Talk:Australian English phrasebook
From Wikitravel
[edit] is this a joke?
It certainly sounds like it has been ripped from a joke site.
[edit] Foreign?
These aren't all strictly Aussie. "Take the piss" is standard British, for example, but unfamiliar enough to Yanks that I suppose it belongs here. Two I have questions about:
- Bloody Hell - OK, Americans don't say this, but I picked it up as a teenager and I've never had anyone here in the States fail to understand what I meant by it. Do we need to translate the obvious?
- You're pulling my leg - This is Australian? You gotta be pulling my leg. This expression is common in America. Is this one that the Brits won't understand?
- Todd VerBeek 16:22, 1 June 2006 (EDT)
British people understand "pulling my leg", we had it before Americans and Aussies. In my end of the country we tend to say "are ye kiddin uz or summit?" something similar anyway "lol". I reckon this page should be forwarded for deletion.
Most of these phrases aren't seen outside of Paul Hogan movies and Home and Away. I'm Australian and have traveled extensively in the country and have yet to hear anyone say the following in a real life setting: -
Strayan (unless mocking the 'bogan' pronounciation in an exaggerated way) The sticks - heard it quite a bit in the US and from Americans overseas, but not here. Struth! - A favourite of a Home and Away character (although he was quite old the last time I viewed the show - perhaps he is dead now?), in any case, it's "strewth", not struth. Where's the dunny/boghole? ( ?) - try that outside, say, a mining camp, and you're likely to be given rude looks.
This phrasebook mostly seems a commentary on the working class side of Australian society; while it could be a bit funny in a different context, I don't think it has a place here. In addition, as a lot of these phrases are used by a certain sector of Australian society when mocking their less educated countryman (think back to members of the American entertainment industry lambasting the "rednecks" who voted for Bush), making use of them in the wrong situation may be interpreted as an insult and a challenge rather than a genuine attempt to speak like the locals. - KM
[edit] Fixed
I'm sure there's a thesis or two dedicated to the why "mate" cuts through the class divide to unite all Australians in something or other yet must never be used by outsiders, but this seems to suffice. Removed the joke edits.
