Talking with Australians - Part III

Part of the fun of this adventure has been learning, adopting, adapting and at times simply scratching our heads with respect to the "new" culture that surrounds us. In many ways, everything seems the same. By that I mean the language - the great connector - presents no speakable barrier in terms of getting on the tram, learning math, or ordering a skinny latte.

And yet there are terms and names and things that are different enough to keep us on our toes, teach us, and at times simply make us giggle.

Take names for example. There are by all accounts some oddly named people in Oz. No doubt Apple or Rain are indeed strange, but we have come across a Nector, a newborn named Herbert, a girl named Fabreas, and the best by far - a boy in Colin's class named, Ya Ya. Place names are also taking some time to get used to though they are greatly influenced by the indigenous peoples and the aboriginal language so in a sense they are no more different or strange in this land as Toronto, Mississauga, or Ottawa might be at home. Still, Warrnambool and Maribynong remain a mouthful.

I have tried to track a few of the new terms we are also learning in past blogs and yet the list continues to grow. The other day we had a silly giggle with the kids about "fair dinkum" - you can only imagine. In the Australian Olympic coverage the commentators kept saying that it was an athlete's Olympic debut (pronounced duhboo) which was also new for us. I recently learned that an Aussie equivalent to a pint of beer was a "pot" - though I wasn't leaning over the bar ordering when I learned it - honest! And on the same subject, I also learned that if you "shout drinks" you are buying a round - I wasn't at the pub for that one either.

Food is another area that has provided us with a whole new world of language and learning. We now buy rashers of bacon, biscuits not cookies, and now know that a long black is almost too much caffeine! The area of sweets is a complete revelation as the number of cake and sweet stores is 10 times the number of Tim Hortons! Lamingtons and Yo Yos are now the language of conversation with our local baristas and there is a constant negotiation with the kids about whether not they will be departing with a fairy bun or not. Most recently, I was informed of the Tim Tam. These little chocolate concoctions are in a word - evil. They may singlehandedly bankrupt any attempt to lose weight, ever.

Linton has an interesting theory that Australians place more emphasis on the action or verbs versus the thing or nouns. A few examples of this are a hamburger restaurant named Grill'd and the fact that they call insurance - cover. That also seems to translate into some of the things the athletes are saying about the Olympics, often making comments more about the process of training and competing versus the achievement of winning a medal. Could that be a state secret we might smuggle back to our Canuck squad?

It will undoubtedly be some time before we rhyme off a sentence like, "No worries dear, I've put the torches and the boys' jumpers in the boot but before we go up the lift we should probably buy a few frothies for the barbie." However, there is a simple pleasure in the daily intake and exploration of this new-to-us lingo and I think it may be a sad day when it all seems rather normal or familiar.