A Trip Down the Garden Path

Some would call it our mother language, and in many ways this is true. The English of Royal Britannia certainly did lay the foundations for SAE (Stanard Austalian English) as we know it today, and in lots ways the two are peas of the same pod. Though over two hundred years and 1000s of kilometres take their toll on any sort of seamless continuity tying Ye ol' England to The Newfoundland. This naturally gives rise to the wonders of dialects; we may speak English but it doesn't mean we always understand each other. Here are a few examples:

1. Cranky vs Cross
"I'm starting to get a little cranky with the amount of chatter going on here", this is the sort of phrase I have on loop in the classroom. Unfortunately 'cranky' seems to have no meaning over here, other than getting a few sniggers and a number of puzzled faces, this direction is pretty useless. However, substitute in 'cross' and you (usually) get a result. To be truthful, I had forgotten this word existed. I mean, I remember it from a time long ago, I think my mum used to say it when my sister and I had been naughty little girls. I know she doesn't use it any more; 'cross' seems to have left cousin 'cranky' on our Aussie shores, to take up residence more permanently over here.

2. This is a straight forward one. I often like to sign my work related emails With 'thanks heaps' particularly when it involves someone helping me out with something. A more suitable substitute if you live in England would be 'thanks loads'. In fact swap 'heaps' for 'loads' in any situation over here and it works like a dream: I have loads of work to do, miss you loads, etc, etc.

3. "You've been away a few days, were you poorly?" I heard a teacher ask a student this today. 'poorly' has me thinking of the child eating baked beans from a can with the electricity cut.

4. 'it's year 9 not grade 9 Miss!" so a student told me, "We're not in America you know." Okay, okay, I'll promise to get it right next time...

5. Incorrect verb conjugations:
"we was on our way home..."
"they is coming along later..."
"you and me has lots to talk about..."

I suppose it's not unlike the Aussie tendency to turn 10 word into one:
"whatayadointhisweeken?"

6. Glen used to get frustrated with me when I would say 'you reckon?" and "you know" as the most unnecessary add ons at the end of every second sentence. Regardless of whether I needed someone else's 'reckoning' or 'knowing' or not. Well I bet he's relieved that I've grown out of that one. I'm just waiting for him to notice it's replacement: "yeah?"

"will we go and get some groceries, yeah?"
"will it be cold there, yeah?"


Naturally, I wouldn't be a true word nerd if language didn't intrigue me. I wonder if I can pass myself off for a pom yet, I doubt it very much...

Stace :)

P.S. We're off to Egypt tomorrow, just a wee bit excited!