Survival of Australian English

Via Isabella Massardo, an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about the way Australian English resists U.S. influence, No fries with that, mate.

There’s a link to ABC Online’s Australian Word Map, which shows regional Australian expressions and indicates their spread on a map, with ten words of the month.

bq. A recent inclusion is “blue-tongue”, for small children (because toddlers are close to the ground, like blue-tongue lizards). That one comes from Tasmania. The Brisbane region contributes “desert chicken”, meaning corned beef. From the central coast of Queensland comes “muckadilla”, meaning a disorganised person. From the Sydney region comes the expression “YMCA dinner”, or leftovers (“Yesterday’s Muck Cooked Again”). And, when someone agrees to take part in an activity, they say they’re “thumbs in”.

Old Bush Vernacular will be used in The Aussie Bible, to be published in August (there is already a Cockney Bible).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.