h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes you are correct when you state that ignorant insults not welcome either way. I was replying to a post from a member who asked for more information on Thyalacines and was surprised when it drew a reply pertaining to that hoary old Chesnut.. Australians and our convict heritage.I make no apoligies for taking a dig at an attitude most people here thought had died out years ago. As for irony , you may well have a point there. British irony perhaps is a different kettle of fish to Australian irony or American irony. The Socratic idea of discussion by professing ignorance is one literal meaning of irony. Is that how British language irony is thought of?...cheers....

I've certainly heard a few Australians celebrating the expressiveness of their slang and swear-words.

I suspect that to some extent, it's a case of the grass being greener on one's *own* side of the fence - Commonwealth citizens outside the UK may not have a complete understanding of all the native British swear-words, and may assume that they have everything we have, and more of their own.

There may be many other effects at work - the nature of various emigrants from the UK, people of other nationalities they mixed with, the smallness of new communities leading to rapid spread of new words, the change in circumstances of people requiring the invention of words (someone moved from a city to a rural situation or desert with no established English-speaking residents may have to start inventing words, whereas someone moving round in the UK will just pick up words from the inhabitants wherever they move to).
I suspect that some swear words, as well as much slang are invented by children, and an slim but expanding population seems an ideal ground for inventiveness.

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Sadly, I've only seen still pictures... John Dale finishes his book with an account of his visit to the Australian Museum, where he meets the woman who is collecting Thylacine DNA, in hopes of possible future cloning. How great would that be if it worked?

Yep i think you may be right. Its a local thing and a wider community thing. A couple of instances where swear words cross international boundarys make for some odd moments. Take Root for example, I have no idea if it is thought of as a swear word or a euphemism for a sex act in British English but in Australian English it means F**k or the act therein or there of!! In America it means supporting someone or a team as in cheering for them. So you can imagine us down here hearing an American saying he or she is Rooting for us or for their team etc...umm...we just crack up!! If something is or has been stuffed or broken or you have really mucked things up then we say..."Well you've rooted that up have'nt you?

Other words change there meanings over generations. Take Gay for example, you have the dictionary meaning for it and then the excepted modern day meaning ..Homosexual. My son and his mates now use gay as a word that denotes that something is ...Broken,Really stupid,Really old thinking or styling. They use it to describe anyone over the age of Twenty or anyone who listens to boy bands(here it goes back to its homophobic meaning). Anything they dont like is labelled Gay. Drive the wrong type of car or listen to Passe indie music or anything that someone over Twenty would call cool and hip and they will call it Gay!! I like the idea that if your over twenty yer gone!!! Your out of date. I would love to know if this meaning of gay has carried or is in use in the UK...cheers

Hi Apple
I thought that when i first heard about it! Then i saw an article pointing out what sort of a life a newly cloned extinct animal would have..ie; no gene pool to breed in but its own, no environment truly suited to it(in the case of the Wooly Mammoth etc) and then there was the philosophical questions) associated with this idea of bringing em back! Imagine what would happen to the extinct New Zealand Moa the worlds biggest ever flightless bird( i could be wrong here on the big bit) if it was brought back? Your wandering around One Tree Hill Park(?) in Auckland and this bloody enormous Ostrich wanders up and says.."Oii!You on the bench with the sux pack of Beer(or beor!)hand it over or i will kick you into the middle of next week!! After all Moa's where about 11 or 12 feet tall(nearly 3 metre's) and who's gonna argue with Ozzy the Ostrich on steroids?..LOL...cheers

Indeed. And I'd always assumed that it was originally an American usage, via Beavis and Butthead, Southpark etc.

There's a similar phenomenon whereby words describing medical conditions or people with disability have keep changing to keep one step ahead of the schoolyard. Thus, in the 60's-70's, the word 'spasticism' came to be used to describe cerebal palsy, so 'spastic' replaced 'cripple'. Thus 'spak' became a general term of childhood abuse. Similarly, 'mentally handicapped' cave rise to 'menc'. Even the well-intentioned, positively-slanted 'Children with special educational needs' was perverted - 'Hah, hah! Special nee-eeds!'

a little diversion in spelling reasons (s all round).
Why does the 'e' mess about and move when one goes from 'fire' to 'fiery'. Why isn't it 'firey'? Or 'fier'?

You can't divert a raging argument with such "e"s as that.

But this is always the effect when a question comes up about national characteristics (swearing in this instance). There are probably no figures anywhere to go on, so all we can offer is anecdotal; and therefore all we can demonstrate by posting to such a question is our own mindset.

I don't pretend to know why, but mindsets are very like pit bull terriers.

You have a very good point, rhynch, about the Thylacine. As for meeting a moa in person (?), no thanks! I visited the museum in Sydney once, turned a corner and came face to face with a ginormous (taxidermed) red kangaroo, it must have been 2 metres+ and I screamt so loud that everyone around me was shocked - but it was just the surprise.

The word 'root' is used in that sense here in NZ, as well. My father, who was an immigrant from the UK in 1952, used to say "The Kiwi eats, roots and leave" when he was annoyed with any particular NZer.

I remember the good old days when all Bugs Bunny had to worry about was Elmer Fudd or Daffy Duck or Yosemite Sam.

The first time I saw Taz, the whirling buzzsaw from Tazmania slashing its way thru the timber I feared greatly for Bugs. How could he survive this assault? Tazmanian Devils seemed unstoppable.

I cried out, "The end is nigh! Monsters from down under have set an agent of destruction to harry our favourite hare! Woe is we!"

But I was wrong. As I often am. And sometimes I'll even admit it. I shoulda kept the faith with Bugs and never doubted his power.

~jwf~

"You can't divert a raging argument with such "e"s as that."

I know, I know, more to give a little relief to those of us not actively involved in that argument.

Although I do now have to call on Apple and ask if she really meant 'screamt' or not and if so if that is usual in her neck of the woods?

Or suggest a new thread on antipodean english?

now there's an idea.

How about non-British English, to include us Paddies?

No, the Jocks deserve their say, also the Taffies. Non-English English anyone?

Speaking of the Antipodes, I have, by sheer coincidence I assure you, recently acknowledged their inverted realities in the editorial text of the latest issue of the CAC-Continuum.
A3844532
We must remember that at this time of year, when we of the top half of the globe are counting croci and watching the daffodils erupt, our friends below the equator are struggling with the grim realities of an onsetting winter.

~jwf~

<< and ask if she really meant 'screamt' or not and if so if that is usual in her neck of the woods?>>

Usually, children say it, and my Mum used to say it to be sarcastic. I sometimes say it for emphasis, and because it sounds more "past tense". Saying 't' instead of 'ed' is actually quite common here, 'earnt' is my least favourite! (Earned, as in $$$)

I'd like to advertise my Guide Entry on New Zealand English... A1001683
Please, do have a read everyone!

my on early settlers.
When you look at the people chosen to go to Australia and who was doing the choosing I'm not sure I would think the ones being sent as being lower in the ideological or moral hierarchy. Many poor people fighting for social justice or trying to feed their children were sent. I think I'd rather spend my time with them to be honest.

I would think that the use of the term gay as general abuse is strongly linked to homophobia. I've come across the word gay being used as a term of abuse by one child to another in the UK but it is because they had a negative view of homosexuality. It is not a big step from that to it being a term of abuse for other things.

Another word which seems to be developing a different meaning in playground slang terms is "random". It now means weird.

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I've heard random used in that way as well...

>>"Another word which seems to be developing a different meaning in playground slang terms is "random". It now means weird."

It's been around for some time, (at least a couple of decades) though with a definite double meaning.

"I went caving with Jim, Mark, and a couple of randoms" just implies that the other people weren't worth mentioning, or weren't well-known to the speaker. Often denotes effective interchangability with any other members of some group of lesser interest or familiarity.

"He's a bit of a random" implies someone who's possibly just shy and hangs around on the outside of groups, and/or someone a bit eccentric (likely to make random comments if engaged in conversation).

However, someone quite eccentric but well-known and cared-for would more likely be referred to as someone who can *be a bit* random, rather than as *an* actual random, so I suppose there has to be an element of social disconnection as well as possible oddness.