Australian Language and Influences

Here's a sentence I legitimately heard. It's in English, but good luck trying to understand it:

"I had a flat white for brekkie at Maccas in Brissie." Wow.

Some explanation:

Kearse has enlightened me on how Aussies order their coffee- you order a combination of two colors (black or white), two sizes (long or short), and two dimensions (flat or not). The most popular are "flat white" and "long black", and apparently the naming has to do with the amount of milk and foam in the coffee.

Aussies love to shorten words. These are my favorites that you hear in everyday conversation:

Brissie - Brisbane
Maccas - McDonald's
brekkie - breakfast
sunnies - sunglasses
runners - tennis shoes

And now for new words:

rubbish - trash
heaps - a lot
rock melon - cantaloupe
good tucker - bon appetite, enjoy your meal

I've also enjoyed dissecting the Aussie accent and pronunciation (which comes a lot from England):

1. At the end of a word, the "a" is pronounced "er", and the "er" is pronounce "a".

For example, a banana is a bananer. An idea is an idear. Our friend Nina is really Niner. Australia is Australier.

But "over here" is "over hea". Hmmmm.

2.  Omitting the letter "T", which as a Techie, I quite enjoy ;)

For example, forty is for-ee, party is par-ee, thirteen is thir-een, and tattoo is ta-oo.

3. The soft letter A. 

Instead of pronouncing "path" with a short "a" as in "at", it is pronounced with a long "a" as in "awe".

And on that note, I have found Australia to be a fusion of Britain and America. Their vivacity and optimism, casualness and informality, and comfort with strangers is distinctly American; however, they drive on the left, play cricket, drink afternoon tea, and adorn their streets with statues of Queen Victoria. Hmmm. 

I also find it fascinating that Aussies are obsessed with American movies, actors and actresses, reality TV shows (they watch the shows that I wouldn't dare watch back home), and American music, like "Born in the USA", and "Country Home", and "Calling Baton Rouge", not to mention all of the rap and pop music like Akon, T.I., Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus. 

One local girl in Cairns exclaimed to me, "You're American!? Do you know any famous people?" I had a lot fun telling her about meeting Michael Phelps, Apolo Anton Ohno, and T.I. at a Subway in Atlanta, as well as trick-or-treating at Chipper Jones's house. Oh yes, and Aussies (as well as other backpackers I've met along the way) find it a terrible tragedy that we have to "wait" until we're 21 to drink in America.

In terms of culture and lanaguage, Australia has a strange familiarity with the U.S... but it seems that they are trying too hard to be like us. Australia is a noticeably young country; they should embrace being Aussie rather than struggle with choosing between being British or American.