communication

artwork & content Copyright Jean Burman 2007

What a funny thing language is! In a world where over 6800 languages are spoken across 200 different countries… you would expect there to be a whole lot of c-o-m-m-u-n-i-c-a-t-i-n-g going on… (and you would be right!)

But not so in the 46 or so English speaking countries of the world where it would seem that our language is the only glue that sticks us all together… but understanding each other has become “a challenge” at one end of the spectrum… and a “unique” and “virtually incomprehensible” artform at the other!

Take for instance… the example of the hapless aussie huddled in a phone booth late at night somewhere (read ~lost~) in downtown Edinburgh Scotland. As the rain thunders down he huddles closer to make the call that would surely save he and the family from a cold night on the street… the street that they had driven up and down and round and round at least a dozen or so times that night. He places the call to the hotel while “the fam” waits in the car.

“Hello? hello? Oh g’day… can y’ hear me?” he bellows down the phone.
Yes… yes… “we hear you” groans the fam… and so can everyone else within spitting distance of the proverbial black stump!

“Yeah yeah we got a booking but we don’t know where t’ go. Yep yep… yep… eh?”

O-oh this was not going well.

“… beg yours? … yep… okay… eh?… errr… beg yours?… repeat that if yer can… slower this time… ehhhh?”

*sigh* Thought to self… “if he says ‘beg yours’ one more time I’m gonna get out of this car and whack him repeatedly over the head with this rather large pile of street maps” I mean… what does that mean? Precisely… it means nothing!

It was at this point that this aussie decided he would never be able to communicate with the Scots despite the commonality of our language and heritage (consequently… I handled it from there!)

As for me… I like to think of my accent as being somewhat “international” (ahem) having been mistaken for someone else in 33 languages! The Americans thought I was English, the Irish thought I was American, the French thought I was German (despite the distinctly “strine” twang in my schoolgirl French), the English thought I was one of those “dreadful savages” from South Africa (but that’s another story ~grin~) and the Scots just thought I was more than a little bit queer… (in the straight sense of the word tho) *wink*

But fortunately for we hapless aussies (stumbling around dropping consonants and flattening vowels)… wherever we went we were (once our nationality had been established) welcomed with open arms. The French and the Irish (having at least one thing in common) were grateful we weren’t English… and the Irish were grateful we weren’t American! Sheesh… never before had I ever been so totally accepted by default! LOL

This week I watched a rather fascinating documentary “The Sounds of Aus” which took a perilously close look at the quirks and peculiarities of the aussie accent. Apparently… we have the most difficult accent of all to emulate… our “unique” flat sound resonating from a somewhat lazy soft palate! hmmmm…. that’s definitely something to keep in mind… ~grin~

Anyway… the upshot of it all seems to be that over the 200 or so years of our short tenure here on this continent we have collectively

“shed the cultural cringe that made the “received pronunciation” of the English upper class a kind of linguistic role model”

Strewth… that’s a relief…

and “nor is the Ocker accent as important as it once was in defining our national voice – fewer of us speak like Hoges or Steve Irwin”

Crikey… it’s about time… I was getting kinda sick of jumping crocs and simply haven’t got the strength to toss one more shrimp on the barbie… *sigh*

And while the aussie accent has become deregulated and is open to an unprecedented array of influences from across the globe
‘it is unlikely that exposure to American culture or other global forces will diminish what makes it distinctive.’

Heysup dude… we’s got our own crib! *wink* LOL

So it seems… we aussies can breathe a sigh of relief that our language (along with the economy) not only remains intact… but has come into it’s own!

But that doesn’t mean we will have to stop speaking Queenslandish does it? (Man… what planet are we on?)

Ahhhh… Queensland… beautiful one day… perfect the next… where a bludger’s a bloke who gets to pike out on his shout because the hole in the wall didn’t work… and he’s packing it because the rellies have packed their togs and are bringing a port from the big smoke in brissie this arvo… and he looks like a dag in his stubbies and thongs after a day sinking tinnies with his mates, doing doughnuts in his ute, and chucking U-ees in the street… sussing out the new wheels and taking a squizz under the bonnet… before going to the footy and crashing at the mate’s.

Yep… clear as mud…

But y’know… she’ll be right mate!

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