Do's and Don't of Australian Lingo

Having been in Australia just over 3 weeks I can say that I do really like it here very much. It’s funny when I traveled through Southeast Asia there really were times of culture shock. However here in Australia things are not really all that fundamentally different than back in the U.S. Yes they drive on the other side of the street, what really got me was they also walk on the other side of the side walk and escalators are on the opposite side too, which has lead me into on coming pedestrian traffic on several occasions. I also forget to look in the correct direction when crossing the street which has almost gotten me run over. They do talk funny over here, much more English than American, but they are an English colony after all. Basically this post is about the differences in speech compared to back home, some I knew before coming over and some I had no clue about upon arrival.

First off you don’t figure something out you, “sort it out” such as lets sort out this situation. Australians reckon a lot as well, which is a bit of a taste of America however they use it a lot and it sometimes feels like I’m in Texas just with even funnier accents. You don’t clean up you “tidy up” and I know we use tidy in the states but they use it as a constant substitute for clean, you “tidy up” the house, a car is listed in the paper as being “tidy in and out”. You do things “straight away” here not right away. You don’t ask how are you doing, instead you ask “How are you going” some times with a “mate” thrown in at the end. The first time I was asked how I was going was on the train and I miss understood it for where are you going and my response went something like “Perth, just like everyone on the train”. They take a “Holiday” where as we go on vacation. You don’t go hiking you go for a bush walk. The letter H is actually pronounced “Haych”. Oh and all of you out there who thought the last letter of the alphabet was Z it is not, it is actually pronounced “Zed” if you’re an Australian, Canadian or from the U.K.

They have weird and off the wall names for food here as well, most of which I don’t understand in the least . They aren’t sugar, salt or pepper Packets, here they are “sachets”. Snap, Crackle and Pop don’t pimp out Rice Krispies over here they sell “Rice Bubbles”. You can’t find a red or green bell pepper over here they are called Capsicums. Although you can buy raisins most people know them as Sultanas they are even sold side by side and at the same price as raisins. If your child doesn’t like what you have prepared for dinner and decides to whine about it you would in fact tell him not to “grizzle” about it. As I said in a previous post Burger King is “Hungary Jack’s”. On T.V commercials McDonald’s is not Mcky D’s like we know, it is nicknamed “Macker’s” over here. Yes vegemite is as disgusting if not more than what you have heard, it taste like seaweed and a pound of salt blended together, or perhaps earwax, but I have never tasted earwax. When I was done trying vegemite I couldn’t throw it in the trash because over here it goes in the “Bin”.

They like nicknames for things over here as well, most things are not very creatively nicknamed they basically just put an “ey” or “ies” at the end of words. Your shades (sunglasses) would be your “sunnies” your board shorts are your “boardies”, your rash guard is your “Rashey” You don’t refer to bikers (motorcyclists) as such instead they are “Bikies”. There are a thousand more that I just can’t think of at the moment or haven’t had the fortune to learn yet, As I learn’em I will share them with you all (all y’all) they don’t use Y’all here either.

The next is a paragraph of animal related randomness as I am not sure I could do a whole post on any one of these topics.

They have amazing wildlife over here, especially when it comes to birds. They have birds of all shapes, sizes and colors; amazing colors combinations I have never seen. My least favorite bird is what I am told is a magpie they look like crows and are to me the most annoying sounding bird I have ever had the displeasure of hearing. When it is sitting on a limb it makes sounds like a sick cat, or a crying child which ever is more annoying to you, for me it is the sick cat noise, when it takes off to fly it makes a noise like a goat throwing up… eeehhhheehhhhwwwaaaahhhh. Kangaroos are all over the place out here which is really cool when you are on a drive or out hiking and you run across them, they are similar to deer and just like deer whined up dead on the road. It turns out those cute little Koala Bears (which are marsupials not bears) sit in trees all day not because they are cute and lazy they are in fact( in my mind) malnourished, the leaves they eat do not have much nutrition and they sleep all day to conserve their energy (which I guess they need to eat more leaves).

I know this sounded like me griping about a lot of things but in all honesty I think all those things make for a truly unique Australian experience and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Thanks for reading, my next post will probably be me updating everyone on what I have been up to over here. And as always please check out the flickr page with the photos on them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/28522437@N05/