Regional differences in Australia

[shedcoupe]

Folks do you think there are noticeable differences in people and culture in Australia ? Accents maybe ?

I've lived in all the states and a couple of the territories and don't think there's much change but maybe there's some subtle variations - Adelaide people being a bit more polite and reserved for example (they're proud that they have no convict stain ....).

What do you think ?

[Polyal]

Wow..LOL...no convict stain? Thread will end in tears.

[cs123]

I imagine this conversation happened in the 1950s in England

"We've got this splendid new atomic bomb, I want to test it"
"OK, sir, Where?"
"Somewhere that nobody cares about"
"I know just the place sir... It's called South Australia"
"Excellent"

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by cs123

I imagine this conversation happened in the 1950s in England

"We've got this splendid new atomic bomb, I want to test it"
"OK, sir, Where?"
"Somewhere that nobody cares about"
"I know just the place sir... It's called South Australia"
"Excellent"

Have you read the books about it?....you should, its a national disgrace, especially the awards given out by the British Gov, to their antipodean lackeys!


Cheers Billy.

[Citroënbender]

I found Tasmanians to have an interrogative upward inflection at the end of their speaking. “See you next Tuesday for dinner, yeah?”

[FTE217]

hehe, is this thread due to covid State wars more so lol......

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by FTE217

hehe, is this thread due to covid State wars more so lol......

I believe there is a correlation between the perpetrators of unlawful behavior and the spread of virus through those same unwashed.

It comes from an arrogance all of its own.

They also say pewl instead of pool and skewl instead of school, who does that.

[Citroënbender]

Does plant rhyme with can’t, or with pant? Should the “r” in iron, be rendered or left silent?

I used to unintentionally amuse one girlfriend by pronouncing béchamel as “bekhamel”. It felt wrong to squash the ch into “sh”.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

Folks do you think there are noticeable differences in people and culture in Australia ? Accents maybe ?

I've lived in all the states and a couple of the territories and don't think there's much change but maybe there's some subtle variations - Adelaide people being a bit more polite and reserved for example (they're proud that they have no convict stain ....).

What do you think ?

QLD......eh...eh.

NSW.....but...but

It's an odd way to end a sentence, but eh!...

Cheers Billy

[naddis01]

The people out here in Broken 'ill are different. With their spoggies, cheeseslaw and 'Where are you to?'.

[FTE217]

you just did

[FTE217]

Oh it came to me, those pronunciations are very Turnball Eastern Suburbs speak.
You know, every place has its posh my poo don't stink enclaves.

[Jastel]

Accents here are nowhere near as bad as USA or UK regional variations.
travel 30 miles in England and its a new language.

But words can have different meanings or things have different names in different states here. eg - slab = beer or cement depending on where you live.

Then you have the city/country speak divide.

[Mulva]

I'm from SA and several times in both Vic and NSW people have picked me as being from SA due to my accent. Back in early 2000s in Vic a guy said he know I wasn't a local as I both paid for my ticket on tram and also gave up my seat for a lady.

Definitely some words have different meanings too - you guys over east drink pots, here in SA we smoke it.

Also remember me and mates being hung over in Airlie Beach and the shop owner picked us as South Aussies before we opened our mouths as we nearly got run-over blindly crossing the street when we saw he stocked Farmers Union.

I've found Vic and NSW drivers are better at letting people merge than here in SA - think it is because your road systems would be even more chaotic if everyone fought for their position like we do here.

After a driving holiday through Qld, NSW, ACT and Vic we formed the opinion Victorian drivers totally suck **** as everytime someone was either hogging the right lane or sped up in overtaking lane they always had Vic plates no matter what state we were in. Then we got to Vic and found the majority weren't really that bad - then realised all those stupid "Victorians" interstate were probably hire cars registered out of Vic, so they were probably tourists from all over the place

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by Mulva

- you guys over east drink pots, here in SA we smoke it.

Only Mexicans Drink Pots.. We New South Welshmen Drink; Middy's or Schooners..

Given the Almost TOTAL absence of Australian Content of Kids TV/Youtube/Netfix. Our Kids are becoming more & more Americanized by the Day..

You only have look at some of the old Australian TV shows from the 60's & 70's to see this Trend..

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Only Mexicans Drink Pots.. We New South Welshmen Drink; Middy's or Schooners..

Given the Almost TOTAL absence of Australian Content of Kids TV/Youtube/Netfix. Our Kids are becoming more & more Americanized by the Day..

You only have look at some of the old Australian TV shows from the 60's & 70's to see this Trend..

My wife does childcare for a job and one of he kids a couple of yeas ago would speak with an American accent when he played

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

My wife does childcare for a job and one of he kids a couple of yeas ago would speak with an American accent when he played

Can confirm, I also work in a childcare centre from time to time, the children from Indian or Asian families, they sound like Dora the explorer.
Language is pliable, my 16yo daughter speaks differently depending on who she is in the company of.

[Mulva]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Given the Almost TOTAL absence of Australian Content of Kids TV/Youtube/Netfix. Our Kids are becoming more & more Americanized by the Day..

It's good to see it now coming back their way - American kids have been binging Pepper Pig during lockdown and are now speaking with posh English accents.

[Crazy Dazz]

Huge Variation in Accents

From what I believe is Queensland and some NSW (?) you have Strine,
then from further south you have the oi

West Australians, by and large, sound far more "British". To the extent that when travelling in the USA, they will pick us as British rather than Australian. I putt this down to a few factors: Huge postwar migration from the UK; possibly the Seth Efrican and Rhodesian influence, the way our Primary School teachers were all taught to "annunciate" and the way our last century newsreaders and radio hosts were all told to talk proper.

Now I have always assumed that saying G'Day, and calling everyone Mate, was ubiquitous across this great land. But I have seen many reports suggesting it's not as universal as we believed.

Certainly one thing that's unique to WA, is referring to everywhere else in Australia as "Over East" or "The Eastern States".
That said, something I've found to be utterly bizarre is people from Sydney referring to the rest of NSW as "Out West"
Oh, and don't get me started on the penchant for calling everyone "darling"

[Trevor 57]

I can generally pick South Aussie pretty quickly, FNQ are pretty easy to pick as well. I am told there is a W.A. accent due to the high English migration there but I can't pick it up

And when you look at the USA and the UK, particularly the UK they have such short distances and the accents vary so much, I am surprised we don't have great variances here, it has been nearly 250 years

There are certainly different words for the same thing is Aussie - Vict - potato cake which other States call something else, slab of beer versus box of beer etc

I spent a lot of time in Brissy back in 1991 and I thought their drivers were **** compared to Vict and at about that time I remember NSW were betting at letting me merge than Vict

[aussiblue]

West Australians, by and large, sound far more "British". To the extent that when travelling in the USA, they will pick us as British rather than Australian. I putt this down to a few factors: Huge postwar migration from the UK; possibly the Seth Efrican and Rhodesian influence, the way our Primary School teachers were all taught to "annunciate" and the way our last century newsreaders and radio hosts were all told to talk proper.

There was a study done some years ago by Pauline Bryant (check Google scholar) of UWA that explained that the reason that eastern staters mispronounced town name like Albany (saying All- Bany insteand of A- bany) and Derby (Darby in stead of Durby) and many other English words was due to their convict past and an attempt to "put on airs" or sound posh and hide their convict past. Unlike the most of the eastern states, WA was founded as a free colony although it much later asked for and got convicts when the Goldrush created a local labor shortage. In any event, apparently WA never had the same issue of trying to hide their convict past by trying to use posh sounding words. WA's physical isolation from the heathens in the other states meant unlike other "free founded states" such as South Australia also meant we remained more isolated from and less influenced by the language and accents used in the eastern states. We also it seems tried to fussier about the quality of convict sent to WA (see https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/...lapa.830101269 etc ) with perhaps mixed success but it did mean that we apparently considered our convicts better people than those eastern state's heathens so perhaps they didn't feel the same need to "put on airs".

Of course the invasion of North American and Easter State "heathen: fifo workers for our mining industry means that our superior language skills are now being corrupted. But that does not stop us from having a dig at those inferior eater staters whenever we get the opportunity (Franco Cuzzo will slip in now with his falsehood propaganda about the tax system and the eastern states supporting WA).

[shedcoupe]

No Frank won’t. Nobody cares about WA.
Australia is to the east of a line drawn between Melbourne and Brisbane - everything else is ‘the bush’.
WA’s importance is mining and crop revenues and that’s it.
For sandgropers the First Fleet, Eureka Stockade, Ned Kelly etc have zero significance.
It’s a little world all on its own, particularly the southwest corner which is an island surrounded by 270 degrees of ocean and 90 degrees of desert.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

No Frank won’t. Nobody cares about WA.
Australia is to the east of a line drawn between Melbourne and Brisbane - everything else is ‘the bush’.
WA’s importance is mining and crop revenues and that’s it.
For sandgropers the First Fleet, Eureka Stockade, Ned Kelly etc have zero significance.
It’s a little world all on its own, particularly the southwest corner which is an island surrounded by 270 degrees of ocean and 90 degrees of desert.

You forgot one, rural inbreeding
Rural folk in WA wear hoodies in summer?...I worked out it was to carry their "second head" around!..lol..


Cheers Billy

[shedcoupe]

You’re thinking of Tassie where your daughter is also your niece.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

You’re thinking of Tassie where your daughter is also your niece.

Only place i've ever seen a 2 for 1 hat sale..

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Only place i've ever seen a 2 for 1 hat sale..

And Bob is now your auntie!


Cheers Billy

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

You’re thinking of Tassie where your daughter is also your niece.

Dunno how to counter that one. lol

[shedcoupe]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Dunno how to counter that one. lol

Well if you looked at a map of Tasmania you’d have to say that Hobart must be a **** of a place but it’s really quite lovely.
Except for the occasional miserable overcast windy or sleety days - but wet is often good down there.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

Well if you looked at a map of Tasmania you’d have to say that Hobart must be a **** of a place but it’s really quite lovely.
Except for the occasional miserable overcast windy or sleety days - but wet is often good down there.

You may well be right about Slowbart,full of overpaid Pollies and public servants.That is why I am over 200kms away up nth

[Itsme]

Getting off the accent bandwagon I found Northern Australia locals from WA, NT & Northern QLD to be more friendlier than the southern states, some northern Qld locals spooked me with their redneck ways but overall I would live in Northern Australia anytime if I had the chance.