There are some very interesting insights into Australian culture for Americans here. I pretty much knew everything about Australia, which is reassuring. I'm not sure I'd agree with Americans trying to say the word "G'Day" much though. They mangle it dreadfully and I'd be tempted to laugh at them. I learnt (or learned for the US educated) some things about America, for example a “main course” (as the US use it) is an entrée in Australia, while “entrée” is the term used to refer to an appetizer.
22 October, 2009
Aussie culture explained for North Americans
There are some very interesting insights into Australian culture for Americans here. I pretty much knew everything about Australia, which is reassuring. I'm not sure I'd agree with Americans trying to say the word "G'Day" much though. They mangle it dreadfully and I'd be tempted to laugh at them. I learnt (or learned for the US educated) some things about America, for example a “main course” (as the US use it) is an entrée in Australia, while “entrée” is the term used to refer to an appetizer.
Canadian's mangle G'day too! Quite honestly, I get very tired of N. Americans (from Canada or the USA) making fun of or trying to imitate Australian speech. They don't do it to the Asians that I work with, so why should they do it to me? I guess I must be an easy target! Interestingly a N.A. text book used in our school has a number of Aussie slang terms, but some of them are so "quaint" that I'm not sure the last time I heard some of them used in every day conversations. Hmmm. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteAmericans are too animated to speak Strayan. They end up saying "gidday", like giddup. They don't seem to understand that there is nothing at all between that G and that day. Laconic is too far a step for them.
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