The first thing that came to mind when listening to the
lecture of this topic was my experiences at WYD08 in Sydney. One of the things
my friends and I did was eavesdrop on people’s conversations (in a non-weird
way) to see where they were from to determine whether we would strike up
conversation with them. It so happened that the group of people we ended up
spending majority of the week with were from the US. What I noticed throughout
the week was not only how blatantly Bogan I was, but there was just so many
things that got lost in translation even though we both speak English. I remember
my friend trying to trick other Australians into believing she was also from
the US. The funny thing was, everyone was completely convinced…until she called
McDonald’s Macca’s. The illusion was completely shattered because everyone
automatically knew she was in fact Australian (and she still is). And everyone now saw her as a bogan, much like these foxy ladies....
To accompany this, I found an article that talks about slang and how we find that having just simply a language is not enough for us, that we somehow want to make our ways of talking even more specific to our subculture, for example, not just Australian, but Australian surfie's. Interestingly this article says that it takes a slang word about ten years to become a part of the Oxford dictionary. There are some words I am curious if they will ever make it. Reid, R. (2006). Setting the Slang. Campaigns and Elections 27(1). 10.
I also found the concept of hedging interesting. I do it all
the time and didn’t actually think there was a name for it. I find it so
difficult to say a whole story without saying um…I never understood that the
purpose of me doing so was just so people would know not to interrupt me. But
when I think about it, I do generally assume when someone says ah….or stutters
that there not actually finished talking. All these topics make me so self
conscious when I speak and now I pay attention to what I say so much and I hate
it!
Lastly, the reading just made the word bloody lose all
meaning, I read it that many times, the word just started to sound weird. But I
did find it interesting the different connotations placed upon it across
different cultures. I didn't think it right to talk about the word bloody without including this gem
Oh hello there Nat!
ReplyDeleteIt's so true although two may speak the same language there are so many different forms of this depending on what culture you are from. I have a Chinese friend named Ming who is living in Australia studying at Uni. When he first came over he could hardly speak English and we would constantly be staring at him blankly trying to figure out what he was trying to say. But now that he's been here awhile and can actually speak English I still find so many things get lost in translation. That is because he is not used to our Aussie slang and culture of ‘talk’, I didn't realise the cultural language could differ so much until I met him because he is constantly asking me to explain what I mean. Some examples in which I have recieved blank confused stares include - when I told him he was a "sticky beak", when I asked whether he wanted any "chewy", when he was told his drink was in the "esky" , and when a bird flew into the window and "carked it". Although he was confused Ming has adopted many of these Aussie sayings and slangs into his vocabulary the most recent one being "no worries" which he now says allllll the time
:)
Thank you for your comment Ashleigh, I wasn't aware sticky beak, chewy and carking it were Australian terms, interesting.
ReplyDeleteP.S When I read that the bird carked it after flying into the window all I could picture was the photo you showed me of Ming on Facebook with a dead bird. That is all.