Language Matters

As we approach the six week mark of our adventure down under, I find myself paying closer attention to specific words, phrases, and pronunciation that differ in Australian English compared to how we speak in the U.S.  One knows ahead of time, of course, that at the very least the accent will be different, but in the beginning everything is so new and overwhelming that it is difficult to do more than acknowledge the fact, and endure the constant need to repeat and ask for clarification.

Last night, after a family outing to Trampoline, I decided that the time had come to begin my language post.  I had requested a "sample" of the peanut nutter flavor only to watch the employee begin to fill the cup with the peanut flavored ice cream.  I repeated the word sample with an accompanying gesture, and with the help of a second employee, learnt that I should have asked for a "taste."  Now I know for the future.  Happily they didn't insist that I take the peanut nutter that had been dished up for me, and I ended up with passion fruit and yoghurt, which is, by the way, possibly the best ice cream I have ever eaten.  It alone may well be worth the hideous twenty-one odd hours of flying it takes to travel from Pittsburgh to Melbourne.

While I do have a very handy, lengthy index containing Australian words and their American counterparts, I have begun to compile my own list of words and phrases we have personally come across.  Yesterday we were invited to afternoon tea at the manse of our local Presbyterian church. When I asked the daughter, who is Katie's age, when she celebrates her birthday, she replied, "The 26th of the 12th."   I knew ahead of time that in Australia the position of the month and the day are switched, and I have no problem with it in writing, but have found it impossible so far to make the adjustment in speech.  Perhaps it is because my brain is already taxed to its limit when trying to remember a particular date in the first place, especially the dates of my children's birthdays, but I have so far failed to say dates properly.  For now I am sticking with saying the name of the given month so there is no possibility of being misunderstood.  A date like "the 5th of the 4th" is particularly difficult for us to decode in speech.

Some of the more familiar Aussie phrases have been the hardest for me to remember to use, probably because they are part of our automatic speech.  I realize immediately after saying "that's okay" that I should have used "that's all right." We do hear "g'day, mate," frequently, although I have never been directly addressed as mate (I've been called "lovey" a few times).  "Good on 'ya" is a common way to express "good job."  I have also heard "well done" and "spot on."  When people want to know where we live, they ask, "Where are you staying?" which still throws me off.  Staying seems temporary to me.

Australians seem to have a special affinity for abbreviations.  In the sign above you can see the word "footy," short for Australian Rules Football (which is certainly long enough to merit an abbreviation in any country).  More on our first footy match in a future post; for now I will stick with other abbreviations. Others we have encountered include barbie (for barbecue), doco (documentary), brekky (breakfast), fabo (fabulous), preso (presentation), chook (chicken), uni (university), Maccas (McDonalds), bickies (biscuits), arvo (afternoon), kindy (kindergarten, which is preschool here), and chasie (a form of tag our children were invited to play on Saturday).  Colleagues at work frequently have nicknames formed from their surnames:  Ross works with a Jonesie (Jones) and a Gibo (Gibson). No doubt there are dozens more.

Other expressions maintain the theme of a more relaxed and laid back approach to life.  On a cold and windy day, it is important to "rug up."  School children "wag out" when they don't attend, and the word "heaps" is ubiquitous.  Collision centers are called "Smash Repairs."  People are always "popping" in and out of places.  "Full on" is used in the same way as "over the top," in the U.S., and is an improvement on that phrase I think.  A "spanner in the works" means that there is an obstruction of some sort, and if someone "handballs" something to you, they have passed off a problem onto your shoulders.

Curiously enough given the informality of conversational speech, "organize" is used constantly.  Venues are organized, dates are organized, times can be organized, meetings are organized as well as any type of event imaginable.  In addition, "bookings" rather than reservations are made for everything as well.  One must remember to book tables and movie tickets ahead of time.  When we visited the Titanic Exhibition, I spent twenty-five minutes on the phone completing our booking.

It is well past time for our younger children to be snuggled into their doonas (an expression we found in a children's book from the library).  In the story, Timmy and his stuffed friend Eight, an octopus, do many things together, including going off to kindy, walking through the bush, and wading around the roots of mangrove trees. By the end of the story Timmy is tucked into his bed, always the perfect ending to a story for young children.

Comments

[Shanda]

Very interesting Christie!

[janetjames]

These words seem so familiar to us as we reminisce over the visit of our Australian friends, Loris and Brian, who came to visit us a few years ago. I can just hear them saying the very same things - except that I can hardly understand a word they say due to their "accent"! It will be cute next tme we see the kids to hear their Aussie language.

Good post Christie.

[OldSchool Geek]

Hi Christie, I love reading your blog and seeing what you all think of our fair city :) Must admit though I've never used 'tasting', I've always used 'sample' and never had a problem so that's new to me too!

"postie" is another abbreviation you'll probably come across :)

"handball" is taken from footy (a handball is when one player passes the ball to another by hand).

OSG from the Rockpool

[Jackie T]

Wow! You have learned so much in such a short time. I have been with Australian hubby for 16 years and lived in Melbourne for more than 4 years (in two installments) and you explained some phrases that I have never figured out.

I will add, if you don't mind, two terms (which are not idiomatic, but rather practical) that I have fairly recently learned. A 'spanner' is what I would call a wrench, which makes what I call a monkey wrench just a wrench. And the small garden shears that I might use to clip flowers or rosebushes is called 'secatours".

Today I had a discussion with ds3 over whether he should wear his runners or his sneakers--of course we were talking about the same thing!

Thanks for your great blog!
Jackie T (from TRP)