Hey Aussie English fans!

Or more particularly... fans of Australia and all things Aussie!

I'm stoked that you guys have been hanging out so long for the next word from this blog. In fact, I'm so inspired that I am considering how I can schedule this into my daily/weekly routine. (I've said that before, right?)

So anyway, here's the big news...

I'M BACK DOWN UNDER!

Yeah mate, that's right. I was living in Siberia (Russia) with my fam bam for three glorious years. We had a ripper time and managed to make a whole stack of friends. But it was time to mosey on home to where kangaroos roam.

There's one big difference already... a Summer Christmas!

We just enjoyed our first Summer Christmas since 2012. There's something to be said for a beautiful white Christmas with snow, ice-skating and all that... but coming home to Oz, it's just like the good old days again.

Typically, on Christmas day we wake up early (the time is generally dictated by the tin lids) and flop around on the lounge and floor near the Christmas tree.

Kids rip into their presents and shout for joy as they unwrap toys, gadgets and of course socks and undies. It could be argued that some families overdo it a bit. Personally, I don't like to splurge too much.
My mob on Christmas morning, 2016
Some folk head off to church for a morning service where the original Christmas story is lovingly retold and kids often show off one or two of their favourite gifts.

Following that, we have a whopping big family lunch of salads, sliced meat, maybe a BBQ and then bucket loads of lollies, cakes and ice cream. One of the most well-loved cakes at Christmas time is the pavlova (or "pav" as we say).

We recently moved to a new town near the beach and not too far from the alpine regions. The temp is a bit cooler here, but even so, Christmas Day is renowned for being a STINKER. That means, very hot.

If you're lucky, Christmas Day will end with a nice big thunderstorm and cool, cleansing rain.

Just so you can get a sense of the Aussie Christmas tradition, I'm posting a link to Colin Buchanan's well-known rendition of "Jingle Bells" - aptly retitled "Aussie Jingle Bells".

Enjoy...



Useful words:
Stoked: to be very happy about / proud of / thankful for something
Down Under: Australia
Fam bam: family
Ripper: Awesome, excellent, amazing
A stack of: lots of, many
Mosey on: to leave, go somewhere, walk away
Tin lids: kids (rhyming slang)
Spluge: to spend a lot of money
Whopping: huge, big, large
Stinker: a very hot day, a stinking hot day

Strewth!
It seems a normal habit for me to only post a new blog once a year. Soz!

Well, I'm thinking you all might enjoy just a little snapshot of life as we Aussies know it. The thing is, me, the Mrs and our tin lids are actually living in the bowels of Siberia at the moment! That's a bit of a crazy adventure right there!
I reckon if I keep these posts short and sweet, they'll be easy for you mob to read and crapload easier for me to write!
Let me teach you a new phrase. This Chrissy we gave our little daughter a new toothbrush. Here she is. When I was a kid, my dad would always tell us to "Go polish your fangs" - this was his Aussie way of telling us to brush our teeth.
So, do you polish your fangs after every meal?


Strewth! - An exclamation of surprise
Soz - short for Sorry
A snapshot - a preview of something
Tin lids - kids (see Rhyming Slang post)
The Mrs - wife
In the bowels of... - in the middle/deep in...
Chrissy - Christmas
Short and sweet - short and not complicated; condensed

Now this is a track I can picture in my mind! Growing up in rural Australia means that songs like this classic really speak to my heart.

Sometimes music these days is just a bunch of utter rubbish where people sing nonsense lyrics that some other bugger wrote for them to make them another million bucks.
Let's wind that clock back a bit and check out some lyrics from an Australian classic.
Typical country "track" with a homestead visible amongst
the gum trees ahead (to the right). Moggill Road, Indooroopilly, Brisbane 1921.
Photo credit: Bonzle.com Along the Road to Gundagai was written way back in 1922 by a true blue Aussie bloke tickling the ivories in a Melbourne music store.
Jack O'Hagan worked for Allans Music store (which is still around today!). He was a talented musician who played the sheetmusic that customers were interested in buying. In the meantime, this young'n was crafting a little masterpiece of his own that would eventually become an Aussie favourite.
Check out the lyrics and we'll discuss what some of the more obscure phrases mean.

There's a track winding back
To an old-fashioned shack
Along the road to Gundagai 

Where the blue gums are growing
And the Murrumbidgee's flowing
Beneath that sunny sky 

Where my daddy and mother
Are waiting for me
And the pals of my childhood
Once more I will see. 

Then no more will I roam,
When I'm heading right for home
Along the road to Gundagai.

And it's that simple!
I dunno about you, but I reckon that's gold. Jack obviously had a love for the countryside and the simple things in life, like his old family shack, the big Aussie gum trees and his schoolmates. Those are the things memories are made of, ay?
Jack's mate, Peter Dawson, recorded this song a couple of years later. The song sold around 50,000 copies in 3 months and both blokes probably made a motza!
Have a listen to Peter Dawson's recording. Sing along if you want to!

I hope you enjoyed this Aussie classic. I'll end with an explanation of some of the lyrics used. Feel free to comment below and ask me any questions about other words you don't understand.
Til next time, see ya!

Track: a narrow country road, usually dirt
Shack: Old rugged house (not a fancy, expensive one) Gundagai: a country town in rural New South Wales (wikipedia) Blue gums: a type of eucalyptus tree native to Australia Murrumbidgee: a major river in New South Wales

Other words...
Bugger: idiot, jerk
Bucks: dollars
True blue: genuine, real
Bloke: a man, guy
Tickling the ivories: playing the piano
Young'n: young guy, young lad
That's gold: that's great, awesome, amazing
Ay: often used at the end of a sentence, meaning "don't you agree?"

It's time to hear from YOU!

So I've been doing a bit of thinkin. You know, just lying there on my back watching the clouds float by. The question is a pretty big one:

Does anybody really give a brass razoo about Aussie English?

I think that's something you could answer, because I need to know.

Here's some more questions for you, and I encourage you to post a comment and answer them:

• Are you ever going to Australia, or have you been there?
• Do you watch any Aussie TV shows? Which ones?
• When you hear Aussies, can you understand them?
• Have you done or wish to do any formal study in the English language?
• Would you be interested in a short video course in understanding and speaking Aussie English?

Once again, these are pretty big questions. As a dad of five tin lids (see previous blog), I have bugger all spare time, but I'm willing to invest it into one or two important things if I know it's helping someone like you!

So... please comment below, or at least share this post on FB, G+ etc. Good on ya mate!

WARNING: Ancient cryptic secrets are about to be unravelled!
Well, it could almost be considered a secret code. So consider yourself quite lucky that I'm sharing this with you!
Have you ever heard of "Rhyming Slang"? Well the idea originally came from Cockney England, but considering the Poms sent a lot of their dodgy codgers to Australia in the early colonial days, we soon adopted the idea of rhyming slang. In fact, I reckon we perfected it (like most things we Aussies get our hands on!)
So what is it?
The idea was to take a word that you kinda wanted to disguise, or encode, and use a two-word phrase in its place that rhymed with it.
Clear as mud? Let me give you some examples with rhyming slang in place. See if you can guess what the phrase represents before you scroll down and check out the answers.

1. Can't watch the footy without a pie with dead horse.
2. My missus did the Harry Holt with the local plumber.
3. I heard there was a prang up the road. Might go have a Captain Cook.
4. Get off the dog 'n' bone and mow the lawn!
5. It's getting late cuz, I better hit the frog 'n' toad.
6. Could I have a dozen roses for my beloved trouble 'n' strife?
7. The billy lids / tin lids always give us grief at bed time!
8. Woh, check out that paint job. Looks like the painter had a Barry Crocker that day!
9. We're heading to steak 'n' kidney at the crack of dawn.
10. Don't bother telling me a porky pie, cos I'll find out!

How'd you go? Didn't sneak a Bo Peep did you? Well, are you ready for the answers?

1. Dead Horse = (tomato) sauce
2. Harry Holt = bolt (i.e. to run away or disappear)
3. Captain Cook = look (for something, at something)
4. Dog 'n' Bone = telephone
5. Frog 'n' Toad = road
6. Trouble 'n' Strife = wife (gents, use this one at your own risk)
7. Billy Lids / Tin Lids = kids (children)
8. Barry Crocker = shocker (an unfortunate time, lack of success, bad luck)
9. Steak 'n' Kidney = Sydney
10. Porky Pie = lie (untruth, fib)

Reckon that's not too hard? Sorry to say, but it gets a bit trickier. Sometimes we'll drop the second word and turn the first word into a plural.

Say what?
Check it out. Here are some new examples with rhyming slang in its short forms:

• I haven't seen Bill all day. Methinks he's done the Harrys.
• Be blowed if I know where me keys are. Might have a Captains in the dunny.
• Mitch is having a Barrys today with his bowling.
• Yeah right, sounds like you're telling porkies again.

I hope that made some kind of sense. Nobody said Aussie English was easy. But neither did they say it wasn't interesting! Don't you just love it?

Well, I gotta do the Harry Holt and put the tin lids to bed!
G'night

Dodgy: untrustworthy, unsafe, non-genuine Codger: fellow, guy, bloke Clear as mud: very unclear, doesn't make any sense Footy: football (usually rugby league or Aussie Rules football) Prang: a car crash Cuz: cousin Crack of dawn: the first light of dawn Bo Peep: a peek, a look at something Fib: a lie Be blowed: to be surprised by something (Well I'll be blowed!), to be baffled by something (I'll be blowed if I know!) Dunny: toilet

So you're scratching out a plan to visit Down Under? You've been doing some online English course somewhere, such as iTalki.com or LiveMocha.com? If you haven't ever had a chinwag with an Aussie bloke or chick, then chances are you're in for a big surprise!

Righto, well one way to prepare would be to find a good book on Aussie slang. There's a pretty famous fellah named Kel Richards. He's a dead set Aussie, and he's written a lot of books and made a stack of radio broadcasts in Aussie English.

Kel has a bonza eBook out, which is pretty dirt cheap. It's great stuff, and I really recommend it. Click on the book title. If you've got a Kindle like me, you can easily load her up with Kel's books.

Other than books like these, you can also watch some classic Aussie movies. I will talk more about those in another blog, but for now, see if you can get your mitts on a copy of The Castle. *It's fairly family friendly (maybe the rare swear word)*, but otherwise it's a real hoot!

I'll do what I can to help you get ready for your trip to Australia. Just comment below on what you're stressing about and I'll set you straight.

Catch ya next time!

*UPDATE: Upon watching The Castle again, it turns out there are a LOT more swear words than I ever remembered! Maybe it's not such a family friendly movie!
To scratch out: write down, scribble down
Chinwag / Chin-wag: conversation, chat
Bloke: Guy, man
Chick: Lady, woman, girl
Righto: Okay
Fellah: Man, fellow
Dead set: Fair dinkum, true blue, straight up, genuine, real
A stack of: many, lots
Bonza: Excellent, outstanding, great
Dirt cheap: Very cheap, inexpensive
Load her up: Install or boot (e.g. a computer program), load onto (truck etc)
Get your mitts on: Obtain, get hold of
Swear word: Curse word, expletive
A real hoot: Great fun, exciting
To set somebody straight: To correct someone, inform someone

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE

Hey friends!

Well, it's been a flippin' long time since my last post. I had great intentions of reviving this blog and giving you all some interesting content, but life has been rather interesting for me personally!

So now there are a couple of really big changes in my life. Firstly, I'm living in Siberia! Yep, I moved my wife and four nippers (children) across the globe to the so-called "frozen wasteland". Though, in fact, you'll be happy to know that Siberia is actually a beautiful part of Russia. We love it here.
Me and my boys in the gorgeous Siberian wilderness
Australia is still our beloved homeland. We still have our family, friends and house there. But we're having a little adventure right now.

The next huge surprise was when we had an unplanned addition to our already-big family. So now we have another baby (which we travelled home to Australia to have). She was born in June 2014, and now we are the "Seven in Siberia".

What I plan on doing in the future is making a consistent effort on producing content for this blog. It won't necessarily mean spoken podcasts, as they take a lot of effort in producing. Though I will do some recordings as time allows.

The rest is up to you. What do you want to see? What topics do you think apply to tourism and moving to Australia? I want to help you get your Aussie English up to scratch and ready for your great Aussie adventure!

Give us ya feedback!

Flippin' / Flipping: Very (e.g. I caught a flippin' huge yellow belly at the river mate!); Also used as a non-offensive substitute for that offensive expletive starting with F (e.g. You flippin' idiot!)
Nipper: A child, kid.

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE


G'DAY YOU MOB!
Well it's been ages since I whipped up a Podcast, hasn't it!? It seemed to me that I didn't have time to spare writing out and recording podcasts for a small audience.

But recently I had a bo-peep at the visitor statistics over the past few months, and at the comments people had been leaving, and I was stoked!

Thanks for all your friendly words. I'm glad you like what's been done so far.

Can I ask you all to do me a favour? Give me your ideas. What do you want to hear? Have you ever experienced Aussie lingo personally? How did you find it? Did you wonder what the heck the person was on about?

What can I teach you all?

As a student of the Russian language, I find that idioms are the toughest part of any language to learn. You can have a whoppin' load of words in your vocabulary, and a whole stack of grammar rules down pat, but idioms are often so whacky that they are impossible to translate.

So... I'll try and chuck in a few Aussie idioms here and there. Let me know if you've heard one and want me to explain it.

Stay tuned, here she comes!

Words/Idioms you might wanna know:

To whip up: Prepare (something) quickly
Have a bo peep: Take a look (at something)
Stoked: To be very pleased; Excited; Encouraged.
How did you find it? What did you think about it?
On about: To be talking about/referring to.
Whoppin': A large amount/size
Stack: A lot
To have something down pat: To have mastered something; To be a pro at something.
Whacky: Strange; Weird
To chuck in: To include; To throw in.
She: often used instead of "it" in colloquial Aussie English. Example "See my new car? She's a beauty, ay!" (It's a good one, isn't it?)

Hey listeners!

Are you wondering why the next episode is held up? I'm still waiting for your submissions! Go back and listen to the homework I gave you - and don't be shy! C'mon, I want to hear your best attempt at Aussie English.

I've had plenty of wonderful and encouraging comments from all you blighters out there who love listening to my podcast, now it's your turn to help make it become much better.

What was your homework again? I asked you to record your best effort at saying: "G'day mate, howzit goin?"

Record it, save it, send it to [email protected]

So what are you waiting for? Get a wriggle on!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE

G'day! Welcome to my podcast - Aussie English from the sticks!

I've been very encouraged by some of my listeners, who have sent messages asking when the next episode will arrive. Well here it is! This is episode four.

As I mentioned in the introduction to this podcast, I will record something ocasionally when I find time. I'm a married man (sorry ladies) with four children. And that keeps me flat out.

First off today I'm gonna give you a few words in Aussie English, then I'll give you all a bit of homework. Reckon you can handle that?

OK, here we go. First off, listen to these words and see if you can notice something strange about Aussie English.

• Shower
• Mister (Mr)
• Here
• Plumber
• Rider
• Roller coaster
• Caterpillar

Are you noticing something here? Something about words ending in the R sound? We're kinda lazy and leave it off.

It's funny, cos when I was in Russia, one day I found my translators chatting together and laughing... they were mimmicking the way we say "SHOWER" and having a good old giggle about it.

Our British friends have a similar issue, maybe not as strong. Now compare those words to how an American might say them.

Alright, time to put on my American voice... it'll be close enough for this example - all I really need to do his pinch my nose, haha! (it's a joke)

• ShowER
• MistER (Mr)
• HeRE
• PlumbER
• RidER
• RollER coastER
• CaterpillAR

Oh yeeee!

OK, that should prepare you for what you might hear if you are speaking to an Aussie. Especially if they say "G'day mate. That shower's blocked by a caterpillar, but I can't get hold of the plumber cos he's stuck on a roller coaster".

You never know, it could happen!

Rightio, we come now to the part where I give you a homework assignment. Have you got a microphone? There's plenty of free audio recording programs at FileHippo.com - the one I use is Audacity.

Now I want you to record your best effort at saying: "G'day mate, howzit goin?"

Let me slow that down so you can copy me carefully.

"G'day mate, howzit goin?"

Email your mp3 file to [email protected], and I'll pick a few of the best and put them in my next podcast.

--- LATER ---

Well here I am at work, and you may be able to hear the noises of my work environment in the background. I thought I better finish off the recording so I can post the podcast.

It's been a while, it seems it's very difficult to find time to sit down at the computer. So, I'm using my iPod to finish off this recording.

Earlier I recorded some sounds of birds outside my house. I thought you might enjoy that as a little excursion. Enjoy this, and we'll see you in the next podcast.

--- EXCURSION OUTSIDE ---


Cockatoos. Traffic. Magpies. That's a PeeWee. And crows. There's a crow. You can hear the magpies and the peewees. I can also hear a bullen bullen (note: commonly called Mallee Ringneck Parrot, see picture on the left). Well there goes a car, I'm sure you've got those. And sparrows. Sometimes we hear kookaburras.
And babies :-)
I'm holding baby Amalia right now.




Words you might wanna know:

Flat Out: Very fast; Very busy
Reckon? Do you think?
Rightio/Righto Okay; Sure; No problems!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE

Aaaah, that good old Aussie tune, The Road to Gundagai, played by clarinetist Alex Hutchinson.

G'day and Happy Australia Day!

Yeah, that's right... today is the 26th of January, 2010. We celebrate Australia on this day every year.

So, what about Australia? What is it we celebrate? Well, for some it isn't a celebration at all. In fact, some Australians call it "Invasion Day" - especially the Aboriginal people.

You see, in January 1788 the "First Fleet" arrived from Britain carrying over 1,400 passengers and crew who would be the first white inhabitants on this beautiful island continent.

But this was no luxury cruise, these passengers were mostly convicts. It was not only the first white settlement, but the first penal colony.

There are many songs about that day, and many songs about poor Englishmen and Irishmen who were convicted of a crime and were "Bound for Botany Bay".

You know, even today a lot of English call Australians "convicts", and regard Australia as a barren, desert island.

Well that's a load of hogswash. What would those poms know anyway? We flog 'em at whatever sport they invent or try to dominate! Cricket, rugby league, rugby union, swimming, tennis...

Righto, I better back off a bit, I think I'm gettin' a little patriotic.

Anyway, what better way to celebrate Australia Day than to honour the Australian Anthem?

We have a pretty snazzy anthem, says me. Some people want to change the anthem to Waltzing Matilda, which I think is a totally stupid idea, because Waltzing Matilda says nothing about our country. It doesn't even say the word "Australia" in it. It's just an Aussie folk song, which is good in itself, but not for an anthem.

So here is our National Anthem. Please follow along to Advance Australia Fair!

Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea:
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page let every stage
Advance Australia fair,
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia fair.

That was beautiful...

Well it's been great having a good old chinwag with you, but I better hit the sack, cos tomorrow it's back to work! (Unless I chuck a sickie).

Enjoy your Australia Day! Seeya later when ya legs are straighter!


Words you might wanna know:

Aboriginal, Aborigine: Original inhabitants of a country. Native.
Convict: Convicted criminal, prisoner.
Hogwash: False talk, lies, silly rumours.
Flog 'em: To beat them (in sport, games etc), conquer them.
Snazzy: Very impressive, nice.
Chinwag: Chat, friendly talk.
Hit the sack: Go to bed.
Chuck a sickie: Have a day off work due to sickness (but usually when you are not truely sick)