'd head up to the local shops and dump our garbage in the hopper / garbage bins up at the shops. No we werent' littering but I'm pretty certain you're not supposed to dump your household garbage in public bins :)
So I imagine people doing a 'Santa Clause' with these two toilet bowls ... although the image of someone riding their bike and hurling one bowl, then returning home, cycling back and throwing the second bowl is kind of ..... funny :)
Accents and aussie slang
I remember saying that I found the South African accented English a little hardgoing at times as it's very harsh. muridae_x commented:
The truly bizarre thing is that I've known people over here to mix up Aussie English and South African English, particularly on the telephone and if they've got a softer SA accent. You'd have thought they were different enough, but apparently not.
Mind you, I'm now so saturated by US television shows made in Canada that I can't tell the difference between a US English accent and a Canadian English one. The Canadians have sneaked into those US shows and confused me with their accents. :-)
And yep, it's "breathe new life". I guess somewhere along the line someone's never seen the phrase written down, only heard people speaking it, and has misheard. Then they've said/written it, and influenced others, and so the language evolves.
It made me think harder about this issue. I Googled the issue and found that apparently generally, Standard Canadian pronunciation is very similar to Standard American pronunciation, especially in Ontario. As time goes by, and Canadians watch more American TV and movies, Canadians everywhere are beginning to sound more like Americans.
As to Australian pronunciation, I think the reason why the South African English grates on me is that it is actually very similar to 'Broad Australian'. When I hear a South African, when they first start, I almost always think: "Oh this person's Australian ... oh .... ewwwwww." :) I call the South African accent, the 'Aussie accent gone wrong'. It is very similar but much, much more clipped and abrupt. The New Zealand accent is is more clipped but in a different way. For most Aussies it's quite easy to distinguish between South African, Australian and New Zealanders - although a New Zealander who has lived a long time in Australia will pretty much lose his/her accent except for a few key words.
A funny thing is that a lot of Australians can't say Australian or Australia. It ends up sounding more like Austrayan and Austraya :)
I checked out Wikipedia on the issue of the Aussie accent.
Non-Australians can also gain an impression of Australian English from well-known actors and other native speakers. The normal speaking voices of Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts are examples of typical Australian accents (unless they are acting in roles as non-Australians). Television star Steve "Crocodile hunter" Irwin has a broad Australian accent (see below) and as a result his voice is often parodied inside Australia as well as out. Several Australian actors provided voices for Finding Nemo: Nigel the pelican, the three sharks, and the dentist have Australian accents. John O'Grady's novel They're a Weird Mob has many good examples of phonetically-written Australian speech during the 1950s.
Varieties of Australian English
Most linguists consider that there are three main varieties of Australian English: "Broad", "General" and "Cultivated". These three main varieties are actually part of a continuum and are based on variations in accent. They often, but not always, reflect the social class and/or educational background of the speaker.
Broad Australian English
Broad Australian English is the archetypal and most recognisable variety and is familiar to English speakers around the world, because of its use in identifying Australian characters in non-Australian films and television programs. In reality it is somewhat less common than General Australian English. Broad Australian English is recognisable by a certain nasal drawl and the prevalence of long diphthongs. You are more likely to encounter Broad Australian English as you travel further away from the capital cities.
General Australian English
General Australian English is the stereotypical variety of Australian English. It is the variety of English used by the majority of Australians and it dominates the accents found in contemporary Australian-made films and television programs, such as Neighbours. This variety has noticeably shorter vowel sounds than Broad Australian English, among other differences. There is perhaps a trend towards General Australian away from the extremes.
Cultivated Australian English
Cultivated Australian English (CAE) has many similarities to British Received Pronunciation, and is often mistaken for it. CAE is now spoken by less than 10% of the population. An overwhelmingly large and growing majority of Australians now have either General or Broad accents. One effect of this is that the speech of people like Alexander Downer, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is mocked as sounding "affected", "snobby" or "aloof", when his accent is simply an example of Cultivated Australian English, which was once common among public figures in Australia.
Examples
Examples of each include the normal speaking voices of the following identities:
Broad - Steve Irwin; Bryan Brown; Pauline Hanson.
General - Nicole Kidman; Hugh Jackman; Russell Crowe.
Cultivated - Geoffrey Rush; Dame Joan Sutherland; Robert Hughes
Regional Variation
It is sometimes claimed that regional variations in pronunciation and accent exist, but if present at all they are very small compared to those of British and American English - sufficiently so that linguists are divided on the question. Overall, pronunciation is determined less by region than by social and educational influences.
Myths about Australian accents
Australian English is sometimes described as high-pitched, nasal, lazy, or drawling. The claims of high pitch and nasality are not entirely true, as many Australian English speakers perceive much of American English to be nasal, while laziness and drawling are impossible to test objectively. If anything, the tendency for Australians to turn pure vowels into diphthongs requires more work from the speech organs.
Similarly, the ridiculing of the Australian accent by foreigners for its supposed "questioning intonation", known in linguistics as high rising terminal, is not entirely justified. Many Australians' speech patterns do not conform to this stereotype, and the "questioning intonation" is often found in many regional speech patterns in the south of England, Northern Ireland, and in some American ones.
Use of words by Australians
Perception has it that a common trait is the frequent use of long-winded similes, such as "slow as a wet week", "built like a brick shit-house", "mad as a cut snake", or "flat out like a lizard drinking". Whether this perception is based in reality or has been produced by popular culture items of fiction such as the (successfully exported) television soap opera Neighbours and the films of Paul Hogan remains in question.
Many Australians believe themselves to be direct in manner, and this is typified by statements such as "why call a spade a spade, when you can call it a bloody shovel". Such sentiments can lead to misunderstandings and offence being caused to people from cultures where an emphasis is placed on avoiding conflict, such as people from South East Asia.
Spoken Australian English is generally more tolerant of offensive and/or abusive language than other variants. A famous exponent was the former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who referred in parliament to opponents as a "mangy maggot", a "stupid foul-mouthed grub" and so on. The widespread desire among Australians to avoid pomposity, or even polite, formal or dignified speech, is sometimes seen as reflecting a suspicion of success in general, a phenomenon sometimes known as the tall poppy syndrome.
Humour
An important aspect of Australian English usage, inherited in small part from Britain and Ireland, is the use of deadpan humour, in which a person will make extravagant, outrageous and/or ridiculous statements in a neutral tone, and without explicitly indicating they are joking. Tourists seen to be gullible and/or lacking a sense of humour may be subjected to tales of kangaroos hopping across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and similar tall tales. (See also Drop Bear.)
Diminutives
Australian English makes far more frequent use of diminutives than other varieties of English. These which can be formed in a number of ways such as adding -o or -ie to the ends of abbreviated words. They can be used to indicate familiarity, although in many speech communities the diminutive form is more common than the original word or phrase.
Examples with the -o ending include abo (aborigine, now considered offensive), arvo (afternoon), doco (documentary), servo (service station, known in other countries as a "petrol station" or "gas station"), bottle-o (bottle-shop or liquor store), rego (still pronounced with a /ʤ/) (annual motor vehicle registration), compo (compensation), leso (lesbian, also offensive, pronounced with a /z/), ambo (ambulance officer). The Salvation Army is often referred to as "The Salvos". The city of Fremantle is known by many of its inhabitants as Freo. Filipino youth in Australia refer to themselves as being a Filo, a word not used by Filipino Americans.
Examples of the -ie ending include barbie (barbecue), bikkie (biscuit), bikie (member of a motorcycle club), brekkie (breakfast) and blowie (blowfly). The city of Brisbane is often called Brissie (pronounced with a /z/) Newcastle is known as Newie.
Occasionally, a -za diminutive is used, usually for personal names where the first of multiple syllables ends in an "r". Karen becomes Kazza and Jeremy becomes Jezza. Also popular and common is the -z diminutive form (also found in British English) whereby Karen becomes Kaz and so on.
Other diminutive forms include:
Aussie Vocab
Australia seems to have an awful lot of its own vocabulary. Some of it is slang, some of it is just different word usage. A lot of words are still in use but there are a lot of 'famous' Australian words that are somewhat 'archaic' and considered old-fashioned, 'daggy' and overly 'ocker'.
You'll have to look through the list for the definition of those words ;) I've labelled the ones which I think are 'archaic'. ** means that I use the word a lot.
Aggro: Aggressive.**
Arvo: this afternoon **
Aussie Australian **
Award wage: Minimum pay rate
Back of beyond: Far away in the outback
Back of Bourke: The middle of nowhere.
Bag: Lady who is not particularly pleasant **
Bail: Leave **
Bail up: Hold up, rob, earbash.
Banana Bender: Resident of Queensland.
Barbie (Barbecue): A cook out. Usually involves sausages, lamb chops and lots of beer.
Barney: Fight or scuffle.
Barrack: To cheer on a team at a sporting event **
Barry of a day: Rhymes with Barry Crocker of a Day which in turn rhymes with a Shocker of a Day. Means to have a bad day :) **
Bastard: General form of address which can mean practically anything from highest praise ('a good bastard') to worst insult ('a rotten bastard'). When in doubt, don't use it ** (I use this a lot!)
Bathers: Swimming costume (Victoria and South Australia). Also called 'togs'
Battler: Hard trier, struggler.
Beaut, beauty, bewdie: Very good. Excellent.
Berko: Angry.
Bible basher: Minister, or any proselytising Christian.
Bikies: Motorcyclists **
Billabong: Water hole in a dry riverbed, or more correctly an ox-bow bend cut off in the dry season by receding waters.
Billy: Used for making tea in, usually over a campfire. The best billies are the old ones, which make better tea.
Bitumen: Surfaced road.
Black Stump: Out towards the horizon. A long way away.
Block: Block has a few meanings but the more Aussie one is your head.
Bloke: Person, usually a male **
Bloody: All-purpose intensifying adjective **
Blowie: Blowfly
Bludge: Not doing anything or getting things from others **
Bludger: Lazy person **
Blue: A fight.
Bluey: A swag; or the nickname of someone with red hair.
Bonzer: Great, ripper (very ocker!)
Boomer: Very large; a particularly large male kangaroo.
Boomerang: Curved flat wooden instrument used by Aborigines for hunting. If your boomerang returns, it means you MISSED!
Boot: The trunk of the car
Booze: Alcohol, usually beer **
Booze bus: Police van used for random breath testing for alcohol.
Bottle shop: Liquor shop.
Buckley's: No chance at all **
Bug (Moreton Bay bug): Small crab.
Bugger: An annoying person eg silly old bugger, bugger. An exclamation like damn: "Oh bugger!" or go away like "Bugger off". **
Bull dust: Fine and sometimes deep dust on outback roads. And a polite version of bullshit.
Bunyip: Mythical bush spirit, mainly associated with rivers, with an overtone of cuteness.
Burl: Have a try, as in 'give it a burl'.
Bush: Somewhere in the country or away from the city. Go bush means go back to the land.
Bushranger: Outlaw, analogous to the outlaws of the American Wild West (some goodies, some baddies).
Bush tucker: Native foods, usually in the outback.
BYO: Bring Your Own (booze to a restaurant, meat to a barbecue, etc.)
Chook: Chicken. **
Chuck: Chuck has a few meanings. It can mean to throw or to put in. **
Chuck a U-ey: Make a U-turn. **
Clobber: Clothes; to hit. **
Cobber: Mate (archaic).
Come good: Turn out all right. **
Compo: Compensation, such as workers' compensation. **
Conk: To hit someone (archaic). (Conk out means to break though. Or to a person 'don't conk out on me' **
Cooee: Bush greeting.
Coolabah: Type of box eucalyptus tree.
Corroboree: Aboriginal meeting, with ceremonial dancing. Corroboree is also a ballet by Australian composer John Antill (1904-1986).
Cow: Throw a tantrum or a mean woman. 'No need to have a cow'.
Cozzie: Swimming costume (New South Wales).
Crook: Ill, badly made, substandard. (Feeling crook, that's a bit crook)
Dag, daggy: Dirty lump of wool at the back end of a sheep, also an affectionate or mildly abusive term for a socially inept person. **
Daks: Trousers. **
Damper: Bush loaf made from flour and water cooked in a camp oven.
Deli: Delicatessen. Milk bar in South Australia and Western Australia.
Dijeridu: Cylindrical musical instrument played usually by Aboriginal men.
Dill: Idiot.
Dinkie die: The whole truth (archaic)
Dinkum, fair dinkum: Genuine or honest. (archaic)
Dob In: To tell (an authority) on someone. **
Dunny: Outdoor lavatory.
Earbash: Non-stop talk.
Esky: Large insulated box for keeping beer etc. cold, (short for Eskimo box).
Fair crack of the whip!: Fair go! (archaic)
Fair dinkum: Genuine or honest. (archaic except as a joke)
Fair go: Give some a chance or an opportunity to do something. **
fed up with tired of **
Flaming: All-purpose intensifying adjective. (archaic but I use it a lot as a joke - eg flaming bloody idiot)
Flat out: As fast as possible. **
Flog: Sell; steal. **
footpath: pavement
Fossick: To hunt for gemstones.
Furphy: A rumour or a false story.
Galah: Noisy parrot, thus noisy idiot.
Game: Brave.
Gander: Have a look. ** (although as a joke)
Gaol: Australian and British variant spelling of 'jail'.
Garbo: Garbage collector. **
G'day: A greeting. It is the Aussie way of saying good day. **
Going 'troppo': Going tropical; laid-back and fun-loving; insane.
Good on ya!: Well done! **
Grog: General term for alcohol.
Grouse: Very good, unreal. (very ocker!)
Gumtree: Eucalyptus.
Hire: To rent, as 'to hire a car'.
Hoon: Idiot, hooligan, yahoo. **
Hooly-Dooly: An expression of surprise. **
How are ya?: Standard greeting. ** (or how ya goin')
Icy-pole: Frozen lolly water or ice cream on a stick. **
It's a goer: Something that will definitely occur. **
Joe Bloggs: The average citizen. **
Joey: Baby kangaroo, still in the pouch.
Journo: Journalist. **
Jumbuck: Sheep (archaic)
Jumped-up: Full of self-importance; arrogant.
Kafuffle: Argument.
Keen as mustard: Enthusiastic.
Kick-in: to provide your share. **
Kip: Sleep or nap.
Kiwi: New Zealander.
Knackers: Testicles (also love spuds, nuts, nads). To be 'knackered' is to be tired. **
Knock: To criticise. **
Knocker: One who criticises. **
Kombi: Multi-purpose van-like vehicle, often modified so the back seats were folded down to get a mattress in the back. Also spelled Combi.
Koori: Aborigine (mostly south of the Murray River).
Lamington: Sponge cake cut into squares, covered in chocolate and coconut.
Larrikin: Ruffian or hoodlum.
Lay-by: To put a deposit on an article so a shop will hold it.
Licensed: Legally permitted to sell alcoholic drinks.
Lollies: Candy or sweets. **
Loo: Lavatory or toilet. **
Lot: The whole thing. **
Mad: Crazy (seldom means anger). **
Mallee: Remote bushland of Victoria.
Manchester: Household linen.
Mate: This usually means a friend but it can be used to talk about or to anyone - even a total stranger. **
Matey with: Familiar or friendly with. **
Matilda: The belongings of a swagman, wrapped in a blanket or bedroll (archaic)
Middy: 285 ml beer glass (New South Wales).
Milko: Milkman.
Mob: Group of person or things (not necessarily unruly).
Mozzie: Mosquito. **
Mug: Either a fool or your face. **
Naff: Ridiculous, useless.
Nana: Banana.
Narked: Annoyed (alsy narky) **
Never-never: Desert region far away in the outback.
Nick: To steal. **
Nick out: Go somewhere for short period of time. **
Nit: Fool or idiot.
No hoper: Hopeless case. **
No worries!: Everything will be fine! **
Ocker: Uncultivated or boorish Australian. **
Off-sider: Assistant or partner. **
Outback: The bush, or uncivilised uninhabited region.
Owyergoin: How are you going? Often used with 'G'day' and 'Mate'.
Oz: Australia, as in Oz-tralia.
Packed out: Filled to capacity. **
Paddock: Field or meadow.
Pally: On friendly terms with.
Parcel: Package.
Pavlova: Traditional Australian meringue and cream dessert, names after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.
Perve: To gaze with lust, purview. **
Pester: Annoy or bother someone. **
Petrol: Gasoline. **
Piffle: Nonsense (a bit archaic although I use it for a joke)
Piss: Alcohol, usually beer.
Piss turn, piss up: Boozy party.
Piss weak: No good, gutless.
Pissed: Drunk.
Pissed off: Annoyed. **
Plonk: drop something onto something else. To 'plonk' something down. **
Poker machine, pokies: Slot machine or fruit machine but with playing card pips. Found in clubs mainly in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. **
Pom or Pommy: English person. **
Poofter: Homosexual.
Postie: Postman.
Prang: Accident or crash. **
Proprietary (Pty.): Company (Co.).
Pub: Any hotel. A favourite meeting place of many Australians.
Quack: Doctor, especially if not very good.
Quick smart: In a hurry. **
Rapt: Delighted, enraptured.
Ratbag: Someone who does not behave properly. **
Razoo: Fictitious coin, as 'I haven't a brass razoo'. (slightly archaic although I'll use it for a joke)
Reckon!: You bet! Absolutely! (this is VERY ocker) **
Rego: Registration, as in car rego. **
Ridgy-didge: Original, genuine (very ocker, not often used)
Ripper: Good (I don't use this much)
Roo: Kangaroo.
Roo bar: Metal rod on front of vehicles to protect against kangaroo strikes.
Root: Have sexual intercourse.
Rooted: Tired.
Ropable: Very ill-tempered or angry.
RS: Lousy (rat shit).
Rubbish: To tease, as in 'to rubbish'.
Rug up: Dress for warmth.
Sack: To dismiss from a job. **
Salvo: Member of the Salvation Army. **
Scallops: Fried potato cakes (Queensland and New South Wales), shellfish (elsewhere).
Sheila: Female or woman. This is very old fashioned, no one says it except for a joke!
She'll be right!: Everything will be fine! **
Shonky: Unreliable. **
Shoot Through: To leave or disappear in a hurry.
Shout: Pay for someone else, particularly a round of drinks. **
Shove off!: Go away!
Shirty: To get upset or angry. **
Sickie: Day off work ill, or malingering. **
singlet: vest... wife beater? **
Skite: To boast.
Slog: Hard work. **
Smoko: Smoke or tea break. **
Snag: Sausage.
Sook: To pout and complain, act like a baby. To be a sook, to sook, to be sooky. **
Sport: More general way to refer to someone rather than a mate. **
Spunk: Good-looking, attractive as in 'what a spunk'. **
Square off: Apologise and make reparations. **
Square up: Prepare to fight (as in boxing).
Sticky beak: Nosy person. **
Strewth!: It's the truth! An exclamation, often of surprise. (archaic)
Strides: Daks, trousers. (very ocker, I never use it)
Strine: Australian slang ('Australian' spoken in strine).
Sunbake: Sunbathe.
Surfy: Surfing fanatic.
Swag: Canvas-covered bedroll used in the outback.
Swagman: Vagabond, rural tramp.
Swimmers: Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria).
Take away food: Take-out food. **
Tall poppies: Achievers, often a disparaging term. **
Tariff: Rate.
Tea: evening meal.
Tee up: Organise or arrange. ** 'tee up a time'
Telly: The television.
Thingo: Thing, whatchamacallit, whomajigger, hooza meebob, doo velacki, thingamajig.
This arvo: This afternoon. **
Thongs: Rubber sandals, flip-flops
Tinny: Can of beer. Also a small aluminium fishing dinghy (Northern Territory).
Togs: Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria).
Too right!: Absolutely! **
True blue: Dinkum (a bit archaic)
Tucker: Food. Australian schools call their canteens a 'tuckshop' (slightly archaic)
Twit: Fool or idiot. **
Two-up: Traditional Australian heads/tails gambling game, played with 2 coins.
Tyre: Australian and British spelling of 'tire'.
Underdaks: Underwear.
Uni: University. **
Ute: Utility truck or vehicle. **
Vee-dub: Volkswagon car. **
Vegemite: Popular vegetable extract used as sandwich spread.
Waffle: Nonsense. **
Wag: To skip school or work. **
Walkabout: Lengthy walk away from it all. **
Wanker: Similar to bastard. Someone pretentious. 'It's a wank', 'don't be such a wanker', 'wankage' **
Weatherboard: Wooden house.
Wharfie: Dockworker.
Whinge: Complain and carry on unnecessarily. **
Willy-nilly: Small dust twister. Also, without thought.
Windscreen: The windshield of a car
Wobbly: Disturbing, unpredictable behaviour, as in 'throw a wobbly' or 'chuch a wobbley' **
Woomera: Stick used by Aborigines to throw spears.
Yabbie: Small freshwater crayfish.
Yahoo: Noisy and unruly person.
Yahooing: Boisterous behaviour.
Yakka, yakker: Hard work, an Aboriginal term
Yank: American.
Yobbo: Uncouth, aggressive person. **
Yonks: Ages, a long time. **
Youse: Plural of you (by the grammatically challenged).
Zebra crossing: Broad-striped pedestrian roadway crossing.
Zed: Australian and British pronunciation of 'Z'.
A quintessentially Aussie beer ad
Beer ads in Australia are among the best ads on television .... strangely enough. Australia is famous for its Foster's beer - which pretty much all Australians hate. On the months leading up to the Sydney Olympics of 2000, Foster's produced a clone of the Molson Canadian I am Canadian advertisment, which featured heavily on television. It went like this:
I don't have a kangaroo for a pet
I don't wrestle with crocodiles
And I don't wear a cork hat
I fight wars
But never start them
I would rather make peace
I can wear my country's flag with pride
I am a rock
I am the ocean
I am the island continent
My neighbours are the Smiths, the Wilsons, the Santerellis, the De Costis, the Wongs and the Jagamarras
I play football without a helmet
I like beetroot on my hamburger
I ride in the front seat of the taxi
I believe it's a prawn not a shrimp
I believe the world is round
And down under is on top
I believe Australia is the best address on Earth]
And Australians brew the best beer.
Apparently a lot of Australians felt that this was not an accurate reflection of the hearts and minds of average Australians, and the following was proposed as an alternative:
I ate my pet kangaroo
I am shit scared of crocodiles
And I wear a baseball cap
I love Star Wars
And the Wookie is my favourite
I would rather get drunk
And watch someone else carry the country's flag with pride
I like to rock
To Billy Ocean
I am blind to my incompetence
My neighbours are the Smiths, the Wilsons, the Wogs, the Lebbos, the Chinks and the Abos
I watch football with a tinnie
I take the beetroot off my hamburger
And throw Maccas' pickles on windows
I do runners from taxis
I believe the world is flat
And Australia is fucking miles away from anywhere
I believe Australia is the best address on earth
And Australians brew the best beer
And that's why we never touch Fosters.
We export that shit.
Taken from www.sturmsoft.com/Writing/Old_ephemerides/20010715.htm , but in the public domain
*giggle*
I almost broke the LJ spell-check with this Australianisms post .... it could barely cope ;)
Word of the Day
lipogram (LIP-uh-gram) noun
A piece of writing that avoids one or more letters of the alphabet. From Greek lipo- (lacking) + gram (something written).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=lipogram
In spite of what it sounds like, a lipogram is not a message with a kiss. Lipogram is a work written with a constraint.
Imagine you've just started your great epic novel and one of the keys on your keyboard is broken. It would be trivial to manage without a Q, X, or Z, but writing without a single E -- ah, that'd be some challenge. If it sounds undoable, consider that whole books have been written without an E, the most used letter in the English language. Without an E, one has to give up some of the most common pronouns such as he, she, we, me, and so on. What's more, even the article "the" is barred.
Coming back to books written without Es (I'm sure writing them is not something everyone can do with ease), Ernest Vincent Wright's 1939 novel Gadsby is written without the second vowel. One of the best known E-less works is Georges Perec's lipogrammatic French novel, La Disparition (The Disappearance). Its plot is full of wordplay, puzzles, and other word-fun. For example, a character is missing eggs, or is unable to remember his name because it needs E in the spelling.
Though it may be hard to believe considering the restriction under which it is written, the novel is said to be quite engrossing. Apparently, many reviewers were not even aware that a special constraint was used in writing it. After writing the novel, Perec faced a protest from the A, I, O, and U keys on his keyboard that they had to do all the work and E was leading an e'sy life. So Perec had no choice but to write a short work called Les Revenentes, where he put to work all those idle Es: the only vowel used was E.
If that doesn't sound incredible enough, here is more. La Disparition has been translated into English as "A Void" by Gilbert Adair. Of course, the translation also doesn't have any E in it. In case you have not already noticed, both the phrases "La Disparition" and "A Void" have only vowels A, I, and O in them, same as in the word "lipogram". And Void's protagonist is named Anton Vowl.
One can write numbers from zero, one, two,... onwards, and not use the A key on the keyboard until reaching thousand. As for the literary merit of that composition, I'm not very certain.
.....-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"Go on, r*ad my lipogram!"
.....Rod*rick Nord*ll; What's Missing From This Story?; The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Oct 31, 2002.
PS: I'd like to add that Microsoft is evil. When my computer crashes and I don't need whatever was in Word at the time of the crash, it always very helpfully saves one or two copies. Today my computer crashed with a friend's English essay I was helping to correct. I thought: "Oh well never mind, it will be 'recovered' by Word for me.
I loaded up the computer, stared expectantly at a very nice blank screen. Fortunately his essay wasn't long so I can type it again! Evil I tell you. Pure evil!
"If there is a flu, Koala will catch it". (The Doom of Koala)
No please don't tell me about flu shots! It is my Doom - I must catch every single flu that flies past. Also I am so not appropriate for the Codral "soldier on with Codral" ad given that when I'm sick, I must take to my bed and make sad little bleating koala sounds of distress. No soldiering on for me. Then again frequently I see those who soldier on - coughing and spluttering their germs over everyone at work and class. That's not very nice. At least I quarantine myself! What I'm saying is I don't have a lot to say because I stayed at home sick. I've been getting sms's from Se Hyun, Alisa, Zhang Xuan Shou and phone calls from Kim. Se Hyun should already know I'm a flu magnet :)
Things by the side of the road
When I was in Wudaokou the other day, I was walking back to the lightrail station and noticed that lying by the side of the road were - two abandoned toilet bowls.
I didn't stop but as I walked I kept thinking: "How on earth did those get there? Why were they there? Who put them there?" This is China so there's all sorts of weird things lying by the side of the road but this is the first time I've seen two toilet bowls. Having the strange mind I do, I tried to think of scenarios.
Scenario 1
Little Wang goes to visit Big Liu (yes these are real Chinese names).
Little Wang: I brought you a gift! (presents box to Big Liu)
Big Liu: (opens box) Oh .... a toilet bowl..... just what I always wanted ....
Big Liu's Thought Bubble: Good grief, I already have a toilet bowl, what am I supposed to do with this? I know, I'll dump it by the side of the road near the Wudaokou lightrail station!
Then it occurred to me that that wouldn't explain the existence of two abandoned toilet bowls.
Scenario 2
Big Li and Dan Dan are newly weds
Dan Dan: Well I've finished going through our wedding presents.
Big Li: (sighs) We have two toilet bowls.
Dan Dan: What on earth are we going to do with two toilet bowls????
Big Li: No help for it, we'll have to dump it by the side of road near the Wudaokou Light Rail Station!
It kind of reminds me of when I was little. The garbage truck came twice a week to empty our garbage and sometimes if we had more garbage than would fit in the bin, dad and us would go on what he called doing a 'Santa Claus' ie we'd head up to the local shops and dump our garbage in the hopper / garbage bins up at the shops. No we werent' littering but I'm pretty certain you're not supposed to dump your household garbage in public bins :)
So I imagine people doing a 'Santa Clause' with these two toilet bowls ... although the image of someone riding their bike and hurling one bowl, then returning home, cycling back and throwing the second bowl is kind of ..... funny :)
Accents and aussie slang
I remember saying that I found the South African accented English a little hardgoing at times as it's very harsh. muridae_x commented:
The truly bizarre thing is that I've known people over here to mix up Aussie English and South African English, particularly on the telephone and if they've got a softer SA accent. You'd have thought they were different enough, but apparently not.
Mind you, I'm now so saturated by US television shows made in Canada that I can't tell the difference between a US English accent and a Canadian English one. The Canadians have sneaked into those US shows and confused me with their accents. :-)
And yep, it's "breathe new life". I guess somewhere along the line someone's never seen the phrase written down, only heard people speaking it, and has misheard. Then they've said/written it, and influenced others, and so the language evolves.
It made me think harder about this issue. I Googled the issue and found that apparently generally, Standard Canadian pronunciation is very similar to Standard American pronunciation, especially in Ontario. As time goes by, and Canadians watch more American TV and movies, Canadians everywhere are beginning to sound more like Americans.
As to Australian pronunciation, I think the reason why the South African English grates on me is that it is actually very similar to 'Broad Australian'. When I hear a South African, when they first start, I almost always think: "Oh this person's Australian ... oh .... ewwwwww." :) I call the South African accent, the 'Aussie accent gone wrong'. It is very similar but much, much more clipped and abrupt. The New Zealand accent is is more clipped but in a different way. For most Aussies it's quite easy to distinguish between South African, Australian and New Zealanders - although a New Zealander who has lived a long time in Australia will pretty much lose his/her accent except for a few key words.
A funny thing is that a lot of Australians can't say Australian or Australia. It ends up sounding more like Austrayan and Austraya :)
I checked out Wikipedia on the issue of the Aussie accent.
Non-Australians can also gain an impression of Australian English from well-known actors and other native speakers. The normal speaking voices of Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts are examples of typical Australian accents (unless they are acting in roles as non-Australians). Television star Steve "Crocodile hunter" Irwin has a broad Australian accent (see below) and as a result his voice is often parodied inside Australia as well as out. Several Australian actors provided voices for Finding Nemo: Nigel the pelican, the three sharks, and the dentist have Australian accents. John O'Grady's novel They're a Weird Mob has many good examples of phonetically-written Australian speech during the 1950s.
Varieties of Australian English
Most linguists consider that there are three main varieties of Australian English: "Broad", "General" and "Cultivated". These three main varieties are actually part of a continuum and are based on variations in accent. They often, but not always, reflect the social class and/or educational background of the speaker.
Broad Australian English
Broad Australian English is the archetypal and most recognisable variety and is familiar to English speakers around the world, because of its use in identifying Australian characters in non-Australian films and television programs. In reality it is somewhat less common than General Australian English. Broad Australian English is recognisable by a certain nasal drawl and the prevalence of long diphthongs. You are more likely to encounter Broad Australian English as you travel further away from the capital cities.
General Australian English
General Australian English is the stereotypical variety of Australian English. It is the variety of English used by the majority of Australians and it dominates the accents found in contemporary Australian-made films and television programs, such as Neighbours. This variety has noticeably shorter vowel sounds than Broad Australian English, among other differences. There is perhaps a trend towards General Australian away from the extremes.
Cultivated Australian English
Cultivated Australian English (CAE) has many similarities to British Received Pronunciation, and is often mistaken for it. CAE is now spoken by less than 10% of the population. An overwhelmingly large and growing majority of Australians now have either General or Broad accents. One effect of this is that the speech of people like Alexander Downer, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is mocked as sounding "affected", "snobby" or "aloof", when his accent is simply an example of Cultivated Australian English, which was once common among public figures in Australia.
Examples
Examples of each include the normal speaking voices of the following identities:
Broad - Steve Irwin; Bryan Brown; Pauline Hanson.
General - Nicole Kidman; Hugh Jackman; Russell Crowe.
Cultivated - Geoffrey Rush; Dame Joan Sutherland; Robert Hughes
Regional Variation
It is sometimes claimed that regional variations in pronunciation and accent exist, but if present at all they are very small compared to those of British and American English - sufficiently so that linguists are divided on the question. Overall, pronunciation is determined less by region than by social and educational influences.
Myths about Australian accents
Australian English is sometimes described as high-pitched, nasal, lazy, or drawling. The claims of high pitch and nasality are not entirely true, as many Australian English speakers perceive much of American English to be nasal, while laziness and drawling are impossible to test objectively. If anything, the tendency for Australians to turn pure vowels into diphthongs requires more work from the speech organs.
Similarly, the ridiculing of the Australian accent by foreigners for its supposed "questioning intonation", known in linguistics as high rising terminal, is not entirely justified. Many Australians' speech patterns do not conform to this stereotype, and the "questioning intonation" is often found in many regional speech patterns in the south of England, Northern Ireland, and in some American ones.
Use of words by Australians
Perception has it that a common trait is the frequent use of long-winded similes, such as "slow as a wet week", "built like a brick shit-house", "mad as a cut snake", or "flat out like a lizard drinking". Whether this perception is based in reality or has been produced by popular culture items of fiction such as the (successfully exported) television soap opera Neighbours and the films of Paul Hogan remains in question.
Many Australians believe themselves to be direct in manner, and this is typified by statements such as "why call a spade a spade, when you can call it a bloody shovel". Such sentiments can lead to misunderstandings and offence being caused to people from cultures where an emphasis is placed on avoiding conflict, such as people from South East Asia.
Spoken Australian English is generally more tolerant of offensive and/or abusive language than other variants. A famous exponent was the former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who referred in parliament to opponents as a "mangy maggot", a "stupid foul-mouthed grub" and so on. The widespread desire among Australians to avoid pomposity, or even polite, formal or dignified speech, is sometimes seen as reflecting a suspicion of success in general, a phenomenon sometimes known as the tall poppy syndrome.
Humour
An important aspect of Australian English usage, inherited in small part from Britain and Ireland, is the use of deadpan humour, in which a person will make extravagant, outrageous and/or ridiculous statements in a neutral tone, and without explicitly indicating they are joking. Tourists seen to be gullible and/or lacking a sense of humour may be subjected to tales of kangaroos hopping across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and similar tall tales. (See also Drop Bear.)
Diminutives
Australian English makes far more frequent use of diminutives than other varieties of English. These which can be formed in a number of ways such as adding -o or -ie to the ends of abbreviated words. They can be used to indicate familiarity, although in many speech communities the diminutive form is more common than the original word or phrase.
Examples with the -o ending include abo (aborigine, now considered offensive), arvo (afternoon), doco (documentary), servo (service station, known in other countries as a "petrol station" or "gas station"), bottle-o (bottle-shop or liquor store), rego (still pronounced with a /ʤ/) (annual motor vehicle registration), compo (compensation), leso (lesbian, also offensive, pronounced with a /z/), ambo (ambulance officer). The Salvation Army is often referred to as "The Salvos". The city of Fremantle is known by many of its inhabitants as Freo. Filipino youth in Australia refer to themselves as being a Filo, a word not used by Filipino Americans.
Examples of the -ie ending include barbie (barbecue), bikkie (biscuit), bikie (member of a motorcycle club), brekkie (breakfast) and blowie (blowfly). The city of Brisbane is often called Brissie (pronounced with a /z/) Newcastle is known as Newie.
Occasionally, a -za diminutive is used, usually for personal names where the first of multiple syllables ends in an "r". Karen becomes Kazza and Jeremy becomes Jezza. Also popular and common is the -z diminutive form (also found in British English) whereby Karen becomes Kaz and so on.
Other diminutive forms include:
- last one or two syllables, prefaced with a definite article: The Gabba for the Brisbane Cricket Ground at Woolloongabba; The Gong for Wollongong.
- first syllable plus "-s": turps turpentine (usually referring to drinking alcohol, e.g. "a night on the turps") or Ian Turpie; Gabs, pet form of Gabrielle.
- first syllable plus "-ers": Honkers (Hong Kong), Shangers (Shanghai).
Aussie Vocab
Australia seems to have an awful lot of its own vocabulary. Some of it is slang, some of it is just different word usage. A lot of words are still in use but there are a lot of 'famous' Australian words that are somewhat 'archaic' and considered old-fashioned, 'daggy' and overly 'ocker'.
You'll have to look through the list for the definition of those words ;) I've labelled the ones which I think are 'archaic'. ** means that I use the word a lot.
Aggro: Aggressive.**
Arvo: this afternoon **
Aussie Australian **
Award wage: Minimum pay rate
Back of beyond: Far away in the outback
Back of Bourke: The middle of nowhere.
Bag: Lady who is not particularly pleasant **
Bail: Leave **
Bail up: Hold up, rob, earbash.
Banana Bender: Resident of Queensland.
Barbie (Barbecue): A cook out. Usually involves sausages, lamb chops and lots of beer.
Barney: Fight or scuffle.
Barrack: To cheer on a team at a sporting event **
Barry of a day: Rhymes with Barry Crocker of a Day which in turn rhymes with a Shocker of a Day. Means to have a bad day :) **
Bastard: General form of address which can mean practically anything from highest praise ('a good bastard') to worst insult ('a rotten bastard'). When in doubt, don't use it ** (I use this a lot!)
Bathers: Swimming costume (Victoria and South Australia). Also called 'togs'
Battler: Hard trier, struggler.
Beaut, beauty, bewdie: Very good. Excellent.
Berko: Angry.
Bible basher: Minister, or any proselytising Christian.
Bikies: Motorcyclists **
Billabong: Water hole in a dry riverbed, or more correctly an ox-bow bend cut off in the dry season by receding waters.
Billy: Used for making tea in, usually over a campfire. The best billies are the old ones, which make better tea.
Bitumen: Surfaced road.
Black Stump: Out towards the horizon. A long way away.
Block: Block has a few meanings but the more Aussie one is your head.
Bloke: Person, usually a male **
Bloody: All-purpose intensifying adjective **
Blowie: Blowfly
Bludge: Not doing anything or getting things from others **
Bludger: Lazy person **
Blue: A fight.
Bluey: A swag; or the nickname of someone with red hair.
Bonzer: Great, ripper (very ocker!)
Boomer: Very large; a particularly large male kangaroo.
Boomerang: Curved flat wooden instrument used by Aborigines for hunting. If your boomerang returns, it means you MISSED!
Boot: The trunk of the car
Booze: Alcohol, usually beer **
Booze bus: Police van used for random breath testing for alcohol.
Bottle shop: Liquor shop.
Buckley's: No chance at all **
Bug (Moreton Bay bug): Small crab.
Bugger: An annoying person eg silly old bugger, bugger. An exclamation like damn: "Oh bugger!" or go away like "Bugger off". **
Bull dust: Fine and sometimes deep dust on outback roads. And a polite version of bullshit.
Bunyip: Mythical bush spirit, mainly associated with rivers, with an overtone of cuteness.
Burl: Have a try, as in 'give it a burl'.
Bush: Somewhere in the country or away from the city. Go bush means go back to the land.
Bushranger: Outlaw, analogous to the outlaws of the American Wild West (some goodies, some baddies).
Bush tucker: Native foods, usually in the outback.
BYO: Bring Your Own (booze to a restaurant, meat to a barbecue, etc.)
Chook: Chicken. **
Chuck: Chuck has a few meanings. It can mean to throw or to put in. **
Chuck a U-ey: Make a U-turn. **
Clobber: Clothes; to hit. **
Cobber: Mate (archaic).
Come good: Turn out all right. **
Compo: Compensation, such as workers' compensation. **
Conk: To hit someone (archaic). (Conk out means to break though. Or to a person 'don't conk out on me' **
Cooee: Bush greeting.
Coolabah: Type of box eucalyptus tree.
Corroboree: Aboriginal meeting, with ceremonial dancing. Corroboree is also a ballet by Australian composer John Antill (1904-1986).
Cow: Throw a tantrum or a mean woman. 'No need to have a cow'.
Cozzie: Swimming costume (New South Wales).
Crook: Ill, badly made, substandard. (Feeling crook, that's a bit crook)
Dag, daggy: Dirty lump of wool at the back end of a sheep, also an affectionate or mildly abusive term for a socially inept person. **
Daks: Trousers. **
Damper: Bush loaf made from flour and water cooked in a camp oven.
Deli: Delicatessen. Milk bar in South Australia and Western Australia.
Dijeridu: Cylindrical musical instrument played usually by Aboriginal men.
Dill: Idiot.
Dinkie die: The whole truth (archaic)
Dinkum, fair dinkum: Genuine or honest. (archaic)
Dob In: To tell (an authority) on someone. **
Dunny: Outdoor lavatory.
Earbash: Non-stop talk.
Esky: Large insulated box for keeping beer etc. cold, (short for Eskimo box).
Fair crack of the whip!: Fair go! (archaic)
Fair dinkum: Genuine or honest. (archaic except as a joke)
Fair go: Give some a chance or an opportunity to do something. **
fed up with tired of **
Flaming: All-purpose intensifying adjective. (archaic but I use it a lot as a joke - eg flaming bloody idiot)
Flat out: As fast as possible. **
Flog: Sell; steal. **
footpath: pavement
Fossick: To hunt for gemstones.
Furphy: A rumour or a false story.
Galah: Noisy parrot, thus noisy idiot.
Game: Brave.
Gander: Have a look. ** (although as a joke)
Gaol: Australian and British variant spelling of 'jail'.
Garbo: Garbage collector. **
G'day: A greeting. It is the Aussie way of saying good day. **
Going 'troppo': Going tropical; laid-back and fun-loving; insane.
Good on ya!: Well done! **
Grog: General term for alcohol.
Grouse: Very good, unreal. (very ocker!)
Gumtree: Eucalyptus.
Hire: To rent, as 'to hire a car'.
Hoon: Idiot, hooligan, yahoo. **
Hooly-Dooly: An expression of surprise. **
How are ya?: Standard greeting. ** (or how ya goin')
Icy-pole: Frozen lolly water or ice cream on a stick. **
It's a goer: Something that will definitely occur. **
Joe Bloggs: The average citizen. **
Joey: Baby kangaroo, still in the pouch.
Journo: Journalist. **
Jumbuck: Sheep (archaic)
Jumped-up: Full of self-importance; arrogant.
Kafuffle: Argument.
Keen as mustard: Enthusiastic.
Kick-in: to provide your share. **
Kip: Sleep or nap.
Kiwi: New Zealander.
Knackers: Testicles (also love spuds, nuts, nads). To be 'knackered' is to be tired. **
Knock: To criticise. **
Knocker: One who criticises. **
Kombi: Multi-purpose van-like vehicle, often modified so the back seats were folded down to get a mattress in the back. Also spelled Combi.
Koori: Aborigine (mostly south of the Murray River).
Lamington: Sponge cake cut into squares, covered in chocolate and coconut.
Larrikin: Ruffian or hoodlum.
Lay-by: To put a deposit on an article so a shop will hold it.
Licensed: Legally permitted to sell alcoholic drinks.
Lollies: Candy or sweets. **
Loo: Lavatory or toilet. **
Lot: The whole thing. **
Mad: Crazy (seldom means anger). **
Mallee: Remote bushland of Victoria.
Manchester: Household linen.
Mate: This usually means a friend but it can be used to talk about or to anyone - even a total stranger. **
Matey with: Familiar or friendly with. **
Matilda: The belongings of a swagman, wrapped in a blanket or bedroll (archaic)
Middy: 285 ml beer glass (New South Wales).
Milko: Milkman.
Mob: Group of person or things (not necessarily unruly).
Mozzie: Mosquito. **
Mug: Either a fool or your face. **
Naff: Ridiculous, useless.
Nana: Banana.
Narked: Annoyed (alsy narky) **
Never-never: Desert region far away in the outback.
Nick: To steal. **
Nick out: Go somewhere for short period of time. **
Nit: Fool or idiot.
No hoper: Hopeless case. **
No worries!: Everything will be fine! **
Ocker: Uncultivated or boorish Australian. **
Off-sider: Assistant or partner. **
Outback: The bush, or uncivilised uninhabited region.
Owyergoin: How are you going? Often used with 'G'day' and 'Mate'.
Oz: Australia, as in Oz-tralia.
Packed out: Filled to capacity. **
Paddock: Field or meadow.
Pally: On friendly terms with.
Parcel: Package.
Pavlova: Traditional Australian meringue and cream dessert, names after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.
Perve: To gaze with lust, purview. **
Pester: Annoy or bother someone. **
Petrol: Gasoline. **
Piffle: Nonsense (a bit archaic although I use it for a joke)
Piss: Alcohol, usually beer.
Piss turn, piss up: Boozy party.
Piss weak: No good, gutless.
Pissed: Drunk.
Pissed off: Annoyed. **
Plonk: drop something onto something else. To 'plonk' something down. **
Poker machine, pokies: Slot machine or fruit machine but with playing card pips. Found in clubs mainly in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. **
Pom or Pommy: English person. **
Poofter: Homosexual.
Postie: Postman.
Prang: Accident or crash. **
Proprietary (Pty.): Company (Co.).
Pub: Any hotel. A favourite meeting place of many Australians.
Quack: Doctor, especially if not very good.
Quick smart: In a hurry. **
Rapt: Delighted, enraptured.
Ratbag: Someone who does not behave properly. **
Razoo: Fictitious coin, as 'I haven't a brass razoo'. (slightly archaic although I'll use it for a joke)
Reckon!: You bet! Absolutely! (this is VERY ocker) **
Rego: Registration, as in car rego. **
Ridgy-didge: Original, genuine (very ocker, not often used)
Ripper: Good (I don't use this much)
Roo: Kangaroo.
Roo bar: Metal rod on front of vehicles to protect against kangaroo strikes.
Root: Have sexual intercourse.
Rooted: Tired.
Ropable: Very ill-tempered or angry.
RS: Lousy (rat shit).
Rubbish: To tease, as in 'to rubbish'.
Rug up: Dress for warmth.
Sack: To dismiss from a job. **
Salvo: Member of the Salvation Army. **
Scallops: Fried potato cakes (Queensland and New South Wales), shellfish (elsewhere).
Sheila: Female or woman. This is very old fashioned, no one says it except for a joke!
She'll be right!: Everything will be fine! **
Shonky: Unreliable. **
Shoot Through: To leave or disappear in a hurry.
Shout: Pay for someone else, particularly a round of drinks. **
Shove off!: Go away!
Shirty: To get upset or angry. **
Sickie: Day off work ill, or malingering. **
singlet: vest... wife beater? **
Skite: To boast.
Slog: Hard work. **
Smoko: Smoke or tea break. **
Snag: Sausage.
Sook: To pout and complain, act like a baby. To be a sook, to sook, to be sooky. **
Sport: More general way to refer to someone rather than a mate. **
Spunk: Good-looking, attractive as in 'what a spunk'. **
Square off: Apologise and make reparations. **
Square up: Prepare to fight (as in boxing).
Sticky beak: Nosy person. **
Strewth!: It's the truth! An exclamation, often of surprise. (archaic)
Strides: Daks, trousers. (very ocker, I never use it)
Strine: Australian slang ('Australian' spoken in strine).
Sunbake: Sunbathe.
Surfy: Surfing fanatic.
Swag: Canvas-covered bedroll used in the outback.
Swagman: Vagabond, rural tramp.
Swimmers: Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria).
Take away food: Take-out food. **
Tall poppies: Achievers, often a disparaging term. **
Tariff: Rate.
Tea: evening meal.
Tee up: Organise or arrange. ** 'tee up a time'
Telly: The television.
Thingo: Thing, whatchamacallit, whomajigger, hooza meebob, doo velacki, thingamajig.
This arvo: This afternoon. **
Thongs: Rubber sandals, flip-flops
Tinny: Can of beer. Also a small aluminium fishing dinghy (Northern Territory).
Togs: Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria).
Too right!: Absolutely! **
True blue: Dinkum (a bit archaic)
Tucker: Food. Australian schools call their canteens a 'tuckshop' (slightly archaic)
Twit: Fool or idiot. **
Two-up: Traditional Australian heads/tails gambling game, played with 2 coins.
Tyre: Australian and British spelling of 'tire'.
Underdaks: Underwear.
Uni: University. **
Ute: Utility truck or vehicle. **
Vee-dub: Volkswagon car. **
Vegemite: Popular vegetable extract used as sandwich spread.
Waffle: Nonsense. **
Wag: To skip school or work. **
Walkabout: Lengthy walk away from it all. **
Wanker: Similar to bastard. Someone pretentious. 'It's a wank', 'don't be such a wanker', 'wankage' **
Weatherboard: Wooden house.
Wharfie: Dockworker.
Whinge: Complain and carry on unnecessarily. **
Willy-nilly: Small dust twister. Also, without thought.
Windscreen: The windshield of a car
Wobbly: Disturbing, unpredictable behaviour, as in 'throw a wobbly' or 'chuch a wobbley' **
Woomera: Stick used by Aborigines to throw spears.
Yabbie: Small freshwater crayfish.
Yahoo: Noisy and unruly person.
Yahooing: Boisterous behaviour.
Yakka, yakker: Hard work, an Aboriginal term
Yank: American.
Yobbo: Uncouth, aggressive person. **
Yonks: Ages, a long time. **
Youse: Plural of you (by the grammatically challenged).
Zebra crossing: Broad-striped pedestrian roadway crossing.
Zed: Australian and British pronunciation of 'Z'.
A quintessentially Aussie beer ad
Beer ads in Australia are among the best ads on television .... strangely enough. Australia is famous for its Foster's beer - which pretty much all Australians hate. On the months leading up to the Sydney Olympics of 2000, Foster's produced a clone of the Molson Canadian I am Canadian advertisment, which featured heavily on television. It went like this:
I don't have a kangaroo for a pet
I don't wrestle with crocodiles
And I don't wear a cork hat
I fight wars
But never start them
I would rather make peace
I can wear my country's flag with pride
I am a rock
I am the ocean
I am the island continent
My neighbours are the Smiths, the Wilsons, the Santerellis, the De Costis, the Wongs and the Jagamarras
I play football without a helmet
I like beetroot on my hamburger
I ride in the front seat of the taxi
I believe it's a prawn not a shrimp
I believe the world is round
And down under is on top
I believe Australia is the best address on Earth]
And Australians brew the best beer.
Apparently a lot of Australians felt that this was not an accurate reflection of the hearts and minds of average Australians, and the following was proposed as an alternative:
I ate my pet kangaroo
I am shit scared of crocodiles
And I wear a baseball cap
I love Star Wars
And the Wookie is my favourite
I would rather get drunk
And watch someone else carry the country's flag with pride
I like to rock
To Billy Ocean
I am blind to my incompetence
My neighbours are the Smiths, the Wilsons, the Wogs, the Lebbos, the Chinks and the Abos
I watch football with a tinnie
I take the beetroot off my hamburger
And throw Maccas' pickles on windows
I do runners from taxis
I believe the world is flat
And Australia is fucking miles away from anywhere
I believe Australia is the best address on earth
And Australians brew the best beer
And that's why we never touch Fosters.
We export that shit.
Taken from www.sturmsoft.com/Writing/Old_ephemerides/20010715.htm , but in the public domain
*giggle*
I almost broke the LJ spell-check with this Australianisms post .... it could barely cope ;)
Word of the Day
lipogram (LIP-uh-gram) noun
A piece of writing that avoids one or more letters of the alphabet. From Greek lipo- (lacking) + gram (something written).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=lipogram
In spite of what it sounds like, a lipogram is not a message with a kiss. Lipogram is a work written with a constraint.
Imagine you've just started your great epic novel and one of the keys on your keyboard is broken. It would be trivial to manage without a Q, X, or Z, but writing without a single E -- ah, that'd be some challenge. If it sounds undoable, consider that whole books have been written without an E, the most used letter in the English language. Without an E, one has to give up some of the most common pronouns such as he, she, we, me, and so on. What's more, even the article "the" is barred.
Coming back to books written without Es (I'm sure writing them is not something everyone can do with ease), Ernest Vincent Wright's 1939 novel Gadsby is written without the second vowel. One of the best known E-less works is Georges Perec's lipogrammatic French novel, La Disparition (The Disappearance). Its plot is full of wordplay, puzzles, and other word-fun. For example, a character is missing eggs, or is unable to remember his name because it needs E in the spelling.
Though it may be hard to believe considering the restriction under which it is written, the novel is said to be quite engrossing. Apparently, many reviewers were not even aware that a special constraint was used in writing it. After writing the novel, Perec faced a protest from the A, I, O, and U keys on his keyboard that they had to do all the work and E was leading an e'sy life. So Perec had no choice but to write a short work called Les Revenentes, where he put to work all those idle Es: the only vowel used was E.
If that doesn't sound incredible enough, here is more. La Disparition has been translated into English as "A Void" by Gilbert Adair. Of course, the translation also doesn't have any E in it. In case you have not already noticed, both the phrases "La Disparition" and "A Void" have only vowels A, I, and O in them, same as in the word "lipogram". And Void's protagonist is named Anton Vowl.
One can write numbers from zero, one, two,... onwards, and not use the A key on the keyboard until reaching thousand. As for the literary merit of that composition, I'm not very certain.
.....-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"Go on, r*ad my lipogram!"
.....Rod*rick Nord*ll; What's Missing From This Story?; The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Oct 31, 2002.
PS: I'd like to add that Microsoft is evil. When my computer crashes and I don't need whatever was in Word at the time of the crash, it always very helpfully saves one or two copies. Today my computer crashed with a friend's English essay I was helping to correct. I thought: "Oh well never mind, it will be 'recovered' by Word for me.
I loaded up the computer, stared expectantly at a very nice blank screen. Fortunately his essay wasn't long so I can type it again! Evil I tell you. Pure evil!