Funny old world

AUSTRALIA is such a laid back sort of place. It holds no reserve and if it's residents have something to say, they just spit it right out. The most used phrases are "naa waarrries" and "naa drama" and my youngest son is acquiring quite the Aussie accent.

He doesn't have 'lettuce' anymore - it's 'lerris' - and when he falls off his bike and cuts his knees, it's a Band Aid he asks for not a plaster. 'No' is now 'noy' and yes is 'yiii' .... takes some getting used to.

At the weekend, we met an English couple who moved out here seven years ago.
Although she has kept a tight grip on her UK accent, he on the other hand, sounds like he's a native through and through.

He was telling us he's from south of the Watford Gap and that explains how he's lost his reserved Britishness. Apparently, those from up north don't generally lose the tones of their mother tongue but after listening to number two son these days, I beg to differ.

The TV and radio stations here also just say it as it is. I sat in the car the other night in disbelief at what was emanating from its speakers. It was 6.10pm on a weekday night and the two show presenters had a live caller on the phone-in line.

I won't go into any great detail but let's just say that the conversation between the three over the subject of smoking got a little heated.
In the 10 minutes I was tuned in for, there were three quite strong references of one telling the other "where to go" if you catch my drift and although I pride myself on my broad-mindedness, I find this sort of dialect offensive if there are impressionable youngsters around.

Then I'd only just got the boys off to bed, so it wasn't all that late, when on the TV came an advert from the ... wait for it ... "Bedroom Police"!
In this little piece of tongue in cheek advertising, a team of uniformed officers storm into a bedroom and ask the guy ... "Do you know how fast you were going Sir?" and proceed to rectify his 'speeding problem' with the necessary product.

You just have to laugh...