Korean Job Discussion Forums

[waggo]

I know there are two forms of standard English...British and American

However nosing into one of my middle school students public school textbooks I was informed that there are many types of English including an Australian variant called "STRINE"!

Do Australians call their English Strine?

[dogbert]

For some unknown reason, many Antipodeans pronounce the long "a" as a long "i" instead, so that "I was riding your wave" comes out sounding like "I was riding your wife" instead.

They also have a penchant for child-like abbreviations, like "Maccas" and some others I can't recall right now, including something they call their lemon cakes.

[crazylemongirl]

[GRK]

Strine is generally accepted as a particular type of Australian English, strongly influenced by the early British/Irish settlers. As many of these folk were on the wrong side of the law so to speak, they had developed a way of speaking (in the home country) that reflected what may be termed as their 'sub culture'. It is thought to have been used to outsmart the law enforcement officers, and no doubt like all language developed by specific sub cultures, served as a means of identification and group consolidation. Some of these expressions have remained, some have altered and become idioms (plentiful in Aussie English). For example, noah's ark =shark, joe black =snake, trouble and strife =wife and so on. Strine is by no means standard Australian English, and was never used by everyone. It is becoming much less common nowdays with many young people unaware of its existence apart form the idioms that have grown from this earlier language. David Crystal and other linguists refer to Englishes, rather than English. As for the wave sounding like wife....well, that must be in the ear of the beholder-perhaps a comedy show?

[dogbert]

[wylde]

[sadsac]

It is not indigenious to Aussies either, the Cockneys also use a far more diverse form of strine than we do. It's certainly indicitive of our humble convict beginning though.

[waggo]

[TJ]

GRK gave a good outline of Australian english but he missed a couple of important points.

Firstly, "Strine" is dependant on the level of education of the speaker. Usually the higher the level of education the less inclined the speaker is to use strine.

Secondly, strine is more likely to be heard in rural areas. This tends to tie in with the education factor.

Another factor which influences, to a lesser degree, the speach of Australians is the amount of overseas travel they have done. Generally speaking, more travel means less strine. For example, my brother has lived the the greater part of his life in a number of countries other than Australia. People who do not know him cannot pick pick his birth country from listening to him talk.

Finally, strine is being displaced by American idioms, much to my disgust. Maybe Australia should take heed of the French and their government's banning of the use of 'Franglais'.

[dogbert]

[GRK]

wave and wife - - Australian and Strine

Perhaps that connection has been made but a rather tenuous one I would think. I don't have access to IP on this computer and without them it is a little difficult to be exact, however the long /a/ in Australian is in 'broad speech' pronounced almost as /a/ + /i/ whereas the /i/ in Strine would be pronounced as /I/ as in the word I. No doubt the accent of origin may play a part in one's assesment of the outcome.
Strine should not be confused with 'the' (?) Australian accent. It was from the beginning, a variant of the English spoken at the time and has always remained so. To some degree it became associated with soldiers of WW I and II, but that may be a little overdone as well. A number of factors relate to it's usage, education being one, although there are some notable exceptions to that too.

[sadsac]

Beep has supplanted the word for those Britishers that live within London and speak a most peculiar form of the Queen's English.

[wylde]

i haven't lifted an english book since 95 (apart from what is taught in class here)...

i have lived mostly in the country or small towns since then (cept for about 2 years back in sydney)..

if i didn't speak with an ocker accent i would probably have no friends at all... seems that in these places if ya don't pull yourself back in toe with the spoken language of the land, the 'common (working class) folk' want nothing to do with you...

they kind of look down on you for being able to look down on them.. my last home of 3 years has 1500 people and i don't know of anybody under 40 that is a uni grad...

i certainly wouldn't get anybody to sell me dope if i didn't sound like them..

short hair, clean shaven and well spoken... must be an undercover cop

kinda like a fish out of water

[dogbert]

[kangnamdragon]

Strine sounds like the name of a steamed vegetable.