Questions tagged [australian-english]
for questions specifically related to the English language as spoken and written in Australia.
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How is "route" is pronounced in Australia?
What is the most common pronunciation of "route" in Australia?
From https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/route
UK/ruːt/
US/ruːt//raʊt/
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What does "40-odd years" mean? [duplicate]
I heard "40-odd years" on https://youtu.be/9QCgqQdmr0M?t=59:
What does "40-odd years" mean?
I found https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/44142/3023 but the usage of odd wasn't made ...
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Do British / American / Australian people understand "homework" and "assignment" differently?
I found this link on English Stackexchange.
A person answered "Homework: The collection of all the assignments I have to do at home". I am not sure if this person is American.
I had been ...
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What does this phrase mean? "free me swag out."
This is from a native Australian English speaker Australian accent (see: 3:46-3:55)
Free me swag out, camped under the stars, and I was healed up.
I couldn't understand "free me swag out."....
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Australian "stubby holder", is it understood in America or England?
In Australia, I learned about the "stubby holder",
which is an isolating cylinder-shaped cover to place a 0.33l soda/beer can or bottle to keep it cool.
Looking up "stubby" I found:...
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"be across a problem"
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary labels the following sense of "across" British:
(British English) knowing a lot about something; covering or in control of something
We need ...
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What are "beer does"?
The chorus (one of the variations) of the song Down Under performed by Men at Work goes as follows
I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear ...
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Can someone explain to me what the sentence means?
I was anxious to get him here, away from family and friends.
Here who is away from family and friends? Is that he or I?
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Why is "what's what?" always wrong as a question?
When I talk to somebody, and I miss a certain part(word) of the sentence they said, I have a habit of replacing the unheard part with what and ask the same sentence like this:
Speaker: Can you ...
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Is there really a difference between the use of will and shall?
Shall I open the door?
Will I open the door?
So far as I know , the first sentence means will you allow me to open the door?
The second question means Will I have the ability to open the door?
(...
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"curbing out cigarette smoking"
In this sentence "curbing out" reads strange. I can't find much on Google. It doesn't appear to have any meaning beyond "curbing", "inhibiting", and I am not sure the tag-along preposition "out" adds ...
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Is Headache used as verb in "it does my headache"?
In Australia I hear this phrase all the time, like.
You are doing my headache.
It does my headache.
You do my headache, mate.
He does my headache.
My previous knowledge of the word tells ...
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When I use intransitive words, should I put the adverb after the intransitive words?
For example:
She sings loudly
In which stuation can I put the adverb before the intransitive verb?
Can I say:
Someone totally is beautiful
or
Someone is totally beautiful
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They question or expression
This is a conversation between two girls I heard in audio. Bride and her mate were talking about the groom.
Lorrain look what we both are doing. We're picking on poor Des to pieces the night before ...
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Meaning of "don't you ever let up"
In a TV show I heard this:
An asian girl comes in a park. A girl in a group of friends says "Look what the cat dragged in". A boy(her boy friend) in the group says "don't you ever let up.
What ...
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Turned/might have turned
I heard in an australian tv show a lady says:
If my mother was alive today, she turn in a grave to see the way i am treated.
So the question here is shouldn't she had said: she might have turned ...
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Are can and could interchangeable in probabilistic situation?
There was a scenario in which I and my co-worker were finding a piece of laminate, and then my co-worker said "it could be in the racks". Then I asked him can we say "it can be in the racks" and he ...
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What is the difference between the words "over" and "here"?
I've noticed that sometimes English speakers use over similar to here, e.g. once me and my friend saw a girl walking he said call her over -- here it seems like he meant call her here. In another ...
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What does aye mean in Australia and New Zealand?
In my previous job I heard many Australian speakers using aye like sorry and pardon to ask for repeating what other person said. I also heard one kiwi guy using aye in the same way. But, now I work ...
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What does "muster through" mean?
From the movie Tracks:
Man: Where you from?
Robyn: I grew up on a cattle station near Darling Downs.
Man: Oh, a Queenslander, eh? What'd you run?
Robyn: Hereford.
Man: ...
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What do "blacks" and "missions" refer to in this context about Australia?
From the movie Tracks:
Robyn: Would you mind not taking pictures?
Rick: A man has to do his job.
Robyn: That's exactly the reason blacks were dumped in missions... men just doing their ...
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Word sounding like “you-know-a-theme” and meaning something like “prudence”
This is probably best suited to the dedicated chatroom, but unfortunately I don’t have enough rep to enter it.
There’s a word that I don’t understand in a formal speech in a youtube video.
The word ...
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Word pronounced “fund-ries” in Australian English
This is probably best suited to the dedicated chatroom, but unfortunately I don’t have enough rep to enter it.
There’s a word that I don’t understand in a formal speech in a youtube video.
The word ...
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Words pronounced "subtle or gemene messed-up" in Australian English
There’s a short passage that I don’t understand in a formal speech in a youtube video.
The passage starts at 6:30, and the URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJJX123tIwA#t=6m25s
Here is my ...
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How to say person A is calling(looking for) person B?
Sometimes I am in a situation where one person(person A) needs another(person B), who(B) is working close to me but doesn't hear the first person(A) and then the first person(A) shouts to me to inform ...
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"Much much more" in formal language
How would I say, "much much more" in a formal manner?
I need to write a report and cannot come up with a more formal way of saying, much much more. This is to be placed at the end of a list:
...
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hold zero expression meaning
what's the meaning of long hold zero in the following sentence
although I was not able to long hold zero to turn off the engine after this
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What is the name of the steel guard in this image?
What is the name of the steel guard marked by cross in the below image?
What is the name of the thing that this bike is locked to?
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Why blame the Australians?
I noticed the following comments under a hot meta post: Downvoting questions from new users
I agree this is horribly bad form. I blame the Australians. – Andrew
But @Andrew, as you yourself ...
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The expression "your right" when used to respond to an apology
Here in Australia, people say something like 'you're right' or 'your right' or 'you right', sometimes followed by 'mate' to respond to an apology.
Below is an example circumstance:
Ouch!
Oops, ...
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Is it normal if my tongue doesn't come between my teeth while saying "What is this thing"
Whenever I pronounce it, it seems as if my tongue says "What is dis ting" (Albeit, there's a slight "h" in the thing). Is it normal for this to happen?
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Is Canadian English considered more as American En or as British English?
Is Canadian English considered more as American English or as British English or neither? I always thought that there are only British English and American English but recently I realized that there ...
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What is meaning of "Still." as a sentence in conversation?
I'm reading an Australian novel.
There are an expression "Still." but I don't know the exact meaning.
like
She nodded and smiled. "Still. What can I do?"
or
"Still. It's a real shame."
What is ...
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When should we use "these ones" vs "those ones"?
When we are talking about things we can say "these ones" or those ones". What is the difference in fact?
For example if I want to point with a index finger on two things, should I say "those ones" ...
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An American equivalent for "to do the dirty on someone"?
To do the dirty on someone means, in Australian and British English,
to behave unfairly or very badly towards someone, often without them knowing. And then he did the dirty on her and went and had ...
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"Bo" - what does it mean exactly?
What does it mean exactly when an Australian sends a greeting by "Bo" in daily conversation?
Does it just mean "hello"?
Does it have different meaning if it is said by a person from the native ...
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Meaning of "out the front"
I'm a U.S. speaker, and I'm editing a text using Australian speech. The way they are using this term "out the front" sounds like the way U.S. English would say "out front", meaning in the front part ...
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"How are you?" as a welcome in a shop
As an Italian in Australia for a while, I noticed this very common use of "how are you" as a greeting to welcome you into a shop, and customers answer with a second "how are you". A stranger, in Italy,...
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'They would be looking at a week Monday' - what does this mean?
They would be looking at a week Monday - does that work for you?
Does it mean?
I should be available on Monday next week.
or
I should be available on any working day in the next week.
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What does the expression or slang "Bootstrap" means and which expressions contain it in Australian Slang? [closed]
I have seen "bootstrap" in a few sentences. What does it mean or which expressions contain this word?
"We ended up in a right bootstrap last night"
"Bootstrap you horney bugger"
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Isn't there 'the' in this audio?
The announcement that Canberra-based Aspen Medical will step into the front line of Australia's response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been widely welcomed. (Aussie ABC, ABC's original)
...
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pronounce 'have': thirty nations [have] gathered
Thirty nations, including China and Russia, have gathered in Paris for talks about the threat posed by the terrorist group Islamic State. (Aussie ABC; original)
Is the ‘have’ pronounced? It seems ...
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Is "Whore" archaic in Australian English?
Is the term "Whore", either to mean someone who is promiscuous, or someone who is a sex worker, archaic in Australian English?
When I see the word "Whore", I tend to think of Shakespeare (along with ...
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Is "Sausage sizzle" only used for charity events?
In Australian or New Zealand English, is the term "Sausage sizzle" only used for charity events, as opposed to a BBQ that you're having with friends?
Wikipedia has an entry on sausage sizzle, but I ...
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How do I indicate a unit number in an Australian postal address? [closed]
How do you indicate a unit number when writing the postal address of snail mail?
Australia Post's Addressing guidelines does not mention how to indicate unit numbers.
Wikipedia states that for a ...
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Should "bring a plate" be taken literally?
When someone is told to "bring a plate" to a picnic in Australia, does it literally mean just bring a plate? Or should they be bringing something else as well?
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