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| Total Votes : 28 |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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 Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 3:04 am Post subject: |
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| pierre wrote: |
| And I defy you to pick the Sydney person from the Melbourne. |
Perhaps - but there certainly are regional accents. At my last school the two teachers from Melbourne had similar accents that were quite distinctive in comparison to a counterpart from Brisbane. |
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Perpetual Traveller
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 651
Location: In the Kak, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:00 am Post subject: |
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| pierre wrote: |
I'll go along with the urban/rural difference, but not to the point where you can tell which rural district someone is from. And I defy you to pick the Sydney person from the Melbourne.
Maybe it's something to do with all coming from the same convict stock. |
Now I am appalled, that you could use such a cliche. Don't you get sick of hearing that 'all Australians are convicts' from people of other nationalities that are trying to score points? Aside from anything else there were only ever around 165,000 convicts transported to Australia and considering that the population is now over 20 million that statement is jst ridiculous. I don't think I even know anyone who can trace a convict ancestor.
As for Melbourne-Sydney I agree that the differences there are very minor but they do exist. I suppose the reason for this is because the two cities have always had a lot more movement between them than the others. As for regional accents not varying I think you'll find there's a difference between someone from outback Northern Territory and someone from Geelong or Ballarat.
PT |
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pierre
Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 16
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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Now this might sound a little vehement, but its not, I'm simply stating my point of view.
I've never been bothered by comments about our convict past because I've always taken them as a compliment.
When I see what the British Empire did to nations it conquered all over the world, I'm quite proud to come from stock that was rejected by the establishment. Although I'm anglo-saxon by heritage, I reject any connection with England, and I disagree with any constitutional ties that we still have with the 'mother country'. Australia should be a republic, and events like the dismissal by Kerr should be a constitutional impossibility.
Coincidentally, my partner is a proud 'first fleeter'. She has documents which trace her heritage directly to a convict who arrived with the first fleet. He stole some hair from a wig maker in an attempt to start his own business. For that, he never saw his family again, because once he was in Australia he couldn't afford to go back.
What's more, she's a member of an association of people who are all similarly qualified to be proud of their heritage.
It's partly the 'convict spirit' that has given Australians such a lack of respect for authority which has stood us in good stead through our brief history.
I'll get off my soapbox now 
I agree that people from Darwin probably sound different to people from Geelong, but the point is you can't tell they are from Darwin or Geelong.
Just remembered. My ex-wife was descended from a man who was transported for sacrilege - he stole some candlesticks from a church. Unfortunately my own forebears came out as teachers - dead boring. |
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Perpetual Traveller
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 651
Location: In the Kak, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| pierre wrote: |
| I agree that people from Darwin probably sound different to people from Geelong, but the point is you can't tell they are from Darwin or Geelong. |
I can! 
I'm actually a first generation Australian but I still get annoyed at people who dismiss Australia as 'a nation of criminals' I know they only do it to get a rise but it's just so ignorant...like you have said, so many of the crimes that people were transported for were ridiculous in the extremet. Grrrr! Can you tell you tapped one of my pet hates?
I'm with you all the way on the republic issue, let's hope that when the puppetman is finally voted out we can take that step at last. I wasn't in Oz when the vote was cast but from what I was told it sounds as though it was a bit of joke anyway.
PT |
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Cdaniels
Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 663
Location: Dunwich, Massachusetts
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:25 pm Post subject: Apologies to the Austrailians |
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| YanquiQuilme�o wrote: |
| When the word Yankee came about, it meant American. |
Etymology of Yankee
1683, a name applied disparagingly by Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut. It may be from Du. Janke, lit. "Little John," dim. of common personal name Jan; or it may be from Jan Kes familiar form of "John Cornelius," or perhaps an alt. of Jan Kees, dial. variant of Jan Kaas, lit. "John Cheese," the generic nickname the Flemings used for Dutchmen. It originally seems to have been applied insultingly to Dutch, especially freebooters, before they turned around and slapped it on the English. In Eng. a term of contempt (1750s) before its use as a general term for "native of New England" (1765). Shortened form Yank in reference to "an American" first recorded 1778.
from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Yankee
I'm sorry to divert the discussion away from the Aussies, but I just had to correct this one. A popular menu item at small diners in New England is "Yankee Pot Roast" My Texan friend still gets a big laugh out of the usage. |
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pierre
Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 16
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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Hey PT, great to hear a first generation Australian being so defensive of their country. I think I'm about 6th generation, and my 8th generation grandson is half Nepalese, which is a healthy reflection of how our country is evolving.
Embrace our past! When someone asks if Australia was built by convicts say "That's right. So watch your wallet!"
I'll bow to your superior ear.
The referendum was indeed a farce. "Do you want this unresearched and highly unpopular model for your new republic?" No! "Then that means you don't want a republic!" |
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Perpetual Traveller
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 651
Location: In the Kak, Japan
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| Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:49 am Post subject: |
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| pierre wrote: |
| I'll bow to your superior ear. |
Please do! It makes me feel that all those years of linguistics and language studies weren't for nothing!
Hey Cdaniels, don't apologise, that was really interesting. I got a kick out of the Yankee pot roast, mmmm roast Yankee... 
PT |
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