Re: Country names

Joe Fatula wrote:

>Just so that you understand that much of your vocabulary isn't English, it's
>simply peculiar to Australia.
>
Actually, the vast majority of it is English, and I'm pretty sure that
the only times I'm likely to use a word that isn't a part of World
English while thinking it is is when there isn't a word in World
English, and so different dialects (or the two major dialect families)
have seperate words, like jumper/sweater/pullover, tap/faucet or fairy
floss/spun sugar/something else (fluffy sweet stuff, often pink, sold at
fairs[1] and the like) or when there's something perculiarly Australian,
like billabongs. Of course, in those cases, I obviously know so I'd put
a translation in, or just use the American word. Spellings of the letter
Z and H are the exceptions to this rule; I too-often try to spell them
as zed and haich and they sometimes slips through, probably mostly
because I say them differently to Americans (hence, 'a(n) HTML
document'). Oddities in my grammar are probably more my excentric
personality (or differences in the two major dialect families, and you
speak the one that didn't influence Australian in this case) than
Australianisms slipping through I think, though I could be mistaken in
some cases. Spelling mistakes are probably the best reflexion of the
difference in speech here and there, but I wouldn't expect to see things
like <nusually> or <nuse> for 'usually' and 'use' (verb) (both sometimes
pronounced with [J] rather than [j] in relaxed registers, in free
variation with the /j/ forms). Exceptions probably exist, both
accidental and on purpose.

But be glad I don't come Queensland. There, the evening begins at noon
and they have ports rather than suitcases.

[1]: I would not use this word if I was talking to a strickly Melburnian
audience, but prefer something like 'the zoo and the show' (referring to
the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens and the Royal Melbourne
Agricultural Show, which is a yearly event, held in September when
animals (chooks [=chickens when whole], cows, dogs, pheasants etc.) are
shown at the showgrounds, but more importantly, is a fair with rides and
suchlike and bags you can buy with lollies [=AmE candy][2], cartoons (if
you buy the Phantom showbag) and other such things in it, called
showbags. Neither showbag nor show in this sense show up in
<http://www.dictionary.com>, nor in
<http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/>, (one close to show exists,
though) which is worrying as I'd worry if anyone born and bred in
Melbourne would not know what I was talking of. Other shows, much less
well-known in Melbourne than the Melbourne Show, happen in other places,
and mostly get the place name in front of them, e.g. the Dandenong Show,
the Pakenham Show. Shows happen at showgrounds (pl.). The Melbourne
Showgrounds are hired out during the year for things like computer
swapmeets, or when companies decide they want to sell a lot of stuff
cheaply (for the consumer) quickly. We have a train station to the
Showgrounds, only used during the Show and occaisionally at other major
events happening there, such as the Big Day Out, which is a lot of bands
playing music. It is on the line with the train to the Flemington
Racecourse, which is only used during the various (horse) racing
carnivals, so it isn't used much. Show Day used to be a public holiday,
but Jeff Kennet's Liberal (=conservative) government stripped us off it.
The always during the September (=spring) holidays, though, so students
aren't affected much by it. The show goes for about a week, and the last
day(s) are always the cheapest because everyone wants to get rid of what
few showbags they have left).

[2]: No, that's not a pronunciation :)

>>The <ss> is as
>>voiced as the <ss> in Tassie, Brissie, or possy, the <zz> in mozzie or
>>the <v> in arvo.
>>
>>
>
>Um, you might want to pick English words to use as examples.  I've never
>heard any of these.  I'd guess that "Tassie", "Brissie", and "possy" have
>/s/.
>
Sorry, I guess my point wasn't clear enough. I'd hoped that saying 'the
<ss> is as voiced as the <ss> in Tassie ..., the <zz> in mozzie or the
<v> in arvo' would indicate that the were all voiced (I don't know of
any word with unvoiced <zz> or <v>, but do know of at least 'dessert')
and that you'd notice the rule voicing s>z and f>v before -ie/-y/-ey,
-o, -er/-a. Hence also pointing out the -th- in metho<methylated spirits
wasn't voiced. Perhaps I should have included pronunciations, but I
didn't want to confuse people's expectations of how to pronounce
'mozzie' or 'possy' (which rhyme!) and make them think they were
pronounced like mawzie or pawzie would be. What I definitely should have
pointed out was that the <ar> in 'arvo' reflects the pronunciation of
the <a> in 'afternoon', from which it derives, rather than any
differeneces in pronunciation. In Australian, both are pronounced the
same. My apologies for the confusion.

If I was after words that were part of WSE, I would've chosen 'dessert',
and 'carve'; I can't think of one with -zz- of the top of my head.

>>Say 'Aussie' to rhyme with 'mozzie'[1], and she'll be right, mate.
>>
>>[1]: The pronunciation of 'mozzie' should be obvious to any English
>>
>>
>speaker.
>
>/mAzi/ ?
>
>
I can't speak for your dialect. Is /A/ the value of the vowel in 'hot'?
Then probably. Otherwise, no. But I say /mOzi/. But that doesn't mean
you should; you speak a different dialect, after all.

Apologising for a length-off topic post,

--
Tristan                  <kesuari@...>

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