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Words/things I learned watching BBAU from the US

Badlands said:
It's really only Texans who brag about how big Texas is. It's not even our biggest state (Alaska is nearly as large as Queensland). Of course, with 50 states, compared to Australia's 6, our states are generally much smaller in area. As far as population, both California and Texas each have more people than all of Australia.
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You're right...The population of Australia is tiny compared to almost every-where else....Most people live on the Coastal areas too. The South-East Coast ( Victoria, New South Wales) has the greatest density, while Central Australia has the most sparse population. More people live on the East Coast of OZ, than on the West Coast.

To me, this is part of what makes Australia such a great place to live. We all have plenty of personal space!
It also means we have plenty of room to offer safe asylum to those who are in need of safe haven, and want to start a productive life in a new land....(but that's just my opinion)
 
WeeBaby said:
Hoagies are a regional term. Mostly Northeast of the US. Philadelphia/Jersey to be specific. The only place to get a decent one but I'm sure you can get a half way decent one in New York. Most of the country just call them subs.
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They are also called grinders on the US East Coast.
 
lol i love this thread

i find it interesting that we apparently still speak british English and yet half the time i have no idea what those poms are on about
 
Tillyestelle said:
It also means we have plenty of room to offer safe asylum to those who are in need of safe haven, and want to start a productive life in a new land....(but that's just my opinion)
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what happens if 100,000million asylum seekers want to call Australia home [and trust me there are 100's of millions of people that would want to move to australia.]
There has to be boundaries to some extent. Firstly to preserve the current culture and two to have some control whom enters your country & preserve that personal space you talk about. Australia also is a very very very dry country, it just wouldn't be feasible to have more then 80 million people in the future.
 
ASSASSIN said:
what happens if 100,000million asylum seekers want to call Australia home [and trust me there are 100's of millions of people that would want to move to australia.]
There has to be boundaries to some extent. Firstly to preserve the current culture and two to have some control whom enters your country & preserve that personal space you talk about. Australia also is a very very very dry country, it just wouldn't be feasible to have more then 80 million people in the future.
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agreed... Im all for helping people in need, but not at the risk of Australians loosing their way of life
around here we have unfortunately also been faced with a group of refugees who have never lived without violence and have no idea how to (i blame lack of education before being allowed in) Its become quite a dangerous area to live and many people are moving out :(

Helping out doesn't always help in the long run :(
 
The reason American school starts at a different time goes back to a time when we had many farms and ranches. Many crops were harvested in June, July, & August - and parents needed all their kids at home to help. Hay, for instance, had to be cut, compacted into a bale (rectangle shape) and stored in the barn to feed the animals all winter. So school was over for the summer and started again when harvest was over in the fall.

Fast food biscuits (like Popeyes or McDonalds) are ok but tougher and saltier than what we southerners make at home. I didn't know scones were supposed to be light. The only ones I've ever had were quite heavy compared to our southern biscuits.

I've enjoyed going to the links some of you have posted for Australian language and slang words. What's really fascinating is that we have some of those words in our vocabulary and use them with the same meaning as you do. I suppose that means that instead of being invented by Australians, they originated in England and were brought to Australia by immigrants. We must have had some of those immigrants too. The words I'm listing might not be common in other parts of America, but I've heard them all my life in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas.

These all mean the same:
Ankle-biter, bail (we add "out" sometimes), bogged (we add "down"), boogie board, booze, chuck (we add the prefix "up"), cold one, cranky, cream (to defeat badly), damper, dipstick, dog (unattractive woman), drop kick, duffer, get a pink slip, heaps, knock, rip snorter, stoked, thong, weekend warrior, wuss. We say BYO but add B for bottle instead of G. Donger is shortened to dong. I was surprised to see doovalacky on the slang list. I've always heard it as dooflocky - when you can't think of the name for an object. A thingamajig.

There are probably lots more but these are the ones I've seen in the dictionary links. LOVE this discussion. I'm learning so much about Australia. It's led me to start researching more about the history of the country. Fascinating.
 
jb4493 said:
I can always tell Queensland and South Australia accents. Queenslanders have a drawl and often say "Aye!" a lot, its one of the thicker accents. Then South Australia words like "pool" become "pull" its like they shorten everything.

At least thats been my experience.
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I've noticed that Queenslanders have a very unique way of saying words like 'pool' and 'school' so that they sound more like 'peyool' and 'skyool'.
 
Funny about the Australian woman who said youse. That is a common term in the northeast of America. The first time I heard it was in Philadelphia. It's often paired with another word - guys, as in ,"Hey youse guys, come over here" or "Youse guys are going to get in trouble." People who say it would be considered uneducated.

Another thing I meant to bring up: we would see someone we know and say, "Hi, how are you doing?" I believe in Australia it would be, "Hey Mate, how you going?"
 
ASSASSIN said:
what happens if 100,000million asylum seekers want to call Australia home [and trust me there are 100's of millions of people that would want to move to australia.]
There has to be boundaries to some extent. Firstly to preserve the current culture and two to have some control whom enters your country & preserve that personal space you talk about. Australia also is a very very very dry country, it just wouldn't be feasible to have more then 80 million people in the future.
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We're having problems sustaining the current population as it is. I consider myself slightly left leaning but I just don't understand the attitude of the extreme lefties that believe anyone should be allowed into Australia just 'cos politicians 60 years ago signed up to a treaty (or whatever) that was meant to be a goodwill gesture and not a God given right to foreigners running away from problems that Australia had no hand in creating to enter the country.
 
beardymac said:
I had a biscuit once from Popeyes. The other Aussies I was with hated it, but I didn't mind it. It's got the same texture as a scone, but it was.. a bit salty? Just really lightly though. The closest thing I could equate it to is scone-shaped cornbread with VERY light salting.
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I had to Google Australian scones after reading this. Yes, biscuits are essentially Australian scones. There has been a lot of confusion because American scones are triangular, tougher & usually sweet/fruity.

Like this:
BlueberryScone0000024.jpg
 
I just wish one of the HMs would call someone a dag. That'd throw the "furrenners" for a loop ;)
 
San Antonio said:
Funny about the Australian woman who said youse. That is a common term in the northeast of America. The first time I heard it was in Philadelphia. It's often paired with another word - guys, as in ,"Hey youse guys, come over here" or "Youse guys are going to get in trouble." People who say it would be considered uneducated.

Another thing I meant to bring up: we would see someone we know and say, "Hi, how are you doing?" I believe in Australia it would be, "Hey Mate, how you going?"
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It really depends. For me, everyone is 'mate'. My brother, my neighbour, my bus driver, the guy at the fish & chip shop. "Thanks, mate" just seems to be what you say when someone does you a favour. Generally I'll say "Hey (name), how's things?".
 
kxk said:
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.
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I actually knew that - it was shown on an episode on The West Wing. Very interesting.
 
I am always puzzled with the US term: "Lucked out" when you get lucky. It doesn't make sense to me. Lucked out seems to imply you are shit out of luck. :confused:
 
Youse isn't slang - it's just poor grammar. I cringed when Boog's Mum used it last night
 
:p;):cool:;) This thread is hilarious:o my son is in Scotland ATM lollies are called sweets there, and lollies there are icy poles here:confused:
 
Nang72 said:
Youse isn't slang - it's just poor grammar. I cringed when Boog's Mum used it last night
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You know something about all this doesn't make sense for me with Boog. I thought she was supposed to be from a wealthy family & educated at some prestigious school. I realize wealth & manners/education are not synonymous, but you'd think the majority of people she would associate with in school would at least speak better. I wonder what her history actually is. (Not meaning this to sound pompous or judgemental, but something just doesn't fit with what I've seen about her). I know it doesn't matter, just curious.
 
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