The North South Divide

I received a gift not long after we arrived in Australia and in preparation for our forthcoming house move, I unearthed it in a kitchen drawer clear out.

My 'Australian Slang Dictionary for All International Visitors' brought many a smile and guffaw to me when I was first given it and even now, way past being an "international visitor", I continue to have my favourites.

Although I'm trying to get my slang upto scratch, there's just something really Pommy about me still. Some of the words used here just don't go with a UK accent. When I'm pleased about something, I'll try and get with it and say 'awesome' and when I'm in a forgiving mood, I put out the familiar and well-used phrase of 'no worries.'
But I just don't have the twang that carries it off to make it sound bearable. My 'awesome' is 'orsum' not 'aarsam' and my 'no worries' is more 'no wurries' more than the native 'naaaa waarrrries'.

I can't wait to get my Aussie tongue either but I've been told when you're past 30, it's unlikely you ever will. Unlike my seven year old who's getting more like a local every day with his twang and terminology.

A lot of the entries in my Aussie Slang Dictionary are old hat to me. For many years, I've been using the likes of "have a gander" for taking a look, "in the sticks" when referring to remote areas and even "get a wriggle on" which means to hurry up. Lots of the unprintable ones make me smile and some of the more tame one-liners focus on fruit loops (crazy people) and shark biscuits (new surfers).

I'm also finding a difference between the newspaper styles of UK and Oz. Back in Leader-land, a news in brief could go something like...
"EARLIER this week, a drunken man disgraced himself as he went out to stock up on provisions.
Upon arrival at the off-licenced service station, the man with obvious false teeth helped himself to a sausage sandwich after which he became severely ill.
The attending cashier became confused at the man's extremely odd behaviour and after asking for the cash owed, the man fled in the direction of waiting relatives.
This underhanded act caused serious aggravation for the young sales assistant who remained annoyed for the remainder of the day."

If I was working for an Australian newspaper, the same piece would probably ring to the tune of....
"JUST this week, a dude as full as a boot rocked up at the local servo and bottle-o to grab a slab and some moo juice.
A liquid laugh later, the galah showed off his graveyard chompers as he sunk them into a snag sango.
Like a pickpocket at a nudist camp, the sheila on duty asked him for the moolah but the hoon took off with a lead foot towards his rellies.
This shonky act yanked the chain of the sales assistant who stacked on a big old bluey for the rest of the arvo."

Funny as.