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Words/things I learned watching BBAU from the US

psykologist said:
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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Accent in Australia seems to be more linked to outlook than geography, as most areas have a bogan accent, a posher one and a middle one, I think. She went with the bogan, because it suits her character and humour.
 
3Jane said:
posted by watermellie:

I wonder if they can the difference in our accents. Boston vs. New Jersey ... or Tx vs Alabama ...

Honestly I'd be impressed if they could tell the difference between American and Canadian!
I can't tell the difference between those states watermellie mentioned, but I can always tell a Canadian accent: It sounds just like an American accent except it's not annoying.
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hahaha...so my Brooklyn, NY accent would do your head in
now i use Aussie slang when i feel the need to whinge...the confused looks are priceless
becos i say them in a softer tone, they believe i complement...haha
 
posted by psykologist
What does "pressed" mean


AM_092 said:
As in "they were pressed about what happened in the Presidential Suite?"

Like: kept being asked about it, persistently. Something's that "pressing" is urgent and emphasised.
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or what jade is to ed...sweaty desperation
Jade is pressed to "get at" Ed...wants his love desperately
 
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.

Happens here in regional Victoria too. Same with "youse", which is a slang for '(all of) you'. They're two of my pet peeves. It took a lot of restraint when I dated a girl who had a habit of doing both, occasionally at the same time (eg. "Youse are pretty beachy guys, but.")
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I heard Tahan's mom say youse, when she left the house
and her use reminded me of home....
 
I'm from the US and I agree with you whole heartedly about "lucked out." It makes no sense. I don't use the phrase because of the same reason you gave; it sounds like it should mean the opposite. I'll have to do some research and see where it comes from. Like all the other words in our basic language, they originated somewhere else. We are a country of immigrants just like you are.
 
Oh my gosh, I'm having so much fun learning about the way people pronounce words in other parts of the US. I worked with a guy from Minnesota and could barely understand him. He used words and phrases that were completely foreign to me. For those with absolutely nothing better to do, here's a link to a website about "Minnesota-talk." Once I read the definition, I recognized many of the phrases although they would be spelled differently elsewhere. Minnesota is apparently where "youse" started.

http://www.brownielocks.com/minnesotatalk.html
 
San Antonio said:
Oh my gosh, I'm having so much fun learning about the way people pronounce words in other parts of the US. I worked with a guy from Minnesota and could barely understand him. He used words and phrases that were completely foreign to me. For those with absolutely nothing better to do, here's a link to a website about "Minnesota-talk." Once I read the definition, I recognized many of the phrases although they would be spelled differently elsewhere. Minnesota is apparently where "youse" started.

http://www.brownielocks.com/minnesotatalk.html
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Must be from the original Norwegian. :)
 
WeeBaby said:
Grew up my whole life on the East Coast and never heard anyone on the coast call it a grinder. Maybe that's further up the coast in the New England area.
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My husband calls them grinders. He is from Connecticut. He's a truck driver, and he says he can tell where he is by what they call their subs.
;)
 
San Antonio said:
Oh my gosh, I'm having so much fun learning about the way people pronounce words in other parts of the US. I worked with a guy from Minnesota and could barely understand him. He used words and phrases that were completely foreign to me. For those with absolutely nothing better to do, here's a link to a website about "Minnesota-talk." Once I read the definition, I recognized many of the phrases although they would be spelled differently elsewhere. Minnesota is apparently where "youse" started.

http://www.brownielocks.com/minnesotatalk.html
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That site is meant as a joke, poking fun at the "Fargo" accent. It's an exaggeration on the pronunciation of A Northern Minnesota/North Dakota/Wisconsin accent. Nothing to take serious or actually heard & none of those spellings would be used. I haven't heard of most of those phrases except in jokes. I've rarely ever heard anyone say 'youse'. 'Y'all' is more common, though most people here just say 'guy', as in 'you guys'. That's one of the phrases people up here get corrected in our professional communications courses.

If you're interested, here's a site with slang & phrases actually used in Minnesota:

http://www.citydictionary.com/MN/?wlpg=6

keke said:
Must be from the original Norwegian. :)
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Minnesota was founded by the French, but has a large German, Sweedish, & Norwegian culture. Though we now have large Hispanic, Hmong & Somalian communities.
 
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I've also never heard an American say "cheeky," although I've heard it from Brits (and Craig Ferguson, who is Scottish).
 
Yes, that Minnesota thing is a huge exaggeration. Which reminds me of a word that's regional to Wisconsin, but I've heard is also used in parts of Australia: "bubbler" (water/drinking fountain)

The only parts of the US that use the word "bubbler" are southern and eastern Wisconsin and the Boston, MA area (although they say "bubbla"). Hopefully, some Australians can tell us if they use the word there.

The history of the word is that the Kohler Company of Wisconsin had an early drinking fountain which it named "The Bubbler" and there were a lot of them installed in the area, particularly Milwaukee and Madison. That explains why it's used here in Wisconsin, but I wonder how the word made its way to Australia.
 
kxk said:
And here is a challenge - can you discern differences in the HMs speech/accent, they come from different parts of Australia, and there are differences, some subtle some obvious????
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It's pretty tricky for Aussies to tell half the time by our accents if we're from different places. But there are a few linguistic differences that you can tell them apart from.

For example, people from Melbourne/Victoria tend to pronounce the 'eh' sound different. So whereas everyone else will pronounce Melbourne as "Meh-l-burn', people from VIC will pronounce it as "Mal-burn".

People from SA tend to have shorter or more basic vowels. They aren't as drawn out as much as the other states. Like pronouncing 'girl' as 'gehl'.

People from Western NSW and most of QLD tend to sound more nasal and have more drawn out vowels than the rest of the country.


Here's a site which might show a few differences...
http://clas.mq.edu.au/australian-voices/regional-accents
 
LovelyCoconuts said:
A couple more Australian terms not used in the US, Muppet & an outfit referring to a band.
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I may be older, but I'd not heard "muppet" used in the derogatory sense much at all until last year's BB.

That's Alex's term that he uses when doing Surly's voice.
 
This is embarrassing to admit as I like to think I know geography.

I didn't realize, or had forgotten, just how massive Australia is. Somehow I thought it was closer to 2/3 of the continental US.

I was comparing maps when I figured this out.

Sorry about that Australia. And thank you for educating me.
 
Ludwar,
Thanks for the link to the linguistics website. I especially enjoyed being able to click on the different regions in Australia and actually hear the difference in how they say the same words. Fascinating. One question...there was one part of the country (north central) that wasn't represented. Do you know why? Surly there are people there!
 
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