In the past, I thought that the English, Australians, and Americans all spoke the same language, but recently I discovered this is not the case at all… Since moving to the United States, I found out that the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is pronounced “Fil-ay O Fish”, not ”Fill-itt O Fish”. But for me, the confusion didn’t stop there.
It seems that us Aussies are not only convicts of the southern hemisphere, but we also stole the English language, and ran amuck with it. Inventing strange words was something I didn’t even realize we (Aussies) did, since everyone around me spoke the same dialect too.
Now in America, if I say something like “sookie” or “pash rash”, all I get is that awkward laugh that people do when they have no idea what someone is saying. So to better the communication between Aussies and Yanks, every week I will post an Australian word and its translation, which should help everyone understand what the hell we are bloody talking about.
This week starts with “A”
Aye (ay) – means “what?” or “hey you” depending on the context.
Example – Aye, get off my wave.
Avos (av-oes) - means “avocados” Kinda obvious right? But not at my local fruit shop.
Example – I can’t believe how expensive these avos are.
Arvo (are-voe) - means “afternoon” and usually is combined with the word “beers” and/or “surf” to make “arvo beers”.
Example – After this barrel, I’m gonna get an arvo beer.
Thanks for your interest, and I look forward to next week’s lesson, where we explore the wonderful world of the letter “B”.
xa