We Don’t Say Hooroo Anymore

My adult kids laugh when they use a slang word, and we look quizzically at them frowning and repeating the word slowly back, raising an eyebrow. Usually, its a new word or an abbreviation derived from social media.

Recently, I read a tourist website advocating visitors to Australia use the vernacular slang word ‘Hooroo,’ to say ‘Goodbye.’

Yeh, nah!

‘Hooroo,’ is almost obsolete as a farewell greeting in Australia and fast disappearing from common use, much like the word ‘Cheerio.’ Both these words stem from old British slang – and Brits, do correct me if that is wrong. The last person I heard say, ‘Hooroo’ or ‘Cheerio,’ was a 93-year-old resident who has been dead for over 10 years.

While the meaning of ‘No Worries,’ said to be our national motto, is absolutely clear to foreigners, we no longer say Hooroo. These days when Australians say goodbye, it is more like ‘seeya, see-ya-later,’ or ‘bye now.’

Goodbye seems terribly formal, but its still used on the phone, especially during a business transaction.

But I haven’t heard ‘Hooroo’ for yonks. [N.B. yonks is more slang meaning: a long time]

Yonks is defined as an informal British word. But do the British use it? I will have to defer to British readers.

Language is Dynamic

And anyway – what’s the point of all this?

It shows that language is a dynamic force. Never static, it is a living concept that waxes and wanes according to social mores, popular TV shows and local lingo.

Fascinating. At least for me.

In 1902, Gelett Burgess also thought slang words were a transient beast remarking:

Like the eggs of the codfish, one survives and matures, while a million perish.

In fact, some Australian linguists are worried about the prognosis for the word ‘mate’ – the use of which clearly identifies you as an Australian wherever you go. They fear it will be replaced by ‘Dude,’ – Thanks, Homer S….

Exporting Australian Slang Words

And yet linguistic bartering is in place. I hear that the iconic Australian word, ‘mozzie,’ has been exported to the world!!

Could this be true?

I don’t know where, but if you have heard the word ‘mozzie,’ used outside of Australia, I’d love to know exactly where.

Do let me know in the comments who has pinched the word ‘Mozzie!’

While you’re here, some other sayings or slang no longer in regular use that were formerly synonymous with Australia include:

• Strewth – an expression of surprise
• Off his kadoova – mentally ill
• Pash off – to kiss passionately
• Rack off – more vitriolic variations are used now to ask someone to leave
• Boomahs – Kangaroos not to be confused with (baby) Boomers
• Grouse – really great
• Spunky – sexy
• Nuddy – to be naked
• The cheese and kisses – the missus or your female spouse

More Aussie slang here

and for a laugh:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/246137518281472?s=yWDuG2&fs=e&mibextid=Nif5oz

What Did You Say? Favourite Idioms

Language is so dynamic. It’s constantly shifting. It changes from nuance to nuance depending on generation, culture, population, political correctness and slang.

I’ve known of immigrants – Greek-Australians – who on retirement from work in Australia, decide to reverse-migrate, back to the old country of Greece, to live out their declining years. To their surprise and utter disappointment, they find they can no longer understand the native dialect or “lingo,” in their beloved former home villages.

Language, like progress, is never static.

Today, I learnt that Aussie youth refer to the act of lying as “capping.” Urban dictionary confirmed this – so hey, it must be true enough?

Yesterday, I posted the following pic of fairy floss, which goes by the pseudonym of cotton candy elsewhere. I can’t think of it as cotton candy. There is nothing cotton-like about it. – But come to think of it, there’s not much that is fairy-like about it either.

Blogger Elmo writes discussed someone at the side of the road yakking – where I live that would not raise an eyebrow. Many Australians will ‘yak to someone at the side of the road on a regular basis. It means having a casual discussion or even ‘talking someone’s ear off’. It turns out yakking is quite a different experience in some parts of America/Canada.

The M.o.t.h used to laugh and think I was inventing phrases, when I’d remind him, ” I didn’t “hang an albatross around his neck,” – a mental image of the Ancient Mariner I recalled from a Samuel Taylor Coleridge Poem I’d been force-fed at high school.

The Venomous Bead recently educated me in the best of Scottish vernacular and a useful means of getting rid of unwanted callers by telling them in your best Scottish brogue to:

“Bile yer heid“…(go away) adding:
“Erse oot the windae“…..(you are mistaken)

Norwegians have some realistic idioms in their language. A pushy, overly ambitious person is said to have, “Pointed Elbows,” and when I think of certain people I have encountered in my career, not only were their elbows pointed, but they used them to great effect to push their way through! Those elbows dug in!

The Danes however, “take the cake,” – if you get that meaning? They use a range of vegetables to depict people, traits and situations which you may have seen posted here before.

Just look at these turns of phrase:

It is hilarious. Can you imagine reading this via a Danish-English translator:

That sour onion was too busy playing the King carrot to do the cabbage. We need someone to handle the peas and juggle that hot potato without stepping in the spinach.

I posted a sample of Aussie slang on this blog back in 2015. I wonder how much would be understood now:

Keep ya’ shirt on! You don’t want to get the raw prawn at the Barbie, this arvo. It’s a scorcher Straya Day, and every man and his dog will be heading to the beach, so it’s better to fill ya’ esky with a few tinnies, ditch the Reg Grundies and wear your budgie smugglers under ya’ boardies! Don’t forget your slip, slop, slap!  She’ll be right, mate! Fair Dinkum!
Translation: Hold your temper! It is not worth fighting about! You don’t want to end up in a compromising position at the outdoor meal prepared over a outdoor grill this afternoon. The weather is very sunny and extremely hot this Australia Day, and there will be a large group of people, of all kinds, visiting the beach. So it is wise to purchase an insulated portable picnic box, used for keeping food at a safe temperature, and fill it with ice and tins of cold beer, whilst dressing in the appropriate attire. That is: wearing ‘minimalist’ lycra swimming bathers underneath knee-length board-shorts, and leave the regular cotton underwear at home. Wear sunscreen, a hat and a thin cotton shirt to protect yourself from the harmful effects of the sun! This will be well accepted with the populace and everything will work out okay, without any harmful effects. You will have a fun time. That is the truth, friend!

Do you have an unusual idiom or turn of phrase, from a place or culture not your own that you like to use?

Is it easily understood?

Potatoes and Desperately Danish

Do you think of the Irish famine or Germany when it comes to potatoes?

Continuing on discussing vernacular language and strange idioms, Google threw this up at me today:

I am Danish and might sometimes be a surt løg (a sour onion) read: a grumpy, critical person, although never as self-confessed as my blogger friend M-R, who is known to gå agurk, (go cucumbers) read: go bananas), more often than not, of late, at unsympathetic, collaboratively compromised Realtors or Landlords/Ladies who might træde i spinaten (step in the spinach) read: to say or do something stupid.

See how often kartoffel (potato) features in their slang idioms!

• Follow one’s own potato
• a lucky potato
• a hot potato

and who would have imagined carrots could be akin to snobs! (To play the King Carrot!)

Danes and Potatoes

Potatoes make me think of Denmark. Danes have this thing for potatoes but the likeness of characteristics or emotions to vegetables is something unique perhaps?

For a cold potato salad with some artichoke hearts added, try this Recipe for Danish Potato Salad or KartoffelSalat

Although I don’t always have Coppa on hand, River Cottage’s Paul West’s Potato Gratin recipe is currently my preferred way to cook a warm potato accompaniment. Reproduced below.

It is simply delicious, and I am sure the Irish and the Germans would approve.

Photo by Ray Piedra on Pexels.com

Desiree Potatoes, Coppa and Rosemary Gratin

Paul West

Ingredients:

• 150ml milk
• 350ml cream
• 4 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ onion, studded with 3 cloves
• 600g ruby lou potatoes
• 1 brown onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 200g Coppa, thinly sliced
• 20g parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 bunch oregano leaves, roughly chopped

Method:

Use two 800ml casserole dishes or one 1500ml casserole dish.·    

Preheat oven to 180C.

In a small saucepan, gently simmer the milk, cream, rosemary, garlic, bay leaves and onion with cloves for 15 minutes.

Grease the bottom of the casserole dishes with butter.

Slice the potatoes thinly with their skins on and arrange a single layer of potatoes over the bottom of the dish.  Alternate with a layer of onions. Continue with each layer in both of the casserole dishes until you have used up all of the potato and onion, or until you have 1 cm left at the top of the dish.

Strain the milk mixture and season.  Pour over the potatoes and cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour, covered.

When the potatoes have cooked through, remove the gratin from the oven and take off the foil.

Lay the coppa slices on top of the gratin. Sprinkle the grated parmesan and oregano leaves over the top and place back into the oven, uncovered for 10 minutes or until the coppa is crisp.

Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Sunday Reflections – Better Communication and Listening

Recently I have been writing about how we can listen better to what others are saying with the intention of improving our communication. Effective listening incorporates taking note of the pitch, rate and timbre of the voice as well as facial expressions, non-verbal postures or actions.

Non-Verbal Communication

” Watch out for the man whose belly doesn’t move when he laughs.”

Chinese proverb

Only a fraction of our understanding comes directly from words, some say a mere 35 %. Early humans were for some time, without a spoken or written language so non-verbal language was paramount in communicating with one another.

Whilst content is important, detecting the emotions or feelings of what is said is also central to understanding others better. In the book People Skills, Robert Bolton writes that people’s feelings regarding relationships and how each person might, or might not, be coping internally, is communicated primarily via their non-verbal signals.

“Self-betrayal oozes from our pores.”

Sigmund Freud

In social interactions, our true inner feelings are sometimes repressed and concealed via the words we choose to say, but they invariably leak out through our non-verbal expressions. Good listeners pay attention to non-verbal language, postures, gestures and actions. Picking up on these covert signals tells us what is the most important to the other person.

Have you noticed that we communicate our emotions, sometimes without conscious awareness, by:

• shrugging our shoulders in indifference
• knitting our eyebrows in disapproval
• moving or tensing our jaw in disgust or disagreement
• tensing our muscles in nervousness
• clenching fists in irritation
• averting eye contact in embarrassment or denial
• touching or smiling in endearment or affection
• lingering looks of happiness or contemplation

Photo by Polina Zimmerman on Pexels.com

Vocal Cues

The tone of a voice is another signal. Think about someone using a monotonous voice without inflection and how that might indicate boredom, fatigue, or perhaps negativity and depression.

Conversely, a high pitched animated voice might indicate enthusiasm and louder tones anger and drawn out speech: disbelief. You can pick up a lot of information by listening to the voice. Many times we do this naturally without thinking about it, but do we use that information to communicate better?

Reflective Listening

Reflecting back your interpretation of the other person’s emotional state can assist in checking in or clarifying how the other person is really feeling. The person can then respond, if they disclose more information to you. This may facilitate a more open discussion and brings a feeling of closeness and understanding. You probably do this already naturally with family and friends.

Here are a few examples of reflective questioning:

I sense you didn’t like/don’t agree with what was just said? Have I ‘read’ that right?

You sound like you’re feeling really down? Are you doing okay?

You appear really happy/excited/rushed today? What’s going on for you?

Taking note of facial expressions, vocal cues and non verbal language helps us to listen to others better by understanding their inner emotional state. Clarifying this may lessen confusions and misunderstanding, which will lead to more effective communication as the listener will feel they are understood.

Australian Slang – Lost in Translation, Mate

Sometimes, Australian Slang causes problems. Every Aussie uses it. When you’re born here, the meaning of those strange, shortened words are absorbed by osmosis. We are hardly even cognizant we’re saying them. We assume everyone understands what we mean.

Photo Credit: Facebook

However, being so different to standard English words, the Australian Vernacular makes it difficult for non-native English speakers to understand, especially for those whose exposure to English has only been within the classroom, or via TV sit-coms. The full meaning of slang is often lost.

Mail Order Brides in Australia

Before the days of Tinder and dating agencies becoming mainstream, older single or widowed Aussie men might meet a prospective wife via a newspaper ad and through letters from The Philippines. Mail Order Brides wasn’t a nice social practice, but this story is not so much about that issue, as it is about the language barrier where slang is concerned.

The Moth’s (Man of the House), elderly Aunt had been divorced from her husband, Bob for some time, even though he still attended family gatherings. As Bob aged, he longed for company, so no one was particularly surprised when a delightful older lady, named Mary, accepted his offer to leave the Philippines, marry him and live in Australia.

Australia Day Family Barbeque

One Australia Day, Mary and Bob attended a family barbeque not far from their new home. Most of the farmers in the area were also extended family members, so Bob introduced his new wife to the family and also to country hospitality: ie barbeque food: meat, sausages, pavlova and loads of Beer. Very traditional, if you are Australian.

• 

• 

A few hours later, it was clear to all that Mary’s new husband had consumed far too many beers to drive either of them home.

Lost in Translation

As Mary was impatient to leave, she started walking home along the long, dusty road, herself. As she went to leave, an approaching car pulled over. Leaning out the car window, a neighbouring farmer shouted:

“Where ya headed, luv?”

“I go home,” Mary answered, eyes a little downcast. Guessing she was the newcomer who lived at least a half hour’s walk away, the old farmer flashed a big grin and said:

“Come with me, luv. I’ll run you over.”

Terrified, with eyes as big as saucers, Mary turned around and dashed back to her husband’s side, crying,

“I not want to die. He kill me.”

Aghast and confused, Bob stuttered, “Steady on, luvie ….Whad, whadya mean?“

Pointing to the farmer’s car, Mary said:

“I not want to die. He said, He’d run me over!”

That’s ‘Straya,’ mate!

Australia Speaks – Yeh Nah!

Australians are renowned for a laconic, self-deprecating sense of humour that is, to a large extent, the sort of mockery that is not meant to offend.

Australia – New Zealand Relations

We love to tease the New Zealanders about their accent and habits, like their habit of calling all and sundry, ‘bro.’ The Kiwis, in turn, mock us about our own ‘Straylan‘ accent, about who really invented pavlova, or whether Russell Crowe is an Aussie or Kiwi.

[Although after the phone-throwing incident, there was a debate as to whether anyone would claim Russell, at all].

Mocking each other can be a sign of feeling secure enough with the friendship that each may ‘have a go,’ or tease someone, in a gentle way, hopefully without it being taken personally, or causing offence. And so it is between New Zealanders and Australians.

Teasing aside, our countries do have a fairly similar culture, at least historically in the Anglo-Saxon sense. Many of us have relatives in both countries.

We understand each other and visit all the time, prior to Corona, of course. It is quicker to travel to New Zealand than to travel to the other side of Australia, for goodness sake. When every second or third New Zealand Teenager moved to Australia in search of work, in the 1980s, the popular joke here, was:

“So you moved here from New Zealand? Did you leave the light on?”

New Zealanders are very welcome in Australia and are treated as one of us. Well, except when it comes to welfare payments, perhaps. ‘Nuff’ said.

Aussie Vernacular Idioms

My Kiwi cousins enjoy teasing me about the way Aussies say, “Yeh, nah,” or ‘yes,’ then ‘no’ in the one breath or sentence. And we do say it. No doubt.

All the time!

So why was this T-shirt found in a souvenir shop, in New Zealand, with a kiwi as part of the logo? “Hey, bro?“

Are New Zealanders saying it, as well?

In defence of my fellow Aussies, this confusing phrase is used when we want to make two points, relative to one another, presumably to save time. As you may know, Aussies like to shorten everything to save time, especially when it comes to conversation and slang. As this video confirms:

In saying Yeh. Nah, we are agreeing with our conversational partner before further disagreeing on a smaller, less significant related point. Hence:

“Yeh, meaning you are right, (it looks like it might rain, but) “nah” meaning in reality, it probably won’t rain this afternoon – hence “Yeh, Nah, I don’t think it’s going to rain!”  Clear as mud?

It seems this confusing idiom that makes no literal sense has traversed the Tasman Sea, into New Zealand to the point that it’s now New Zealand speak, if only because it has the word, ‘bro’, after it!!

Aussies will NOT disagree with this, will they? Yeh…. nah!

And if you are ready for some more Aussie humour, Carl might give you a laugh.

Something for linguists to ponder about.

Poetry Challenge – September Round up

The Prompt for September was to write a Limerick or humorous poem.

Only five lines long, limerick poems have an ‘AABBA’ rhyme scheme.

Featured Poets – Colonialist’s Blog

I do suppose that each season
Does come with a kind of a reason,
And most are quite fine,
But I draw the line
At seasons that have my toes freezin’!

~The Colonialist

Find more about the Colonialist here

Hester writes a real cracker, really capturing the essence of the limerick’s humor:

An OLD bird who LIVES at the COAST

Lied DOWN in the SUN and she DOZED

She THOUGHT a light TAN

Would CATCH her a MAN

But NOW she’s burnt CRISP as dry TOAST

~Hester

This is a really awesome limerick!!! I love it, and it has that memory making sing-song quality so that it sticks in one’s head for quite a while!!

I invite you to read this month’s submissions for the A and I Poetry challenge   who have all done a fantastic job.

Poetry Challenge Contributors for September

Ju- Lyn  varied the theme of seasons in refashioning-rules  but also decided to give the limerick form a go, here. And I am very glad she did. The limerick is deceptively easy to write but difficult to convey a message in such few words. Ju-Lyn nailed it.

Manjamexi  – penned a cheeky limerick with beautiful illustrations of mouth-watering photographs of a Cypress field many incarnations through the seasons.

Ineke’s delightful limerick on the seasonal changes in New Zealand – Scrapydo2.wordpress.com

Abrie Joubert – writes in Afrikaans but copy paste this into google Translate or use the translator button and you will find some wonderful words.

Abrie’s post on the A and I Poetry Challenge inspired two other Afrikaans writers to write limericks in the comments of Abrie’s post:

Hesterleynel  – she is at it again! Well done, Hester.

Toortsie

Perdebytjie

Very well done to all of you!  The translations were a lot of fun to read! One word translated to diarrhoea!! Not sure that it was meant as such, but it certainly was humorous!!

Hester’s post inspired Vuurklip to contribute in Afrikaans,on Hester blog post here

Tafuzul  – submitted a surpise poem.  He asked me to choose his best poem for his entry this month. Find it here

If you have written a poem in September and would like a linkback included here, please comment below.

Host bloggers Amanda  from Australia at Something to Ponder About and

Ineke from New Zealand at scrapydo2.wordpress.com  jointly host the challenge.

Ineke mostly does the poetry in Afrikaans, while Amanda uses English.

The challenge is open to all, from first-timers up to well-advanced poets. Be sure to comment here so that we can find your poem for October and add you to the link up post at the end of this month.

October is the final month for the Poetry Challenge.

Poetry Writing Tips and May Challenge

Poetry Writing Tips included below:-

Time is almost up for posting poems for the A and I Poetry Challenge for the month of  May. Have you written your poem, yet?

Post a poem with a linkback to my blog and Ineke’s before the 28th May, so I can easily find it and include it in the next monthly Poetry Challenge post.

 Poetry Challenge –  May Prompt

*Write a poem using this photograph or one of your own as inspiration.

 

N.B. If you choose to use your own photo, please post the photo along with the poem.

 

You will find the full post on the May prompt and guidelines here

 

Poetry Writing Tips

I will discuss more about using concrete language in poetry next month but here is a taste to get you thinking and writing in a more concrete way.

Tip: Use concrete language instead of abstract language

The key to writing great poetry is to write focused, concrete poetry. But many beginning poets write poetry based around wide themes such as love, life, and anger, generalizing their writing.

By using strong language, active verbs instead of passive verbs and concrete language instead of abstract, you can capture a reader’s interest and captivate a reader’s imagination. Poetry, as something others read, should be at its best interactive, and at its worse, straight forward and clear.

Here is an example:

 

Concrete words describe things that people experience with their senses.

• orange
• warm
• cat

A person can see orange, feel warm, or hear a cat.

Poets use concrete words help the reader get a “picture” of what the poem is talking about. When the reader has a “picture” of what the poem is talking about, he/she can better understand what the poet is talking about.

Abstract words refer to concepts or feelings.

• liberty
• happy
• love

“Liberty” is a concept, “happy” is a feeling, and no one can agree on whether “love” is a feeling, a concept or an action.

A person can’t see, touch, or taste any of these things. As a result, when used in poetry, these words might simply fly over the reader’s head, without triggering any sensory response. Further, “liberty,” “happy,” and “love” can mean different things to different people. Therefore, if the poet uses such a word, the reader may take a different meaning from it than the poet intended.

Change Abstract Words Into Concrete Words

To avoid problems caused by using abstract words, use concrete words.

Example: “She felt happy.”

This line uses the abstract word “happy.” To improve this line, change the abstract word to a concrete image. One way to achieve this is to think of an object or a scene that evokes feelings of happiness to represent the happy feeling.

Improvement: “Her smile spread like red tint on ripening tomatoes.”

 

Writing poetry is something to ponder about