A Conversation for The Australian Oxymoron Response

Brilliant.

Post 1

Basil Fawlty's Moustache

No, you're absolutely right. Beautifully picked up on. Now that I think about it, I hear myself doing it all the time but had never realised. I can't think of any other strange linguistic habits of Australians, but one thing that I did notice in Scotland (I even picked a bit of it up I'm afraid), is their reluctance to use conversational abbreviations, particularly when asking questions. It is in stark contrast to our own vastly contracted form of verbal English. The other thing with this is that it is almost a hard and fast rule. I can't remember anyone using the shortened versions of many words at all. ie ----

US - "Don't you think this room's looking better now with a coat of paint?"

THEM - "Do you not think this room looks better with a coat of paint?"

You get the general drift. I think this is a contributing factor in the why Scots and Irish people talk so quickly. They always 'talk' the long way around rather than take shortcuts ; they say more so they have to say it faster. This would account for the overly machine-gun-like delivery of most Glaswegian conversationalists. If pressed I would have to say that I prefer our dry economy with words to tell you the truth.


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