Why did the chicken cross the road? and other linguistic challenges

Why did the chicken cross the road is a classic joke, but we recently found out that it's very much an English-speaking-culture joke. We had dinner last week with two colleagues, one Australian and one German. After dinner we served our Australian guest tea in a mug that had a version of the chicken-road joke. It was a "Far Side" comic. She loved it, but confusion took over as we tried to explain to our German guest the meaning of the joke. She's fluent in English, but didn't understand why that version (or the original) made us smile. (The joke turns out to have quite a history, check it out here.) Humour is so much more about culture than it is about language.

We continued talking about humour and I brought up the example of Mr Bean. I'd thought he was pretty clever with his non-verbal humour that seems to be appreciated across cultures, but our friend tells us that in Germany, Mr Bean is seen as "British humour"!

Most of our colleagues and friends are not Australia, many are not native English speakers either. Sometimes people in Australia notice that our English isn't quite as Australian as it used to be and it's because we've spent nearly 24 years living and working outside of Australia in multicultural environments. It means some of our word choices are different, for example, I tend to say "bathroom" more often than "toilet" these days, simply because it's less likely to cause confusion or offence. I used "rush hour" just this morning and found out that "peak hour" is more often used in Australia. Probably "gas station" comes out more often than "petrol station". I tend not to use colloquial words like "arvo" or "footy" and geographically-tied words like "ute" (pickup truck) and "regional" (yes, this word is used differently in Australia to other parts of the world). Our accent has become more "international" and we probably don't lengthen our vowels as much as many Aussies do.

My work as an editor and writer means that words are on my mind a lot. Almost all I write is for an international audience. Both my jobs are with international teams who speak different kinds of English, or have English as their second, or third language. Linguistic challenges are often on the table for discussion, hence my apparently well-known "Wednesday Words" Facebook statuses. The other day I tried to set up an online meeting with a British colleague and American colleague. Communication went a little bit awry with what I suspect was a hastily written email by our British colleague that confused my American colleague. Each of us had a slightly different understanding of what had been written. No big deal, as far as I know. But it could easily have been.

Working in an environment like this can make you think more carefully about the words you use and how you say them. A good communicator thinks more about their audience than they might have in their own country. For example, if I'm talking to an American, I would tend to say "ketchup" not "tomato sauce" or "candy" not "lolly". If I'm talking to a friend who speaks English as their third language I might choose simpler words and sentences than I would when speaking to my Australian or British colleagues, not because my friend is unintelligent, but as a way of respecting them by speaking in a way they understand.

It might be a surprise to you, but the differences between our English go way beyond spelling, word usage is a big difference, and not simple biscuit vs cookie vs scone. Will I stand at the back of the room, or in back? Is it good or bad news if I hear "you lucked out"? Is the chicken walking in the road or on the road? But I think it's time I hopped on my bike and rode on the road to the grocery store.

English encounters in Tokyo

It's been too long since I've been here. I've had several people-intense days and no time or energy for writing. But today the writing "force" is strong and hard to resist. I know when I've been away too long when I can't decide on one single thing to write about...there's a lot buzzing around in my head.

But I'm already running out of time to get traction on my large to-do list, so here's a small offering.

Yesterday I had to print a A3-sized poster. The place to do that here is at a convenience store. It's been many years since I done this, but with no good reason to chicken out, I forged ahead, not knowing how this would go. (I have a dislike of using such machines in Japan, because it's so easy to make a mistake when you're language isn't super.) After all the worst that could happen would be that I'd have to swallow my pride and ask for help!

It turned out that I didn't need help at all. Good thing I speak "American English" though (wink). This was the touch screen that greeted me when I hit the "Language" button. Quite an impressive array of choices.

In English I had no problem negotiating my way through the screens. Then I got some entertainment (sorry for the poor photos, Japanese shops are seriously over-lit!). This screen appeared while I was waiting for my printout. There were three of these that rotated through while I waited. So cute, so Japanese!

I have to note that this machine was located in a convenience store within a stone's thrown of several universities and I suspect there are more foreigners frequenting this area of Tokyo than in many places in Japan. So I can't say that this would be so easy a task in a more rural area! But I am grateful whenever I find English in this country, especially good English.

I had no trouble sorting my rubbish at a local supermarket today. There are certain things that you can put in recycle bins at some supermarkets, but can't "recycle" them from home, that includes milk and juice cartons and polystyrene trays. We usually save them up and I take them every few weeks or so. But I was a little amused by the English on this poster. It seems that the synonyms "trash" and "garbage" have been allocated different meanings. "Garbage" meaning "food rubbish" and "trash" meaning "things that aren't supposed to go in this bin". Very subtle difference!

Ugly is okay?

There were two Australians and an American at a missionary conference in Japan. The American had been in Japan many less years than either Australian.

In a casual conversation, one Australian mentioned their son in passing, using the word "ugly" as a descriptor.

The North American was shocked and said so.

The other Australian pointed out that the comment was a beautiful example of contextualisation: that a Japanese person would naturally say such a thing about their child.

There was a pause in conversation as they considered that.
_______________

Of course the Australian was, perhaps, not being as Japanese in their comment as their colleague suggested (although after a lengthy period of living in this country, the ways of this country do rub off on you). For in Australia such a comment is just a bit of lighthearted tomfoolery. In Japan, a parent might say something like this out of humility. And, well, for an American, it was all rather a shock.

It's easy make assumptions or mistakes when you're dealing with multiple cultures, even between native English speakers.

Please don't assume you know who is who in this scenario!

Cross cultural communication in English

On Saturday after the cross-country finals we had lunch in the restaurant on the US recreation "base". An American restaurant with American friends. I was surprised at how much "translation" was required.

Our waiter was a trainee and drew a little diagram on his notepad to help him remember who ordered what. One of the Americans suggested after the waiter left that we could all switch seats. I said, with feigned admiration, "You're wicked!" That was met with confusion! We had to explain it meant "a bit naughty".

This led into a discussion about Australian humour, and that teasing, being "mean", or "paying out" was a sign of friendship.

Then another parent came over to say hi. He's an Aussie. His son had gotten a medal earlier so I congratulated him saying, "Good onya." That also required explanation for our American friends: "Well done"! 

Chips or fries? In Australia those words a synonyms (except at Maccas)

When the Aussie finished talking to us he said, "Well, I'll leave you to it!" That one also needed interpretation, it means "I'll let you get on with what you're doing."

The menus required some translation the other way. Hoagie rolls and Kaiser rolls! I'm still not really sure what they are. The waiter also asked if I wanted fries or chips. I looked at my friends and said, "Fries are hot and chips are cold, right?" They looked confused for a moment!

David was asked whether he wanted bacon or ham with his burger, he said, "ham" and deftly slipped in, "American bacon is too chewy!" (Lucky they let him get away with that virtual slander!)

Language is a fascinating thing. Finding Americans untouched by our brand of English can also be fun. But I'm still not interested in going to America, I think communication might be harder than I want to try.

We also discovered that none of them have tried Vegemite. I'm thinking we might need to do some more educating!

American School English

I hear it time and time again—starting at CAJ is a culture shock for those who've not experienced an American school system. Even for families where the parents are American but the kids have never been to school in America find CAJ a bit foreign. But there are many in the CAJ community who have little or no experience of the American education system. If I'd had a cheat-sheet of the below words when we started, I'm sure that that would have helped me out tremendously.

Freshman = 9th grader
Sophomore = 10th grader
Junior = 11th grader
Senior = 12th grader (at least we have this in Australia)

Varsity = top sporting team (A team)
Junior varsity  = second top sporting team (B team)

Concessions = a food-stall like a temporary tuckshop, usually found at sporting events

Spirit week = relates to school spirit. Spirit weeks/days at CAJ have involved people dressing up as various things (like "twins" or a book character) or wearing crazy hair or socks or sporting team wear
Pep rallies = another term related to school spirit, but usually more associated with school sporting events.

Lock in = a sleep-over at school, but not many people sleep.

Culminating events = varying assessment and events that come at the end of a term/semester/school year. I quite like this phrase. It includes serious things like exams, assignments, presentations, and performances as well as parties, concerts etc.

Commencement ceremony = Graduation. This event takes the cake with quirky terms like valedictorian (top academic performer), salutatorian (second top academic performer), invocation (I still don't know what this is), diploma (high school qualification you work towards throughout high school and receive at graduation) etc. See here.

Bake sale = usually a fundraiser involving food people have baked

Student council = do Australian schools have these? In American schools it looks like a political campaign, with pre-electoral self-promotion of the candidates and voting for offices like President, Secretary, Vice President, Treasurer.

Lettering/letterman = an award given for a certain level of sporting (and, at CAJ, musical/academic) achievement in an inter school environment. See here for more details: 

National Honor Society = this one I don't really get, especially as we're not in the nation of the US and many of us aren't US citizens. But it seems to be an "all rounder" kind of award: good academic achievement is required as well as noble character and public service. What I know comes from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Honor_Society

Packets = this is a CAJ word, not an American word, as far as I know. But it really annoys me. At CAJ it can mean a booklet of stapled together pages as well as a bunch of unconnected pages in a plastic or paper packet.

Back to School Day = I'm not sure if this is an American term or not, but it was a surprise to me. It is an open day at school near the beginning of the school year, but a rather directed one where information about school is imparted to parents.

Oh and then there are the academic terms you encounter in high school, AP, SAT, PSAT etc. (these are in the school handbook). Read about some of them here.

There are probably others that I can't remember, do you want to add some? 

But as you can see, coming into this system from another culture that doesn't have any of the above terms is rather a culture shock.

Studless tyres

It snowed on Sunday night and early Monday morning. If it hadn't have been a student-free workday for the teachers it would have been a snow day at school because getting around in the usual fashion wasn't easy. Tokyo quickly gets choked up when it snows.

Front of our house after I shovelled with the help of a
neighbour across the road. Before we started the snow
covered the green and white lines. The puddle that was left
in the gutter was a couple of centimetres deep. No gutter
sweeping possible!

Monday turned out pretty miserable weather-wise because as the day warmed up the snow turned to rain and everything got mushy. Anyone outside was dressed for snow and rain. Three of my guys went to shovel at CAJ and came home soaked. Shovelling wet snow is no fun either, it is very heavy.

This morning I discovered a pillowcase that fell off the
line yesterday. The snow melted and froze onto it.

But the rain didn't melt everything before the sun went down so what was left froze overnight. So we're still dealing with ice on roads in shady spots (like out the front of our house). 

I walked to the station yesterday morning and it was natsukashi (nostalgic) walking on crunchy ice. We spent our first four winters in Japan in Hokkaido, the queen of snowy conditions. I think it holds the record for the snowiest city in the world.

Some small delivery vehicles and vans had chains on yesterday for negotiating the little roads that haven't had sun. I reminds me of this photo I took a while back of a tyre display at a highway stop. The left tyre has chains, I presume one of the middle tyres is "studless".

This word I first encountered as a language student learning the alphabet primarily used for foreign words (katakana). It is a very useful alphabet because many of the foreign words come from English. My teacher had me doing reading practise and I came across this word: スタッドレスタイヤ（sutaddoresu taiya).  My teacher indicated it was an English word, but in the end he had to explain that it is a snow tyre with a winter tread, without the old-style studs that ripped up roads. I explained that it wasn't an English word where I came from. 

Here I posted about some other English words that have been "Japanized".

The great English divide

I periodically post language or other cultural questions on my Facebook page. Because I have friends from both sides of the American/Commonwealth English divide (and more besides, including South Africans, Singaporean, etc.) I often end up with some lively discussions. 

What do you call this? Port or suitcase or something else?

Here are some recent samples of less well-known differences in the English language:

Cordial
In Australia this is a cheap, coloured sweet drink (non-alcholic) bought as a liquid and diluted. Popular with children.

• KC wrote: "Wow, to me (a North American), a cordial would be an alcoholic drink, so I was a bit surprised when you said it is "popular with kids"! In the USA, a "cheap, colored, sweet drink that is made by adding water, is usually called "kool-aid," although that is a brand name and there are many no-brands of the same thing. The difference is that kool-aid starts as a powder, whereas it sounds like your "cordial" starts as a concentrated liquid."
• JM wrote: "We don't have an exact equivalent that I can think of, which is probably why I was starstruck by cordial the first time I drank it in Brisbane! It never occurred to me that it was unhealthy. Here are approximations that come to mind: when I was growing up, we had "frozen concentrated orange juice". It was a frozen can of orange stuff that you would reconstitute with water. In theory it was "real" orange juice but I'm not so sure about that now. Also, we had, and still have loads of powdered drinks like KoolAid and Tang....now there's Crystal Light..."

Fruit cake

Australian fruit cake is moist and uses dried friut. Apparently American fruitcake is often made on candied friuit and can be quite dry. It is also the butt of jokes. However my FB page revealed that some Americans do like American fruit cake. 

Upmarket

Means luxurious, appealing or catering to high-income consumers. Americans didn't seem to have heard of it, but rather used "high end".

Lego vs Legos

I saw this on a friend's page. What's the correct plural? Answer: neither, it depends on where you learnt your English. It's best on this one to agree to disagree.

You may have seen this amusing video of Australian vs US words going around, one of my language exchange partners enjoyed it so much that she asked to see it again on a later occasion and for the link to show her daughter.

But even within Australia there are variations, as this article demonstrates.

Ah, we live in an interesting world. Language is constantly changing. I was reminded of this recently when reading a poem by George Herbert (1593-1633). It has phrases like "The six daies world-transposing in an houre" and "Heaven in ordinary, man well drest". Obviously we can still read and understand these words, but the spelling is different.

So we may rally against different English uses but ultimately in a multicultural environment the only way to live at peace with one another is to be tolerant of one another's differences.

Burger or sandwich?

I posted this on my Facebook status one day last month, I ended up with a lot of comments from various parts of the globe:

Another subtle difference between American and Australian English. Sandwich. This Aussie (and her husband at least) only calls something between slices of bread a sandwich. If the bread is shaped differently, like a roll/bun it is called something else like a burger or roll. 
But a discussion last night revealed that some/many Americans, only call something a burger if it has a meat patty in it. Hence a "steak sandwich" which an Aussie would call a "steak burger". What do you think? Am I right? Perhaps Australia has changed while we've been gone!

Essentially it turned out I was right (although there were exceptions, notably a good friend called Roger). Georgia summarised it neatly by saying that in America it is what is inside that determines what it is called. In Australia it seems more common to be the type of bread that determines it.

This is the one that particularly blew the minds of Americans: that a Steak Burger is an unground piece of steak in a bread roll. To them, it would be ground steak or what I'd call a meat patty.

Interestingly, the FB comments also included sidetracks onto "bacon and chippy butties" which is British and I have no idea about.

Ah, the English language is a funny beast. And because I have friends from a variety of countries and who speak a number of varieties of English, I can have a lot of fun with these kinds of posts on Facebook!

Today I had a bit of a discussion at church about "cobbler", which I think is an American version of what we call "crumble".

This afternoon we're making an Apple Crumble with some of the 100 yen/kilo apples that we bought on the way home from camping last week. Whatever it is call, it is definitely YUM!

Spelling in an American accent

Sometimes I end up in conversations about what it's like to have Australian kids in an American school. One thing that's come up has been spelling lists centred around certain phonetic sounds.

Here a list that came home today, it is supposed to have the same sound in all the words:

octagon
taught
pause
bought
awful
often
broad
dolphin
watch
author

I'm not sure if all Americans say all these with the same "aw", but we Aussies sure don't. I taught my boys to read at home using an Australian phonetic system, I'm really glad I didn't use an American system, I would never have coped!

Nevertheless, this isn't a big deal. These spelling words can be learnt, even if they don't fit the neat categories they are supposed to!

What other challenges do you think an Australian might have in an American-system school?

Answer to the Australian English quiz

Thanks for all the great responses to this quiz. It was fun to see people giving it a go. You'll probably have guessed that these are all colloquial words. I've had fun looking them up and giving you meanings, as well as examples of some (actually it's been a serious time-waster this morning, but a fun one).

1. Bonzer    g. great

Eg. 2006, Philippa Todd, Dangerous Dating, page 110:

The sadness about his father left his face, and he smiled. He seemed pleased to have something positive to do. / 'That's bonzer, Annie. Thanks' he said. 'You're a good sort. And as for Ches, well, he's real bonzer too . . .

It's found in a variety of Australian literature, including Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, 1915. It is a little old fashioned now.

2. Chunder    j. vomit

There is a remarkable number of colloquial words for vomit in Australia, this is but one. I'll spare you any examples.

3. Bludge   h. not doing anything

Eg: "I took PE because I thought it would be a bit of a bludge. Turns out they expect you to run every day!"

4. Dunny  b. toilet, either the room or the fixture itself.

Eg. 2008, Judith L. McNeil, No One's Child, page 95,

There was one leaning dunny down the back and, if you stayed very quiet, on a very still day you could hear the white ants as they chewed the wood.The bottom boards were already eaten through, and I avoided using the dunny at all costs.

As an aside, would you believe that someone's made a toy called a "dunny"? Check it out here.

5. Flog  d. steal

This is a fascinating word to look up. When I was a kid "Did ya' flog that?" meant, "Did you steal it?"

6. Possie   k. position

Eg. 2009, Andrew Bain, Ethan Gelber, Cycling Australia, Lonely Planet, page 346,

It′s in a good people-watching possie and if you have an early dinner between 3pm and 7pm you get a 40% discount.

7. Ridgy-didge   a. genuine, original, honest

Aussie synonyms: fair dinkum, dinkum, true blue, for real, dinky-die

It also means "fine". 

Eg. 2001, Bryce Courtenay, Four Fires, Volume 1, 2010, Large print edition, page 278,

Sit them in the dam, wait for the fire to pass over, everything will be ridgy-didge.

8. Ropable  i. angry

Eg. 2009, Sean Dooley, Cooking with Baz, page 115,

The phone rang a couple of hours later and it was Di. I have never heard her more ropable in my life; it is the only tongue-lashing I ever remember getting from her and it was excoriating.

9. Sickie  e. malingering

It's a sick day you take when you don't feel like going to work or you've had too much to drink the night before. This is, in fact, a common word in the UK too. At this website I discovered that the first Monday in February is informally called the "National Sickie Day".

10. Tucker  c. food

"Ta for the tucker." Translates as, "Thanks for the food." Yes, "Ta" is another Australian slang word, though it's used frequently, possibly I'd use it more frequently than any of the rest of these words. "Thank you" is just too formal for Aussies much of the time.

11.  Yakka   l. hard work

Almost solely used as "hard yakka". We even have a clothing brand called, "Hard Yakka". According this this website, the word derives from an indigenous word from a tribe native to the Brisbane area.

12. Doovelackie (correct spelling according to The Macquarie Dictionary)   f. thing

This one caused the most comments from Australians. It has many synonyms: doover, whatchamacallit, whomajigger, hozza meebob, thingamajig, thing. 

Here is one place to look up these words (plus many others!). Compared to many of these sorts of resources, it's fairly clean (if you skim over the references to vomit by various names).
http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/aust-eng.html

Australian English quiz

Okay, I've got my Aussie English hat on. Can you, non-Aussies, guess the meaning of these words?

1. Bonzer
2. Chunder
3. Bludge
4. Dunny
5. Flog
6. Possie
7. Ridgy-didge
8. Ropable
9. Sickie
10. Tucker
11. Yakka
12. Doo velacki

Here are the answers, can you match them up to the correct word?

a. genuine

b. toilet

c. food

d. steal

e. malingering 

f. thing

g. great

h. no doing anything

i. angry

j. vomit

k. position

l. hard work

Answers coming up in a couple of days.

Mystery word revealed

Yesterday's mystery word was capsicum (Australia, NZ, and India) and pepper (UK and US).

Capsicum is actually the scientific name for this fruit. Curiously the Japanese word for it is Peemahn (ピーマン） . I've read that this comes from the French (or Spanish?) word piment, but I haven't any idea if that is true.

I ran into trouble with this word when buying lunch at Subway at Yokota Air Base earlier in the year. I was served by Japanese who spoke just passable American English. My American English was challenged when I had to translate "capsicum" into what they would understand. I really felt like a double foreigner!

But it is hard to find a word that the US and UK use, but Australians don't. 

Lesley suggested vest (UK)/singlet (Aust) (sleeveless undergarment worn in cold weather)—I'm not sure what Americans call this. Except that I know the word "singlet" in the US is a wrestler's one-piece suit.

Wikipedia has a nice entry on Australian English, it includes this:

Terms shared by British and American English but not so commonly found in Australian English include: abroad (overseas);cooler/ice box (esky); pickup truck (ute); wildfire (bushfire).

In addition, a number of words in Australian English have different meanings to those ascribed in other varieties of English. Clothing-related examples are notable. Pants in Australian English refer to British English trousers but in British English refer to Australian English underpants; vest in Australian English refers to British English waistcoat but in British English refers to Australian English singlet; thong in both American and British English refers to underwear otherwise known as a G-string while in Australian English it refers to British and American English flip-flop.

An American in Australia: language barrier

In the area we come from, these people are wearing
"togs". What do you call them?

This morning I stumbled upon an old blog post by an American struggling with the language barrier in Australia: Learning the Lingo. She was in Melbourne, where they do use some different words to what we use in Queensland (like costume for togs (Qld) or swimwear). But it is interesting to read about some of the struggles Americans have with Australian English.

I remember some American missionaries who were in our home church a few years back. One night the husband went looking for some over-the-counter medicine for his sick wife. He stopped people on the street and asked, "Do you know a drug store that's open?" He got some strange looks, and was lucky he wasn't nabbed by the police!

The name of these can cause great embarrassment
in American circles, Australians call them "thongs".

The main reason English speakers struggle in another English-speaking country is that they assume that all English is the same and therefore they'll be understood. Not true!

By the way, I discovered a word that only Australians and New Zealanders (and maybe scientists) use. The difference with this one is that for the same object, British and US citizens are united in their word choice. Very unusual. Can you guess the word?

"Darby and Joan"

I used this phrase in American company the other day and came up with a blank. Is it only a U.K. origin thing? This webpage seems to indicate so.

For any who don't know this phrase, it means a devoted old couple leading a contented, if a somewhat boring life.

Taken 10 years ago. A long way from being
"Darby and Joan" yet.

Generally I've heard it used in a slightly negative, yet perhaps nostalgic fashion about oneself. "Ah, look at us, Darby and Joan." According to Wikipedia, Ruth Rendell wrote this in The Best Man to Die (1981), "My father called my mother darling once or twice and there was a kind of Darby and Joan air about them." I found a lovely blog post by an Australian here, using the phrase in the way I'd use it (it also includes the words of a song called "Darby and Joan".

As I looked it up online, I was surprised at how many literary and musical references there are. Here are some other uses of the phrase:

• There is a website of this name: http://www.darbyandjoanvintage.co.uk/ It's devoted to vintage china and accessories.
• And the Darby and Joan organisation: http://www.darbyandjoan.org Established more than 60 years ago. They care for elderly in their district in England.
• Darby and Joan Ltd. is on Facebook. They are event (presumably vintage events) planners in Derbyshire.
• A painting by an Australian in the 1800s is called Darby and Joan. 
• Would you believe I found a Darby and Joan Cabernet and Chardonnay from Australia.
• And finally, a quaint video clip about the opening of the Darby and Joan club in 1942 in Streatham, London.

So, tell us, where has this phrase ended up? Have some Americans heard of it?

An Australian Christmas

Yesterday I spent over half an hour with the first graders at CAJ. I thought some of you might be interested in what we did. 


Firstly I asked them to be detectives while watching a short slideshow of photos from our own Australian Christmases, to discover some differences. They did a great job. Here are some of the photos I showed them:

Yep, beach holidays.

Summer camps for kids. We helped out on this one for middle schoolers.

This is what happens when you help out on camps (this is molasses among other things).

This is an end-of-the-school-year party, which, of course becomes
a Christmas party because it is December.

BBQ

Getting together with family.

It's hot! This got some gasps, because men don't usually
go shirtless in Japan.

Outdoor carols by candlelight.

Actually this was a huge presentation by a local church in our area.
Live camels and everything.

Followed by fireworks.

Backyard cricket, often on Christmas afternoon.

And if you're lucky enough, find some water to play in. This is
a creek on the property my brother and sister-in-law were working on at the time.

The photos were fun. I haven't shown you the best ones, because they are of our kids, who were recognised by the Grade Ones, to their amusement.


Then I read and explained the book, Aussie Jingle Bells, to them. Here's a Youtube clip by the author. I showed this to them after I explained words like singlet, thongs, ute, swaggie (that one was hard), and "shoot through".

Do you want explanations too?


Singlet is a sleeveless t-shirt. Essential for hot, summer days.
Thongs in Australia are flip-flops.
A ute is a pick-up truck in the US. People sit in the front and the back is an open tray/tray with sides.
Swaggie, short for swagman is difficult to explain briefly because it goes back a ways in Australian history. Basically a transient worker who carries his swag/bedroll on his back. Here's Wikipedia's entry.
Esky is a cooler that you keep food/drink in.
Holden. You know this, surely? An Australian brand of car.
Kelpie is an Australian sheep dog.
Beaut is Aussie slang for amazing, great, or even beautiful.
Shoot through is to escape or depart quickly.


After all that information gathering, I asked them to design a stamp. Australia Post releases special Christmas stamps every year (I'd forgotten this). So I set the kids loose to design their own and many did a great job. I think one of my favourites was Santa in a t-shirt and shorts with burnt arms. This activity was so easy, because it required no extra preparation on my part, love that kind of activity!


So, there you go. Australian Christmas. It's almost enough to make me feel homesick!