Words/things I learned watching BBAU from the US

[oddjob]

I think the clothesline is under threat here, simply because the back yard is under threat. More and more people living in apartments and townhouses. The traditional quarter acre family block is under siege since state governments decided high density living was more economic.

In the area where my dad first bought a new house in the 1950s virtually every house that gets sold now gets knocked down to be replaced with 2 or 3 townhouses. No clotheslines there anymore.

 

[San Antonio]

In the US, "well done" is one of the choices of how you would like your steak cooked.

 

[watermellie]

In the US, "well done" is one of the choices of how you would like your steak cooked.

It's the tough choice....

 

[Chump]

I think the clothesline is under threat here, simply because the back yard is under threat. More and more people living in apartments and townhouses. The traditional quarter acre family block is under siege since state governments decided high density living was more economic.

In the area where my dad first bought a new house in the 1950s virtually every house that gets sold now gets knocked down to be replaced with 2 or 3 townhouses. No clotheslines there anymore.

We took the clothes line away in the backyard of our block so we could use the grass and garden area better. On.y a small space

 

[Chump]

The clothesline thing is interesting.

It is obviously a cultural thing - Australians love clotheslines! Space and good weather encourages that attitude. Every house I've ever lived in has had a clothes dryer, and all suburban houses have a clothesline. (As per my name I'm in Melbourne, not the hottest part of Australia but rarely so cold/wet that clothes wont dry.) I think it is safe to say nearly all Australians do own a dryer, but many still use a clothesline too. In one house I lived in my housemates never used the clothesline ever. I prefer to use the sun. My tiny house has no clothesline (few inner city houses/apartment do) so I use a portable rack and a clotheshorse. My habit has always been to pull shirts out of the wash the second it ends and dry them on hangers to reduce wrinkles and save on ironing effort. T shirts hung over a rail of a clotheshorse when dry can be picked up by the fold, folded one more time, then put away. Out of a dryer all the clothes are one messy bundle.

I always use the dryer for all the towels - it is impractical for me to dry them in the sun and they come out scratchy dried that way. T shirts and socks and jocks I prefer to dry in the sun - I might be wrong but I feel the dryer wears them out quicker with the heat and rubbing - that can't help the elastic in clothes?

Naples in Italy is rampant with clothes hung across streets/lanes and on balconies.

I live in Sydney. We don't have a dryer. Just use one clothes rack indoors in spare room (window open when weather allows). I admit it can get a bit hard in winter when things take longer to dry and we end up with stuff hanging all over the apartment.

 

[San Antonio]

Although I've never visited or lived in Australia and only know what you've taught me on this forum, I have lived and visited over 20 countries. The biggest difference? Hygiene. Americans bathe daily and don't wear the same article of clothing twice without washing it in between. I'm sure there are some who don't adhere to those "rules" but I'd say, by and large, most do. (Except male college students who are notorious for having an "only worn twice" pile and rarely washing their sheets.) We change sheets every week and launder duvets every month. I wouldn't dream of using the same towel more than two days in a row or wearing a pair of jeans more than once. My husband is less obsessive about cleanliness and will wear jeans or shorts more than once. His shirts, however, are worn only once. He would use the same towel for three or four days if I didn't take it away to be washed sooner. No doubt women are more fixated on cleanliness but not by much.

This doesn't apply to outerwear like coats, jackets, hoodies or sweaters (jumpers to you) but if they look soiled, off they go to go to the dry cleaners or be hand washed. You simply don't go out in dirty clothes or without a bath.

When we lived in Europe, we were truly shocked by the body odor on trains and in shops. France was the worst but England was a close second. In Germany they don't wash clothes very often. We lived in a 6 story high rise that only had one washer for the whole building. What about Australia?

 

[LovelyCoconuts]

I don't wash my clothes between every wear because it's bad for the clothing, environment & it's unnecessary. I don't generally get messy and I don't smoke so my clothes stay & smell pretty clean. Then again, I work almost everyday (in uniform) & never really wear anything else for more than a few hours.

I learned a new slang word from the BBAU facebook. Spunk meaning hot/sexy. It's slang for something totally different in the states.

 

[kxk]

Although I've never visited or lived in Australia and only know what you've taught me on this forum, I have lived and visited over 20 countries. The biggest difference? Hygiene. Americans bathe daily and don't wear the same article of clothing twice without washing it in between. I'm sure there are some who don't adhere to those "rules" but I'd say, by and large, most do. (Except male college students who are notorious for having an "only worn twice" pile and rarely washing their sheets.) We change sheets every week and launder duvets every month. I wouldn't dream of using the same towel more than two days in a row or wearing a pair of jeans more than once. My husband is less obsessive about cleanliness and will wear jeans or shorts more than once. His shirts, however, are worn only once. He would use the same towel for three or four days if I didn't take it away to be washed sooner. No doubt women are more fixated on cleanliness but not by much.

This doesn't apply to outerwear like coats, jackets, hoodies or sweaters (jumpers to you) but if they look soiled, off they go to go to the dry cleaners or be hand washed. You simply don't go out in dirty clothes or without a bath.

When we lived in Europe, we were truly shocked by the body odor on trains and in shops. France was the worst but England was a close second. In Germany they don't wash clothes very often. We lived in a 6 story high rise that only had one washer for the whole building. What about Australia?

Ooooo, we are clean freaks too, or more than you.
It is quite common to have 2 showers a day in summer.

Australia and Japan use the most detergent/washingpowder/soap etc per capita- any clean it stuff, anyway it's us and Japan in the lead by a long way apparently.
And I remember laughing at my Mum calling from Japan about how lovely the toilets are, she adored Japan and everything about the place and the people, especially the kids.

Edit to add
More than 2 showers possibly, when it is really hot. And if you don't have air con you live in the shower

 

[Tatai]

I've learned that Australia sure does know how to pick a winner ... Best BB series out there!!

 

[DrewwwJoseph]

I've learned that Australia sure does know how to pick a winner ... Best BB series out there!!

THIS sooo much! And that Australians seem like genuinely good people. In comparison, look at the attitude of the "houseguests" on our series (BBUS). Total stark contrast.

But the couple words/phrases my family and I are trying to incorporate into our daily lives:
"Ya reckon.." and the use of "legend" to describe a person.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Ooooo, we are clean freaks too, or more than you.
It is quite common to have 2 showers a day in summer.

Australia and Japan use the most detergent/washingpowder/soap etc per capita- any clean it stuff, anyway it's us and Japan in the lead by a long way apparently.
And I remember laughing at my Mum calling from Japan about how lovely the toilets are, she adored Japan and everything about the place and the people, especially the kids.

Edit to add
More than 2 showers possibly, when it is really hot. And if you don't have air con you live in the shower:)

Last summer I did not have an air con and would shower in the morning with warmish water then during the day would have 5 or more cold showers just to cool off. I had never had to do that before. I had always had an air con of some sort.

This year I've actually used my air con less and started taking cold showers whenever I get over heated.

 

[bleachy_dude]

Ok I didn't have time to read this thread while BB was on but I've just spent the last hour reading and following links and watching videos etc. so fascinating.

And the biggest cattle station in the world (American - ranch?), measured in kilometres and bigger than many countries, bigger than Israel for eg.

If your like me, I used to hate geography, and it took my nerdy ex to point out that world maps are made on a Mercator system.

That means, the southern hemisphere scale is different from the northern hemisphere scale.

Everything below the equator is shrunken scale, everything above the equator is bigger scale - so they can fit all that top heavy shit on a map'.
And since there isn't much down here with us, we get squished.

If you see the real scale, the world looks totally different - Africa is way more enormous, and European countries look more dot like.
And Australia is huge, about the same size as North America.

I did not know about the Mercator system. Thanks for the edumacation.

I like you implied assertion that because it is said in the UK then it must be part of the English language. The truth of the matter is that what constitutes the English language is determined in the US - simply on the numbers. The UK and Australia speak similar dialects of English.

^ My FAVOURITE post!!!!

You're partly right in that I am indeed referring to the 'British' Commonwealth of Nations which dropped the British part of the name in 1949, the organisation however didn't disband. Also you mustn't get too far around the world if you haven't heard of the Commonwealth for many years considering there are 53 member countries and always some sort of event being planned such as CHOGM or the Commonwealth Games.

Do they have Google under that rock of yours? If so you might want to start with a search on 'the world' seeing as you have no idea.

<3

 

[Melbourne003000]

Replying to a few recent points.

Australians generally shower daily and tend to wash clothes frequently (it does tend to be a warm/hot climate place). Jeans might not always be washed every day. Tshirts and business shirts probably always are washed after a single wear.

Melbourne also previously tended towards the quarter acre block and urban sprawl. Really not feasible for such a large city with the traffic congestion and pollution that results. Sections of inner Melbourne are now being filled with high rise apartments.

I love 'ya reckon?' and calling people a 'legend'. 'Ya reckon' works best when said ironically. e.g. "Ed really has genuine feelings for Jade." || 'Ya RECKON?!!!'

Reckon is also used to varying degrees in parts of the UK and the US but has been especially popular in Australia for a long time.

 

[PollyUSA]

Just found another new word. "Pommy"

 

[Connoisseur]

Pommy is slang for an English migrant.

It comes from pomegranate in that many English migrants would turn bright red when they were first exposed to the harsh Australian sun in summer.

 

[prufrock]

I don't wash my clothes between every wear because it's bad for the clothing, environment & it's unnecessary. I don't generally get messy and I don't smoke so my clothes stay & smell pretty clean. Then again, I work almost everyday (in uniform) & never really wear anything else for more than a few hours.

I learned a new slang word from the BBAU facebook. Spunk meaning hot/sexy. It's slang for something totally different in the states.

Spunk has at least three meanings here including the one you allude to.

 

[Melbourne003000]

Spunk has at least three meanings here including the one you allude to.

I love the first episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show:

Lou "You've got spunk. I HATE spunk!!"

 

[psykologist]

So I want to ask our American viewers why do Americans always use their clothes driers?

I was reading Yanksdownunder and noticed alot of or all the Americans on there seem to think it is weird that Australian use cloths lines instead of using a more convenient cloths drier. What is with Americas fascination with them?

I don't have one but growing up I did and my family only used it if it had been raining for a few days and even then we still might of used an inside version of a clothes line. I guess a drier is convenient if you needed something dried quickly. But why waste electricity when the sun can do it for you.

Unfortunately many people have no place to hang out their washing or it is against the community rules. Where I live it is the latter (against rules), but I sneak some out sometimes. I guess it's considered an aesthetics issue. Also, it's true that in some areas hanging washing outside would end up with it getting "dirty" due to smog etc. Here (North Carolina) there are times of year where the pollen (especially pine) is so heavy in the air EVERYTHING turns yellow. It's also quite humid so it can take a while for things to dry (especially in winter).

 

[psykologist]

From what I have gathered, many Americans have much the same attitude to climate change as they do to gun violence, ie my constitutional rights take priority over everything. I was talking to some Americans online once about water restrictions, and they said they would never stand for their government restricting their water use like that.

(Of course, there are probably many Americans who are cognisant of climate change and are prepared to make changes to their lifestyle. When I was in the US, I rarely saw people bring their own shopping bag, but I saw one guy in NYC do it. Also, people in Seattle are really switched on in that way.)

There are many areas in the US that have restrictions on water usage - Arizona & California to name 2. And don't believe for a second that there is not a large number of people in the US who are very environmentally conscious despite the best efforts of media/government to downplay the effects. I am, in fact, quite proud of the fact that my daughter has a degree in marine biology & teaches environmental stewardship to teenagers at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium in California. Bringing your own shopping bags is a newer phenomenon that is becoming much more common now.

 

[psykologist]

2 more terms-

"filthy" = angry?
"meh" - ??? seen this one used in a number of contexts & seems to generally mean "not bothered" - is this right?