It's a language thing

Just the other day I was asked what part of Australia I was from. When I said I lived in Sydney, he looked at me oddly and said "Oh, you're a Pom!"

"Well, where did you think I was from?" I didn't really want to speak to this ginormous yank with a moustache that made him look a bit like Lord Kitchener. You know, the bloke from the "Your country needs you!" adverts during "the war periods"? No? Anyway, he looked a lot like him and I hasten too add was probably about the same age.



" When you said G'day, I thought you were Aussie"

After what seems like five minutes, but is in actual fact almost eight months, It appears I have become Aussified without realising it. I had said G'day to someone without thinking. Shocked and horrified I spun around and caught the nearest kangaroo home.

I mentioned this faux pas to a friend and she said that I say a lot of things Aussie. No worries is one of them. This is true, but I have always said no worries long before I came here, so that doesn't count.

"How you going?" is another.....well is isnt actually pronounced like that. It's more of an "Ahh ya gaaing?" which I do say now, instead of the Londoners "Alright."

Both mean the same thing, just a general greeting that requires no answer other than a "Alright thanks" or downunder its "Ahhh, I'm Good thanks"

Another strange Aussie word is wog. Now we all know what that means in the UK and for most part, most people dont use it. Not least because its a very 70's word but also it's pretty racist. Even to the extent that Robertson jams took their famous logo off its products due to the racial overtones.

Yet here, the word wog is bounded around all over the place. It basically means people of Lebanese, Greek descent, but is applied to most olive skinned people. They even use the word on TV, but it is in no way considered a racist verb. That may be so, but I still cant help but cringe when I do hear it. The same applies to "Coon" adverts I see on TV. Its a brand of cheese by the way.

It's a funny ol' place with a funny ol' language. Thank God I was dragged up speaking proper like.