Writing Blog Number 2

20240403 Australian v US English

Nations Separated By One Language

I posted this in Newsfeed a couple of years ago, then forgot to translate...

The thing is, Australia and the USA both classify English as their dominant language. We both speak the same language. But we have separated from Mother England, home of the amalgam of words that is called "English" (despite words coming from Latin, Greek, German, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, French and more other languages than we can poke a stick at, with very few comparatively coming from the original Old English... I digress), and so our forms of English have diverged.

How much?

Well, here is a piece written in English. Australian English. With Australian slang. (Warning, this could offend some people.)

Copped a captain at the Seppos on the boob. What a mobba wowsers. Tick like tin lids, act like flamin' galahs. Bang sticks and carking it, grouse; map of Tassie, strewth! Kangaroos loose in the top paddock, the lot of 'em.

Yep, that is Australian. I say that in the front bar, and everyone would nod their heads in agreement.

So, here is a translation into "English". No, that's not right. This is English. But I will translate it into United Etatian. For those from the USA, please excuse the use of words with more than 2 syllables (how's that for a stereotype?).

I watched some people from the USA on the television. They appear to be too conservative. They think like children and yet act with a degree of stupidity. Killing people with guns is acceptable; seeing a naked woman is a cause for great consternation. I believe they are whackadoodle.

I can hear people now... "What the... How did... But... Nooo... Really?"

Let me explain.

Copped - Had.
         Originally copped meant to get into trouble (from the same source as cop meaning policeperson). Then it developed into doing something to get into trouble (e.g. "cop a feel"). Finally it just became doing something.

Captain - Look.
         Rhyming slang - Captain Cook = look.

Seppo - Inhabitant of the USA
         Seppo, Australian abbreviation (drop the last syllable, replace it with "-o") of Septic Tank. Rhyming slang - Septic Tank = Yank.

Boob - Television
         Semi-rhyming slang. Boob Tube = Television, but the "tube" was often dropped.

Mobba - Group of
         Mob is a British word meaning a congregation, especially of unskilled labourers. It has come to be defined as a group of rioters in many parts of the world. However, in Australia is just means a group of; the collective noun term for a group of kangaroos is, for example, a mob. The "-a" is a lazy way of saying "of".

Wowser - Person who is a bit of a killjoy.
         Wowser was originally someone opposed to alcohol consumption, anecdotally because they would say, "Wow!" at things because they refused to swear or blaspheme. It came over time to be applied to anyone who opposes anything, especially if such opposition is based on Biblical passages or conservatism.

Tick - Think
         Tick comes from the ticking of a clock, as a joke that became slang. Someone not known to think would make allegedly make mental sounds like clockwork coming to life after years of non-use.

Tin lid - Child
         More rhyming slang - tin lids = kids. Kids, of course, is a term for a young animal, now only applied to goats and humans.

Flamin' - An expletive
         Basically an f-word replacing the familiar f-word. Why it was adopted so much across Australia is unknown.

Galah - Idiot
         The galah is a pink and white bird, a member of the parrot family, and one of the most common native birds in Australia. It garnered a reputation for stupidity because it was so easy to catch. However, they taste awful, hence the reason they are everywhere.

Bang stick - Gun
         Do i really need to explain why?

Carking it - Dying
         Carking comes from "to become a carcass."

Grouse - Great
         A hangover from England, where grouse was considered a delicacy. Although etymologists recently traced it back to the Scottish word "crouse" meaning good.

Map of Tassie - A woman's private parts
         A map of the island state of Tasmania has a certain shape to it.

Strewth! - A term of disbelief.
         Thought to be an abbreviation of God's truth!

Kangaroo loose in the top paddock - Mind not working properly.
         Like a beer short of a six-pack, a metaphor that something is missing or not quite right. To have a kangaroo in the top paddock is something is out of place, where it's not supposed to be. Oh, paddock is an Australian term for a sub-division of a farm.


And there we are. Just a small look at how a country's personal and identifiably unique language can develop to set it apart.

ADDENDUM: Spell check on WdC had a heart attack looking at this...