The Demise of Vibrancy in Aussie English

[old man emu]

Have you, like me, noticed that Aussie English is not a vibrant (lively) as it seemed to be, say 50 years ago? 

 

When was the last time you heard the younger generation calling each other by nicknames? Not simply contractions of a person's given and family name, but a name that reflected the person's appearance or personal traits. I have noticed that for some reason, there are lots of young kids with auburn coloured hair. Yet, do you ever here the call, "Oi Bluey!" from amongst them? What about occupation-related nicknames like London Fog  (never lifts), Opium (slow working dope), Wicketkeeper (puts on gloves and stands back). Notice that these could be associated with manual labouring jobs. At one stage my son had the tips of his hair bleached, but was mousey brown below. He earned the nickname "Top Deck" after the chocolate .  Later he was a big hitting batsman - 4s and 6s and few singles. That earned him "Tonka" because he always went the "tonk".

 

Then there is the demise of the simile. I was searching for a particular arthritis cream for my Mum, and it was sold out in most of the chemists' I went to. I finally found the last two tubes in a pharmacy with the aid of a young shop assistant. I mentioned that the cream was as rare as hens' teeth. "I've never heard anyone say that," she said. I explained that it meant that something was as hard to find as rocking-horse poo. Another dumbfounded look came across her face.

 

Oh where, Oh Where is the beauty of the language of the Bard? Where are the amusing puns? Saddest of all, where are the quotes from that, over 2000 year library of literature. Can you imagine women gossiping over another the results of another woman's face lift and one saying  

Allas, to deere boughte she beautee!
(Alas, too dearly she paid for her beauty!)

[Line 293 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

a name that reflected the person's appearance or personal traits.

Sorry old mate, but that is known as unacceptable discrimination nowadays.

 

(Dis-crimination is a curious word. It appears to mean non criminality?)

[nomadpete]

But I suspect that you are lamenting the loss of cockney rhyming slang. I have to kerb my tongue around younger folk because they just don't get it. There is less humour out there too.

Edited January 11, 2023 by nomadpete

[facthunter]

The students used to give the teachers made up names and the teachers had one for the Headmaster at one Sydney school I worked at, It was somewhat unflattering. "Rigor Mortis". Said headmaster gave a compliment to a particular teacher and he replied "Thanks Rigger". A slip of the tongue no doubt.

  No one at all was called by their proper name in my father's circle of friends. HIS cricket nickname was 'Sally".    Nev

[onetrack]

I lament the sheer dumbness of the youngest generation. Have we raised parents in the last 30 or 40 years who teach their children nothing? I was looking for the crumpets in Coles and asked a young girl where the crumpets were in the bakery section. She promptly replied, "I'm sorry, I don't know what crumpets are? Could you describe them to me?"  

 

Fortunately, I immediately spotted them not far behind her, so I pointed them out and said, "They're right there! Thank you!" She turned around and looked like she'd just received overwhelming enlightenment - which she obviously had.

 

[red750]

I mentioned in another thread about the headmaster at my high school whose first name was Bert, and he had a bald head. We all called him Bertie Barrentop, but that was back in the 50's.

 

The guy who is in charge of the Men's Shed we share with is known to all as Ozzie. In fact he was litigated against by Ernie Carroll, creator of Ozzie Ostrich, because he had patented the name Ozzie. "Ozzie's" name is actually Daryl. However, a Scottish member of the shed had difficulty saying Daryl, and said "I'll call you Aussie", which became Ozzy. Now if you ask for Daryl, everyone looks at you quizzically.

[facthunter]

Don't they always look at you quizzically in a MEN's Shed?.. At least till they  find their glasses. Nev

[old man emu]

34 minutes ago, onetrack said:

I was looking for the crumpets in Coles

I hope that you were looking for some partially cooked baked products and not just a bit of crumpet.

 

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

But I suspect that you are lamenting the loss of cockney rhyming slang. I have to kerb my tongue around younger folk because they just don't get it. There is less humour out there too.

Indeed, rhyming slang is a sub-section of the uses of language the decline of which I lament. I think that to produce the best nicknames and similes a person has to be have read widely, or have been lucky enough to have inherited sayings from parents and grandparents. From my dairying grandfather via my Mum I get "rush at it like a bull at a gate" and "as useless as tits on a bull". Grandfather was a drove a horse and dray pre-WWII in Sydney. His description of a good or bad draught horse was either "could (couldn't) pull a ton up Druitt Street". Druitt Street is a steep street leading from Darling Harbour up to George Street in Sydney. Entering a lady's bedroom without knocking on the door could find yourself looking at her standing in "her nonon over none on". Ninon is a plain  lightweight sheer cloth that is rather transparent and before the arrival of the petrochemical fibres was often used in high quality lingerie.

 

Then there's "as useless as a flyscreen door on a submarine", or "going off like a belt-fed mortar" (repetitious small farts). Or "wouldn't work in an iron lung" 

[old man emu]

Men's Sheds: Places where single men gather make friends with other single men and to play with their tools. In the "trendy suburbs", not to be confused with Gay Bars.

[facthunter]

Couldn't pull the skin off a Rice Pudding and wouldn't work in a  tub of yeast. Slow as a WET week. Old bike parts are Made of unobtanium. Rare as rocking horse Manure is obvious. What'd God give you eyes for? Blind Freddy could see that. Stands out like dogs Balls.  How'd you like to WORK for a Living? You have to throw rocks at them to get served.. Anybody know where my big shifter  is?  "I wouldn't have a clue" I know, but i need my shifter...Nev

[old man emu]

A blind man on a galloping horse would be glad to see it.

 

 

Note how all the golden oldies we are pulling up are, in fact, oldies. Even Jan's Boss's unhappiness is getting long in the tooth now. Is it because we are able to pre-record broadcasts and fast-forward through the ads? I suppose Blind Freddy has gone to Specsavers.

[red750]

Went over like a lead zeppelin (or cast iron hang glider).

[facthunter]

You wouldn't know IF a brick chimney fell on you.   Nev

[onetrack]

"It slides like sh** off a shiny mudguard!" (something that slides with a really smooth action)

"It sticks like sh** to a blanket!"  (guaranteed to stick)

"Fit as a mallee bull, and twice as dangerous!"  (feeling good)

"Dry as a dead dingos donger!" (really dry)

"Dry as a wooden God!" (even drier)

"He could hurt himself with a rubber sword!" (accident-prone individual)

"All over the place, like a mad womans sh**!" (someone erratic, or driving erratically)

"What the eye doesn't see, the heart can't grieve over!" (if it's not seen by anyone else, there won't be any problems)

"Mad as a cut snake!"  (that's really mad)

"Goes like a cut cat!"  (that's really fast)

"Lower than a snakes belly!"  (that's pretty low)

"A real snake in the grass!"  (watch out for that untrustworthy individual)

 

I'm sure there's hundreds I've forgotten. The funniest bloke I've ever employed, was a bloke from NSW, who was full of these comical turns of phrase. He was a real character.

A shearer in shearing season, and an operator for me outside shearing time, he was a constant source of these sayings - a bloke who worked with the output of 2 men, and a real asset to my operation.

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by onetrack

[pmccarthy]

Just the nicknames would fill a book. Mudguard head, shiny on top and full of sh.t underneath. Bobo, who had a ring of hair around an otherwise bald head. Strawhead, who had a blond mullet. But I could go on and on.

[Jerry_Atrick]

You can get an app for the ipad that translates some of the more common Aussie slang, but there is more that it doesn't than does have.. and it is only  single words - not phrases.

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, onetrack said:

I'm sure there's hundreds I've forgotten.

You've forgotten more than today's youth will ever know. That's because you didn't spend your youth peering into a handheld screen. Like it or not, you probably read works of literature as well. You could call to mind "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" and employ it usefully.  

[red750]

Lower than shark shit. (That's on the bottom of the ocean.)

Couldn't get a shag in a brothel.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Couldn't organise a good f! in a brothel...

 

UK equivalent:

Couldn't organise a good piss-up in a brewery.. The British are so refined!

[nomadpete]

Bad hair day:- Got a head like a half sucked mango.

[nomadpete]

49 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Couldn't organise a good f! in a brothel...

A really useless colleague.....

 

Couldn't get a f*  in a cathouse with a fist full o fifties.

 

Or if there were "ducks on the pond" (ie, women lurking in the workplace) said useless bloke  Couldn't manage a lay in a henhouse.

 

And his mate "blisters". Only appears after the hard work is finished.

Edited January 12, 2023 by nomadpete

[willedoo]

49 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

And his mate "blisters". Only appears after the hard work is finished.

don't forget Pothole - always in the road.

[willedoo]

One company I worked for had one of those dickheads who are always bragging about how good they are. He copped the nickname Ten Men.

[onetrack]

And everyone knew about "Hydraulic Jack" - he'd lift anything!

 

Of course, there was always a "Silent", too - the bloke who never ever, shut up!

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by onetrack

[Jerry_Atrick]

Let's not forget, often nicknames were the antithesis of a person.. e.g. Ed "Weary" Dunlop