True Blue, through
and through.
What does that even mean? An Aussie would know! It
translates simply to; I am 100% Australian. “How is that even possible?
Australians are not blue!” many would ask, “it just makes no sense!” they would
state.
SLANG
Australians are so well
known for their slang. For saying words or phrases that people just have no
chance of understanding, meaningless random rubbish! The use of Australian slang in other
countries and therefore with people of other cultures can be either completely
unrecognisable or strongly misinterpreted as being insults or even swearing
(Menner 1946, p120, as cited in Bartolo, K. 2008 p.7) However, growing
up in Australia, you learn the slang without even realising it.
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| http://idontdomornings.blogspot.com.au/2007_05_01_archive.html |
Ambo
Arvo
Bloody Oath
Blowie
Bogan
Bogged
Cockie
Cubby House
Dero
Dickhead
Fair Dinkum
Off your face
Feral
Flake
Hoon
Lollies
Maccas
Mozzie
Mate
spewing
No worries
Op shop
Outback
http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html/
Arvo
Bloody Oath
Blowie
Bogan
Bogged
Cockie
Cubby House
Dero
Dickhead
Fair Dinkum
Off your face
Feral
Flake
Hoon
Lollies
Maccas
Mozzie
Mate
spewing
No worries
Op shop
Outback
http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html/
I honestly could write a list going on and on! I picked some
of the most common words, how many of you say these words without thinking
about it? Or know the meanings just by reading the words?
Australian culture is full of Slang. Here is a video of Arj Barker, from the Melbourne 2010 comedy festival, discussing slang and how difficult it is for tourists to understand it! It starts at 2mins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0oOluUWczE
Australian culture is full of Slang. Here is a video of Arj Barker, from the Melbourne 2010 comedy festival, discussing slang and how difficult it is for tourists to understand it! It starts at 2mins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0oOluUWczE
People feeling discomfort or having a non-understanding of
the culture around them is regarded as Cultural Dislocation. Cultural Dislocation is how
people handle coming somewhere with a different cultural, economical and/or
political, background to the one we have here, and the slang, isn’t making it
any easier for them to fit in! How would someone fit into this country of ours,
which may already have language barriers! Slang is a major cultural difference
in any country, this can help lead to feeling culturally dislocated. Spreading
the slang through globalisational flows can help reduce that cultural
dislocation.
References
Bartolo, K, 2008, ’Bogan: Polite or not? Cultural Implications of
a term in Australian Slang’ Griffith
Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication, Volume 1,
issue 1, Queensland, p.7
Excellent blog post! Your range of references photo and links substantially backs up what you are saying. The aussie ‘slang’ is a major part of the Australia culture. I cant imagine how difficult it would be for foreigners particularly ones that don’t speak English to try an understand what people are saying when they met Australia’s. As you stated sometimes people don’t even realize that they are using slang- I am definitely one of those people. Within seconds of meeting someone they can be lost with the Australian lingo used ‘g’day mate’ as this saying is a common way to greet friends. It’s interesting that globalisation has decreased feelings of cultural dislocation.
ReplyDeleteHalf of these words I did not even know were actually slang until I read this blog post. I honestly assumed most of these were just part of the English language and everyone knew what they meant. If you were going to expand this blog post, or edit it, I would suggest maybe adding in and discussing the whole idea of names and nick names. You could discuss them in relation to how people shorten or lengthen them, or the ever so popular, adding 'o' to the end of names, or just calling people by their last names. Then compare this to other countries and see what the difference is like, that would be a really interesting read!
ReplyDeleteOverall, this blog post is really interesting, I like how you have incorporated a visual, and a video, which is quite funny by the way, I am tempted to try it!
I enjoy how you have linked the idea of culture and diaspora in relation to something everyone can relate to.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed reading your post, it is distinct from other posts that you've found Australian culture in every-day language, the slang. I wanna be speaking those slangs naturally and unconsciously in the future. Like you said, if an Australian found Australian slang in US for instance, it could reduce his/her cultural dislocation in US. But this may not be easy because there seems to be also own slang in other English-spoken countries, like each of them have different accents. But I really liked your concept, every-day language is big culture. Nice work!
This was a really colourful way to explore the idea of nationalism and national identity! This idea of traditional aussie slang when used does isolate many who may be migrants to Australia and therefore are not aware of the various turns of phrase that have become infused in our daily spoken word. However, I do think that it would be interesting to investigate how many Australians know all of these slang words you have identified, as I think there has been a significant generational shift in traditional Australian language.
ReplyDelete