Australians wear thongs on their feet!
Posted by Jesse Karjalainen on September 02, 2010
Our first guest blog in Australian English month comes from Jesse Karjalainen about the similarities and differences between Australian and British and American English. Australian Jesse Karjalainen lives in the UK and works as a writer and editor. He also edits the online English-usage website www.whichenglish.com.
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The Australian accent is famous the world over but, when it comes to the nuts and bolts of Australian English, not everyone is aware of how, exactly, it is different from other forms of English. The best way to explain this is to answer the question: how is it similar?
It is a common assumption to think that Australian English is basically British English but with a deeper tan and a more easy-going attitude. Yes and no. When it comes to spelling, then yes, Australian and British English are almost identical. Apart from the odd word, both forms match closely. We have a Labor Party but write labour everywhere else. A lot of people write color even if, traditionally, it is colour, while it is not unusual to see jail spelt gaol in the newspaper. However, the similarities end when it comes to the words we use.
Australian vocabulary is in many ways closer to American English. They share many words that are most definitely not used in the UK, such as eggplant (UK aubergine), zucchini (UK courgettes) and pants (UK trousers). Australians, too, are happy to use seemingly American words like critter, truck and gotten, which raise eyebrows in Britain. Yet Australians and Brits use words and meanings not used in the US: rubber (US eraser), jumper (US sweater) and chemist (US drug store).
Where Australian English stands alone in the world is in its rich vernacular. These are the everyday words, meanings and expressions that exist nowhere else in the English-speaking world. One of my favourites is chook, for chicken.
Many Australian expressions are completely baffling to visitors. They include: cark it (die), give it a burl (make an attempt), grouse (fantastic), ripper (great), hit the turps (get drunk), get the flick (get dumped), icy pole (ice lolly), lollies (sweets) and yewy (U-turn). We don’t say Hello, we say G’day. We don’t say Cheers!, we say Ta! Footie is never football. We don’t walk on the pavement or the sidewalk, but the footpath. We wear cozzies and togs, not swimsuits, and gumboots, not rubber boots.
Sometimes things are a little upside down: the first floor in Australia is the ground floor in the UK; the second floor in Australia is the first floor in the UK. Everyone in Australia is called mate, even when you don’t like someone. And, weirdest of all, Australians wear thongs on their feet! You might know them as flip-flops.
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Posted by Rich on 2nd September, 2010
My first teacher of English here in Argentina was an Australian, Mrs. Lucy Colvin Martin, way back in the ‘fifties. I remember it was easier for me to understand American speakers. She pronounced the word “either” or “neither” with the sound /i:/ not /ai/ like in British English.
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Posted by Susan on 3rd September, 2010
Although I had totally forgotten about it until I read this post, in my childhood (outside New York City, in the 1960s), we called flipflops “thongs.” Hmmmm….
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Posted by Barbara on 6th September, 2010
Yes, I also grew up in St Louis saying thongs for flip-flops of today. Thong simply got a new meaning in the lingerie department…….much later.
I teach a course on English-speaking countries, and I often tell students that Australia is a British-based country with American orientation (often due to the size of the country, history, attitude, etc).
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Posted by Crystal on 7th September, 2010
Isn’t “cark it” included in Brit Eng as well?
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Posted by Jodie Martin on 10th September, 2010
Um… I think you’ve got mixed up about the ground floor/first floor thing. In Australia we walk in on the ground floor, go upstairs to the first floor and so on.
Apart from the building at uni where my office is where you go in on the fourth floor but that’s a whole ‘nother mulit-leveled storey. (pardon the pun – I couldn’t resist)
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Posted by Louise Ward on 15th September, 2010
I agree with Jodie – ground floor, then 1st, 2nd etc – it’s the Americans who don’t use ground floor as I understand it. Also, swimsuits are called bathers here in Western Australia.
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Posted by Jodie Martin on 15th September, 2010
Yep – bathers in South Australia too!
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Posted by Ingrid on 23rd November, 2010
… and a nightie to bed!
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Posted by If Kony lived in Broome (or blogosphere, I dare you!) | Travel tales, on 4th May, 2012
[...] just gonna be you and old cynical me. Good luck with throwing your sabots – or should I say thongs – into the clockwork of industry [...]
