Job Discussion Forums

[arioch36]

We have this 70 year old Australian at our school. Said in Australia they called the bathroom the "Mary" So, of course, the girl with Mary as an engish name cries, and wants to change her name. I know I'm not an Australian, but I have never heard this. Is it true???


Then we have the lady from the Netherlands who makes her self as an Australian, has been in China for eight years? She gets mad if anyone uses the word sophomore, claims that she doesn't know what it means. Does the average Australian teacher know the word sophomore? Sophomoric humour?

[lozwich]

Hi,

Maybe they used to call the bathroom the Mary where she was from, but I've never heard it called that.. Its spelled 'loo' by the way.

As for the sophomore question, I know it, but I wouldn't use it. We don't use terms like sophomore, freshman etc in Australia. The only reason I know it is that I have friends from the US. As usual, its never safe to generalise...

Lozwich.

[johnslat]

Dear arioch 36,
Hmm, wonder if calling a loo " mary " might have been somehow derived from calling it the " john "? Perhaps the men's rooms were called " johns " and the women's rooms began ( in Australia ) to be called " marys " - John and Mary, you see. As for sophmore, I've always liked the derivation, from Greek sophos wise + moros foolish: a wise fool. So aptly descriptive of humanity, I'd say.
Regards,
John

[Minhang Oz]

Never heard of "the Mary", but it may be a purely local term. Aussies don't say the john either; its loo, dunny, bog, thunderbox, s'hithouse, etc. We don't use sophomore etc, but as an American colony are aware of such terms. And we don't affect excruciatingly false American "accents", like so many Chinese English speakers.

[kevbris]

Good on ya Minhang..............Aussies do NOT say mary or John. The dunny or sh%%house is good.

You might want to enlighten the old duck arioch 36, and let her know that life has moved on since.

Also, the average Aussie teacher does not get into wording like sophomore.............we tend to be straight talkers and tell it like it is.
take care mate

Cya

[august03]

Mary as in Mary Lou (loo)

[lozwich]

and BING! the little light in the toilet goes on!

I know LOTS of Australians, and about 2 of them use rhyming slang. Something that seems to have passed with the older generations.

[Stephen Jones]

There's a lot of cockney influence in Australian English so I am told.

the little light has gone on over here as well. Well done august

[johnslat]

Dear Stephen,
I take it that " beep " is c o c k ney.
Regards,
John

[Capergirl]

Speaking of the "loo"...I went to the "loo" at a McDonald's in England this past April. I was a bit surprised to find no sink, no mirror, nothing at all but a big silver box with three buttons on it. "McWash" it was called. I was like, what the hell?

[lagger]

I wouldn't discount 'Mary' altogether. Old people have strange expressions like that but I haven't heard it and it wasn't in my Aussie slang dictionary. I can't believe the girl cried. Grow up!

I remember wondering what a 'sophomore' was too when I watched American shows like 90210 as a teenager. I looked it up in the dictionary one day (handy things dictionaries) and found out. We don't refer to high school students as freshman, sophomore, junior, senior (we have 5 grades and no junior high). I'd say the vast majority of people don't know what it means. However, young people are more likely to from exposure to American culture/slang. I have heard the expression 'sophomoric humour' but it's not widely used here.

I can understand the confusion. When I am forced to use English coursebooks (Headway etc), I sometimes don't understand the cultural references.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[lozwich]

[FGT]

I agree that teaching English provides a learning experience, which I welcome.
I thought I was reasonably good at UK/US English (and often make a point of teaching both) until I met the words 'yard' AND 'garden' in the same American text.
I had to cover a class while another teacher was on holiday (at home in Australia) and revised clothes vocab. Two students told me that the model was wearing a 'skivvy' which I'd never heard before. I checked the dictionary to no avail, asked them where they'd learnt that and then told them how lucky they were to have British, American AND Australian English on their course!

[arioch36]

So. like, what is an electric fruit machine? Sveral ideas pop in my head, but none of them are ones I would care to repeat.