Aussie Dumb-down

The English language continually evolves to the point where every year new, arguably stupid, made-up words borne from popular culture make it into the new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Call me a traditionalist but I like the English language and its origins, and there’s nothing worse than being in a country that butchers and bastardises it as often as Australians do. Ask anyone where you might be able to fill up with fuel and you will be directed to the nearest ‘servo’ (service station). Or perhaps you might want to recycle some old clothes at a recognised charity known here as the ‘Salvos’ (Salvation Army). After you’ve done all this, there may be time in the ‘avo’ (afternoon) to have a quick check of ‘facey’ (facebook) before picking up the kids from ‘Kindi’ (kindergarten). Now this is not just, as you might imagine, people on the street using this lazy shortening of words during convos, sorry, conversations. Believe it or not, they are constantly used this way on the radio and even during news bulletins, which only serves to perpetuate the dumbing down of the language. Post-news, the weather report on the radio says that it is fine in ‘Brizzy’ (Brisbane). I cannot help but shake my head when listening to Aussies speak and assume that none of them ever finished high school, but what really topped it off was having the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard (whom incidentally I can’t help thinking looks like Jodie Foster), take part in a very informal telephone interview on the radio concerning the budget, which was announced the previous day. At the conclusion of the interview she introduced a song by the Arctic Monkeys. Can you imagine David Cameron doing that, despite his embarrassing ‘hug a hoodie’ episode a few years back in a desperate ploy to win votes? While some may think it’s great to have a PM down-to-earth enough to do that, to me it lacked professionalism and didn’t do much for her credibility. Drongo.

 

Having written all this, the Aussies can be credited with inventing such uniquely sounding words as bonza, drongo and ute (utility vehicle), despite the fact that we haven’t actually heard anyone use them here. They probably remain more steadfastly in Aussie folklore than anywhere else. Talking of words though, the oft used one-liner usually thrown around in ones best Australian accent, ‘throw another shrimp on the barby’ is another one of those quotes that has perpetuated the Australian stereotype. A request by Paul Hogan in character as Mick Dundee (yes, the coolest Aussie on the planet) in the film Crocodile Dundee, it is a testament to how damaging Hollywood can be in typecasting a nationality. According to a guy we met here, Australians don’t actually call them shrimps. And they never put them on a barbecue. In the same conversation, another myth was blown away in that very few Aussies drink Fosters. In fact, very few people anywhere drink Fosters that I know of, apart from Helen’s dad who, fittingly called Mick, surely must be an honorary Aussie as he single-handedly maintains sales figures of the stuff. Anyway, there was me thinking the Amber Nectar seeped from trees out in the bush. Clever marketing either way I’d say. Bonza!