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Words/things I learned watching BBAU from the US
- Thread starter Badlands
- Start date
Allgood
Active Member
I have lived in 3 Aus states and travelled to all but NT and I never thought there was an accent difference between any of them. I just think all country folk have a thick string accent and city folk have a softer one. Anyway next time I am interstate I'll pay more attention.
I will say though if there is one then it is nothing like the USA. I am pretty good at picking accents from the states, and there is no way I could pick what city an Aussie was from by their accent.
I will say though if there is one then it is nothing like the USA. I am pretty good at picking accents from the states, and there is no way I could pick what city an Aussie was from by their accent.
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SenoritaB
Guest
I live in Austin! Yes, Texas is so big that we have different accents depending on what part of the state you live in. I used to live in El Paso, so I had a slight Tex-Mex accent, but ever since I moved to Austin, I slowly developed a soft Texan drawl. I love how the Aussies talk though. Since watching BBAU my husband I regularly use the word "whinge" because it sounds more fitting to its meaning than the American word "whine." I also like the expressions Aussies use like "...doing my head in" and "can't be bothered."
I've been watching BBAU 2012 as well as this season and some of the expressions are different. Stacy uses "devo" a lot to mean "devastated," is that correct? She also often says things are "drainers" whereas Americans might use "downers." I also love that when they talk about someone getting sexy or hot and bothered, they say "fluffing my feathers."
Connoisseur
Well-Known Member
I personally don't think there's a hell lot of difference in accents between states. The biggest, and hopefully Queenslanders won't take this the wrong way, deviation from the General accent comes from Queenslanders as they're predominantly a more regional/bush/country State and the average Queenslander tends to have a more 'ocker' (think Paul Hogan, Stever Irwin who was from Queensland in fact, etc...) tinge in their accent. In other the words the stereotypical accent foreigners assume every Australian has.
I think the biggest difference in Australian accents comes more from the educational background of the individual and/or of their parents family and friends rather than the area they were born in. The more educated a person is the less likely a person is to speak with a stereotypical 'ocker' accent. Although I've come across a few white collar professionals speaking with a thick ocker accent, they're few and far between.
The housemates that best represent the average (and most common) General Australian accent would have to be Tully, Jazz, Nathan, Justynn, Madeleine, Xavier, Rohan and Drew. The closest to the ocker one would have to be Caleb and not far behind him Matt and Ed.
I think the biggest difference in Australian accents comes more from the educational background of the individual and/or of their parents family and friends rather than the area they were born in. The more educated a person is the less likely a person is to speak with a stereotypical 'ocker' accent. Although I've come across a few white collar professionals speaking with a thick ocker accent, they're few and far between.
The housemates that best represent the average (and most common) General Australian accent would have to be Tully, Jazz, Nathan, Justynn, Madeleine, Xavier, Rohan and Drew. The closest to the ocker one would have to be Caleb and not far behind him Matt and Ed.
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Allgood
Active Member
Yup, 100% agreed.
Mr Turkey
Active Member
Devo is correct. Drainer is new to me, only heard it on BB last year.
My favourite word is Strewth. Its like a more serious Crikey. Can be pronounced Strrrr - OOth for more effect.
Yep like you said there is very little regional differences in the Australian accent compared to say the UK where you can drive an for an hour a find someone with a completely different accent. Rather Australia's three main accent categories (broad, general and cultivated) are due to sociocultural/socio-economic factors and the only noticeable variations between states is vocabulary.
pjac
Active Member
Australian biscuits are cookies ...
Amercian biscuits you use to soak up gravy?
My online American friends used to wonder wth would we have choccie bikkies (chocolate biscuits) but when we showed them what a Tim Tam looked like they realised ohhhhh you mean chocolate cookies!!
The other big one I got caught on was calling a US friend a ratbag ... (mischievous person or trouble maker) He really took offence ... and it took some major explaining to tell him calling a friend a total ratbag was NOT like calling them a douchebag at all!! That depending on context it can be good or not so good (that car salesman is a total ratbag - don't buy a car off him!)
I love South'n accents ... also Montana accents and the "Yes Ma'am" and "Hi Hon!" and love a New Jersey (Joysie!) accent
What are American biscuits? .... often mentioned in books - usually for breakfast
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SenoritaB
Guest
American biscuits are not sweet but rather soft and flaky, made mostly out of flour. Most of the time we eat them with gravy, but not only for breakfast. A lot of people like to serve them with a nice dinner, like at Thanksgiving. They are really popular in the South and you can buy them at fried chicken fast food chains like KFC, Church's, Popeyes, etc.
pjac
Active Member
So like a small dinner roll?
Badlands
Member
Yes, but generally flakier. They're pretty similar to scones.
IMHO, most of them taste like crap. I don't think I've had one in at least a decade. However, I live in the north, while biscuits are far more popular in the south.
watermellie
New Member
Hard to tell without hearing. I don't think David Letterman has much of a southern style accent at all (I think he's from Indiana). But The Closer is supposed to be a Georgia accent... ? maybe?
No love for the Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit? Only yummy thing Mcdonalds sells imo...
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Badlands
Member
Yes; Kyra Sedgwick's accent in the Closer was meant to be a Georgia accent. Kyra actually grew up in New York, though, so she has no strong accent in real life.
David Letterman is from Northern Indiana. Those of us in this part of the midwest tend to think we have no accent at all.
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kxk
SAPIOSEXUAL
As usual, Consuela has summed things up nicely. And we used to always try to imitate posh British, newsreaders, politicians etc.
Until about.....???? 60s, 70s???Paul Hogan made it fashionable to be more Aussie.
Are American biscuits the same as scones or dumplings - dumplings are like scone mix but usually cooked on top of a stew.
UK Yorkshire Pudding had me stumped for ages, I couldn't find out how it was meant to look or taste - had to get a lesson from a Brit.
American cultural thing that has always interested me are different games, a card game called P-knuckle, is in so many old sitcoms, what is that?
Badlands
Member
kxk
SAPIOSEXUAL
Thanks, that spelling looks like Pinocchio almost. Is it a good game? It made me think of peanuts and as a kid I imagined peanuts were somehow involved.
Oh and also as a kid watching US movies/TV, we wanted those soda fountain places that seemed to be in every neighbourhood for teenagers to hang out at.
Do they really exist? did they once?
Oh and also as a kid watching US movies/TV, we wanted those soda fountain places that seemed to be in every neighbourhood for teenagers to hang out at.
Do they really exist? did they once?
starry
Well-Known Member
They seem to have quite a few British shows on their main channels, that's probably not the case in America. However Australian shows on main British channels probably aren't so evident, so some words like bogan aren't well known outside Australia. Maybe Kiwis are familiar with these more unique words though if Australian shows are seen more there.