Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Aussie word of the day: food storage edition

I've become so immersed in my husband's Aussie-speak that I'm beginning to use it myself, to the point that today, I couldn't remember the word "cooler," i.e., the thing you put sandwiches and drinks in when you go on a picnic or to the beach.

For example, like everyone in Australia, we have an electric kettle for boiling water.  They drink lots of tea there.  Only they don't call it a kettle -- it's a "jug," as in "Darl,* would you be a dear and put the jug on for a cuppa**?"  "Jug" is also used to refer to any container in which liquids are stored.  And now I never say "turn on the kettle" or "boil some water."  I always say "put the jug on."

I need to do a Target run today, and I was making a shopping list.  Jason needs a couple of things for his job up in Vail, and I was planning on picking them up for him.  Specifically, he wants a big thermos to keep drinking water in, and a little cooler for packing his lunch.  So I wrote:
children's motrin
note pad with magnet for fridge
bananas
ketchup
strawberries
blueberries
Special K
water jug
esky
First, note that I wrote "water jug" rather than "thermos."  Second, you're probably asking yourself, "what the hell is an 'esky'?"

"Esky," which is short for "Eskimo,"*** is the Australian slang word for "cooler."  And as I was writing out the list, not only did I instinctively write "esky," but when I tried to remember the American word, it took me a good 20 seconds of thinking hard to come up with it.

I think I'm becoming indoctrinated.

________________
*   darl = short for "darling."  Sounds like "doll," but with an "r" thrown in.

** cuppa = cup of tea

*** as I have explained previously, Aussies abbreviate everything.

4 comments:

  1. I love these posts because I learn more Aussie vocabulary. I have a cousin who is married to a man from Australia and they lived there for many years before coming to Atlanta where she teaches at Tech.

    I can't wait to hear how the Southern dialect and vocabulary change their speech over time.

    I haven't lost words so much as I've lost phrases. Or absorbed them, I guess.

    And I heard The Actor say "fixin' to" instead of "getting ready to."

    The change is happening.

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  2. It will happen for sure. Before long, they'll notice their vowels lengthening and that "y'all" is somehow creeping into their vocabulary.

    I love the term "fixin' to." I find it incredibly charming. But then again, I love Southern accents (the more aristocratic drawls, not the mountain twang), so I miss that about living in Georgia.

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  3. It is really, really interesting about words and accents. Among other things, I'm still left with UMbrella, rather than umBRELla, from my days at Carolina.

    And I couldn't read your prior post. I started to cry as soon as I opened it, and I just can't handle it, sweet as I know it is.

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  4. Oh, I'm sorry it made you cry. Jason cried when he read it as well. I've read over it a couple of times in the last few days, mostly to look at the pictures, and now it just makes me smile, albeit with a little lump in my throat. He was such a hilarious, wonderful sweet dog.

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