Dear non Australians

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Replies

  • Phoenix1401
    Phoenix1401 Posts: 711 Member
    You mean not all Australians have a pet kangaroo??

    Hilda.jpg

    This is Hilda, she enjoys cheese and cookies. Her tail is shorter than usual because it was pecked by a magpie when she was a baby and her growth was stunted because her Mum was hit by a car while she was in the pouch. Still lives with my mum!

    Looks dead in the pic.
    Maybe it ate too much Vegemite?
  • jecka31
    jecka31 Posts: 284
    I am from Texas and I defiantly have the distinct southern accent (although I don't put Rs where they are not supposed to be). I've been to boarder-town Mexico where they speak English but otherwise not out of the country. I would have to say that I would just talk how I do here: Howdy and y'all are staples (and yes its y'all, not ya'll). Like someone said, I would find it odd to find someone not from Texas (whether they are from somewhere else in the states or somewhere outside the USA) started saying y'all. I do have to say that if I went somewhere that didn't speak English as their national language, I would attempt to speak some of their words but probably demolish them with my accent :laugh: , besides, I only know Spanish.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    Don't pick on the tourists, they are making an effort! I'm willing to bet that my pronunciation and accent in every other language is TERRIBLE but I'd still rather try and would hope that people correct me but not mock me.
  • brittanyjeanxo
    brittanyjeanxo Posts: 1,831 Member
    Of course, there are some places where no matter how great you are at the pronunciation of the language, they still hate you just because you are American. Not all of us are all idiots and act like we know everything when we travel.

    I lived in Florida most of my life, so I know how tourists can be. People come from up here in the northeast in the middle of January thinking everyone is still wearing tank tops and shorts, so that's how they dress. Sorry, it actually somewhat chilly there. Good luck with your frozen toes.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Dear Aussies,

    Please just come to my house and talk to me in your lovely way. I heart Australians and the way you speak.


    (I hope the term "Aussie" isn't offensive....if it is, then I'm one of those Americans :laugh: )
  • Jewcybabe
    Jewcybabe Posts: 241 Member
    How about we just skip "the land down under".........I hear the folks in New Zealand are friendly!~
  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
    Are you guys kidding? I see wombats/kangaroos/dingoes all the time - not so much emus though!
  • boomboom011
    boomboom011 Posts: 1,459
    To the Americans who care enough to correct yourself on Australian pronunciation....."bless your little heart".

    i know! God love em'
  • ritajean3
    ritajean3 Posts: 306 Member
    I did debate teaching the random lady how to say it. But her husband seemed busy so I didn't. I think I sound like the crocodile dundee to other people. Seriously it's like a giant phobia! I always stop and give tourists directions or advice on cheap great things to do.

    It's not just Americans its most people not from cairns. I have always been amused by the reactions of no tropical folks getting off plains. We have people swim in the middle of winter but to their credit our winter is like summer in Canada so you can't really blame them. I mean....I swim in winter too just in the middle of the day in the sun where it's not freezing
  • D446
    D446 Posts: 266 Member
    Most city kids have never even SEEN native animals except maybe in a zoo if you come here make sure your visit out wild life even we are jealous of people who have been to the center is Australia and see what is they, dive on the reef, trekked through our rainforest ect.

    I honestly love visitors I just want to show you how to say things properly!

    Was there about 4 years ago, I have been about 16 or 17 times. Always go bush and check out the wildlife. I particularly like the Hunter Valley region. My hubby is aussie. he was born in Perth but is a Sydney North shores boy at heart. I'd just like to point out that for every time I have heard Australian words pronounced badly I have heard Australians pronounce aboriginal words badly, Just sayin x

    Do you know how to pronounce aboriginal words?
  • Joj43
    Joj43 Posts: 54
    Dear Aussies,

    Please just come to my house and talk to me in your lovely way. I heart Australians and the way you speak.


    (I hope the term "Aussie" isn't offensive....if it is, then I'm one of those Americans :laugh: )

    Are you inviting us all???? And no, "Aussie" is not offensive....it's more a term of endearment I think ♥
  • reese66
    reese66 Posts: 2,920 Member
    There is no "oo" in koala


    I over heard a American saying it

    Koo wa la


    I promptly burst into laughter and pretended to be laughing at something else


    Also

    G'Day is not said gee day

    That is all consider yourselves informed for your next trip to Australia

    Do you represent most of your population? If so I would rather not visit your country and would rather visit somewhere that appreciates the fact that people try to understand the culture and the language of the place that they are visiting.

    What makes me mad about this is that I go out of my way to help people that are new to my area instead of make fun of them.


    G'day or as we say it here, Good day...
  • wbgolden
    wbgolden Posts: 2,066 Member
    I hate it when people say "chowder" instead of the proper "chowdah."

    Just in case any of you Aussies were thinking about visiting America and ordering chowdah.
  • wbgolden
    wbgolden Posts: 2,066 Member
    There is no "oo" in koala


    I over heard a American saying it

    Koo wa la


    I promptly burst into laughter and pretended to be laughing at something else


    Also

    G'Day is not said gee day

    That is all consider yourselves informed for your next trip to Australia
    I love how you hearing this ONCE gives you an excuse to teabag an entire country. Well played.
  • THISisTARRAN
    THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
    I really don't like it when people say waRsh instead of wash...or Missour- Uh instead of Missouri.

    I'm going to start a thread about it.

    Not.
  • THISisTARRAN
    THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
    I also love how everyone bashes Americans...it is SO annoying. No one is perfect: NOT HERE, NOT THERE, NOT ANYWHERE.
    Can't we all just get along?
  • reese66
    reese66 Posts: 2,920 Member
    Another thing you may want to consider is that people save sometimes to a lifetime for a trip.

    Have you ever "felt someone staring at you or laughing at you?" Imagine if they felt that after saving for years for this trip.
  • TMasticTB
    TMasticTB Posts: 62 Member
    Really? People getting bent out of shape about this? Just an amusing little thread.

    ~ Any Aussies are more than welcome to come and stay here. The middle of our country is about the same as yours, just like 10,000x smaller. It apparently doesn't rain anymore in the state of Texas so that's probably the state that resembles the Outback - nothing but dead plains and obnoxious heat for miles around.

    ~ Cricket is not baseball using a boat orr (although it could be a good boat orr). It's a sophisticated, long, calculated, long, precise, and long game. Seriously. They have tea time in the middle of it. Games can last for DAYS.

    ~ Florida would be most like the Australian east coast - lush, green tropical climate filled with palm trees and annoying tourists. I worked at a nature theme park for a year and foreign tourists were always my favorite people to talk to. Especially the one Aussie I talked to that was so happy to be swimming in a body of water (Gulf of Mexico) and NOT having to worry about like 7 of the 10 most deadly sea creatures in the WORLD swimming in the same water with him.


    *Just a side note - I would love to travel abroad, especially to Australia, someday. Even took a class on Australia while in college. Hope people understand my comments are supposed to be witty & sarcastic.
  • wbgolden
    wbgolden Posts: 2,066 Member
    Really? People getting bent out of shape about this? Just an amusing little thread.

    ~ Any Aussies are more than welcome to come and stay here. The middle of our country is about the same as yours, just like 10,000x smaller. It apparently doesn't rain anymore in the state of Texas so that's probably the state that resembles the Outback - nothing but dead plains and obnoxious heat for miles around.

    ~ Cricket is not baseball using a boat orr (although it could be a good boat orr). It's a sophisticated, long, calculated, long, precise, and long game. Seriously. They have tea time in the middle of it. Games can last for DAYS.

    ~ Florida would be most like the Australian east coast - lush, green tropical climate filled with palm trees and annoying tourists. I worked at a nature theme park for a year and foreign tourists were always my favorite people to talk to. Especially the one Aussie I talked to that was so happy to be swimming in a body of water (Gulf of Mexico) and NOT having to worry about like 7 of the 10 most deadly sea creatures in the WORLD swimming in the same water with him.


    *Just a side note - I would love to travel abroad, especially to Australia, someday. Even took a class on Australia while in college. Hope people understand my comments are supposed to be witty & sarcastic.

    You win. Nice post :)
  • TMasticTB
    TMasticTB Posts: 62 Member
    You win. Nice post :)

    Thank you sir. My sarcasm comes out after 2 straight hours of finance homework and sleep deprivation. lol.
  • jecka31
    jecka31 Posts: 284
    It apparently doesn't rain anymore in the state of Texas so that's probably the state that resembles the Outback - nothing but dead plains and obnoxious heat

    It is November now so we are down to the 70s! I'm just glad the wildfires have been tamed so I still have a state to call home!
  • 4thehardman
    4thehardman Posts: 731 Member
    Most city kids have never even SEEN native animals except maybe in a zoo if you come here make sure your visit out wild life even we are jealous of people who have been to the center is Australia and see what is they, dive on the reef, trekked through our rainforest ect.

    I honestly love visitors I just want to show you how to say things properly!

    Was there about 4 years ago, I have been about 16 or 17 times. Always go bush and check out the wildlife. I particularly like the Hunter Valley region. My hubby is aussie. he was born in Perth but is a Sydney North shores boy at heart. I'd just like to point out that for every time I have heard Australian words pronounced badly I have heard Australians pronounce aboriginal words badly, Just sayin x

    Do you know how to pronounce aboriginal words?

    Not many, but I was not the one making corrections. I am also not Australian. I do know how to pronounce many of the aboriginal townships because I bothered to ask how to. If I was Australian and lived in a bi-lingual country I would make an effort to learn that language too or at least to pronounce 'shared' words correctly. I just think that giving people grief because they don't pronounce G'day correctly is arrogant. Especially since it is only a slang for Good Day anyway. I live in a tri-lingual country and I speak 2 of the languages fluently and my Italian is passable. If any tourist tries to use any of the local languages they are supported and or corrected in their pronunciation to help them learn.
  • LilMissFoodie
    LilMissFoodie Posts: 612 Member
    If I was Australian and lived in a bi-lingual country I would make an effort to learn that language too or at least to pronounce 'shared' words correctly.

    hahaha I love this. Mostly because there are over 100 Aboriginal languages, you suggest we just learn them all? I worked in Alice Springs for about a year and I did learn bits that were necessary for my job or place names but I have to admit that most of the language has a lot more to do with the way your tongue moves and not a lot to do with actual words which makes the languages very difficult to learn from an adult age.

    By the way, earlier I wasn't saying that people's pronunciation should be accurate, I was saying that I don't see the difference in terms of being insulting between pronouncing something in 'your own' (any Australian who lives outside of Australia knows that they speak Australian rather than just English!) language wrong and something in a completely foreign language wrong. I personally don't understand at all why it annoys people. If someone asks me in French (in London) if I speak French, I reply 'a little' in French and try to help them. If they ask in Italian, I politely say that I don't then they move on. Doesn't bother me at all!
  • If anyone's interested, here is a completely legitimate FAQ for travellers to Australia: http://www.amazingaustralia.com.au/faq.htm
  • forthefab5
    forthefab5 Posts: 187 Member
    Hehehe - I like hearing Aussie terms in different accents! I think it's really fun and cute and it's nicer having visitors :) Don't worry, the majority of Aussies are actually really friendly ... I live right in the Sydney city and walk past the backpacker hostels daily... I love trying to figure out where everyone's from by their accents :)
  • Nikki582
    Nikki582 Posts: 561 Member
    One of the funniest things I've seen was watching one of the earlier seasons of the Amazing Race and they came to Brisbane and had to go to "Mooloolaba"
    Listening to them reading that word on the card, a word that I know and can say without thinking. Funny :D
  • _Ben
    _Ben Posts: 1,608 Member
    I've never pronounced either the ways you listed.

    This
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