Aussie Expressions!!

[surfergirl]

I often shorten my words & confuse people. Even though my main tongue = language. There is many dialects in The English. Amazing when you think about it. When I message a friend & i say...you or you guys..i refer to the 3rd person. Not any singular. So I hope not to make anyone a target.. So my culture is a mixture of the surf lingo & being around so many different backgrounds has a bearing. & people that live in the West. We refet to them as the Westies...

Some say Shrimp..I say prawn.

Some say cab..I say Taxi..

When I say Holden its my automobile ,.car, vechile

So friends what expressions , terms do you use that are shortened. We can understand each other more?

[ava]

I have an Chicago Accent. I currently live in Texas and people down here think I talk funny. I think I talk fine, at least when I am back home I sound like everyone else, lol.

One thing we do in Chicago is call "soda" (such as Coke, Pepsi, etc) as "pop". I say "pop" and people down here will reply back "what's a pop" lol. If I am at a restaurant and I ask the waitress "what kind of pop do you have?" I get his odd look, lol. They always say back to me "What do mean by pop"

In Chicago, we tend to mess with our vowels as well. I don't really notice it, but apparently other people do. We also talk fast. Now that I am in Texas, I have to be real careful, especially when I am giving a part at the KH or making comments, I have to force myself to try to go slower cause people sometimes struggle to understand me. My husband has sometimes said on the stage during a part like after the bible highlights "Those were some of the points I liked, now I would like to hear what 'youse guys' think" LOL!!!!!

[surfergirl]

some say cell phone I say mobile

some say candy we say. lollies

[Greenfield]

Ava - how different is a Chicago accent from a Wisconsin accent? Around here a few people will say 'youse' but most of us don't. It is soda, not pop, haha. Supposedly 'bubbler' for water fountain is only from here, I wonder if that is true. Gabe - thanks for explaining the Holden. I must admit I saw that before and was a little puzzled! I do say taxi instead of cab however.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Greenfield

[GrumpysWife]

In New England, USA, instead of soda or pop, we say tonic. We also lose many of our R's in words such as Car is pronunced caah. A takes the place or the R. Like pahk the caah in the grage. My father was very concerned if we didn't speak correctly and he would slap us whenever we spoke like this. We learned very fast not to use these short cuts.

[bohemian]

In the part of Northern England where I originate many words are shortened:

with becomes wi'

was is wo'

aitches are regularly dropped unless you want to 'talk posh'!

We also use remnants of thee and thou in colloquial speech, but often abbreviated. Thee becomes thi' ; thou becomes tha'.

Vowels are shortened too where possible.

If I spoke like this in London, no-one would understand me, and I am still surprised by how colloquial the speech is in the North even at meetings.

The Northern vowel sounds are a real help in learning Czech, though! They use similar sounds and so my Czech, although imperfect grammatically is spoken virtually without accent.

[barbara10]

Here in Daytona this is really a melting pot. We have people from New England with their accents, New Yorkers, Jerseyites, Chicago, Minnesotans, etc. We hear all kinds of accents. And some speak slow, some fast. True Floridians born and raised here have more of a Southern accents, with y'all, pop, buggy (shopping cart), etc. We have a sister in our congregation who has lived in the States for years and years, and STILL has her British accent. One sister on the platform Wednesday night spoke so fast, I could hardly keep up with her! I was born and raised in New Jersey, traveled the country for quite a few years and have adopted different ways of pronouncing words. But when I say "quarter," people always can tell I'm a Jersey girl! Also, "God" was pronounced "Gawd!" Think I need a beer now!

[clez]

we do have a strange way of communicating I remember when we had some Japanese pioneer girls stay in our cong. for a few months as a greeting we would say

Hi howya goin.................:ohmy:they would frown and look so hurt and walk away finally one had enough courage to say

"Goin why you tell us GO we want to come we want to stay.

It took a lot of explaining to say going meant to stay a friendly way of saying hello.

I still think they can't get their head around it they would say Hi how are you coming.

As a nation we are notrious for dropping our g's

Sticky tape is called Durex in England or scotch tape Durex has another meaning as does Clag glue

In England isn't orange juice called something else?

[Catalyst]

Don't forget people from London like me use rhyming slang

I believe it also comes up in some Australian slang too

up the apples

don't forget yer titfer

keep yer minces peeled

I like yer new whistle

Hows the trouble and strife?

For goodness sake use your crust!

Let me take a butchers at it

[surfergirl]

We say Thongs others say flip flops..

[clez]

up the creek without a paddle

stone the crows

she"ll be right

flat out like a lizard drinking

take that where the sun doesn't shine

[Myree]

Fair dinkum

I don't say "the friends" - we just call them brothers and sisters;

Witnessing is field service;

He's a few sandwiches short of a picnic; or "he's got kangaroos loose in the top paddock' (intellectually challenged);

G'Day;

Grog - alcohol;

Come the raw prawn (be disagreeable);

That'd be right!;

Yobbo (an uncouth person)