At a time well within
living memory, a literary person published a book called "Strine,
a Dictionary of Aussie English", under the pseudonym
of Prof. J.Affabeck Lauder.
As the title suggests, the predominant Australian accent
of the time as heard by "Prof. Lauder" was strongly
influenced by a nasal intonation. "Strine" was the
author's interpretation or phonetic representation perhaps,
of the spoken word "Australian".
From this we can deduce that the speaking accent of the
man or woman in the street had become somewhat compressed,
rapid-fire and a little inaccessible to strangers. One word
given as an example was "Emmachisit?" which reputedly
had become the daily way of asking the price of an article
offered for sale!
We could cite examples from Kiwi-speak, this would really
serve no useful purpose other than to show that language truly
does develop or change in various communities, for better
or for worse who can say? It could be argued that (thet) N.Z.
pronunciation is (uz) the product of a lazy tongue; equally,
that it is a true dialect.
In recent times I have noticed that our Aussie English has
become different again. The practice of compressing words
has grown of course, but in less predictable ways.
New differences have become more prevalent or noticeable,
such as the practice of altering consonants which appear near
the beginning or end of words. Some become slurred, others
almost unrecognisable or even seemingly left off altogether.
I hope the reader will find in this small offering, several
words which you yourself may have heard mispronounced, or
pronounced in these different manners.
All of these examples have truly been heard on radio or
television. I personally feel that many of them may be used
more by Sydney-based people than those from other States.
This is not always so and some very noticeable examples come
from W.A.
My own pet hate in this regard and which is in fact the
example which has lead to this compilation was from the W.A.
lady newsreader now retired, who referred to every pistol-packing
baddie as- "The Gunmn". But back to Sydney, or "Speed
City"
Sydney (Sinny) city-dwellers-know-all-too-well-that-if-they-cannot-speak-with-a-frightening-rapidity-they-may-never-even-get-a-hearing-so-all-pauses-are-left-out-and-speech-reduced-to-loud-bursts-which-last-only-as-long-as-one-breath-(phew).
No wonder pronunciation suffers.........
The Word As Heard Original Word Source / s
................................. ........................
..............
Aydies 1980's
Bedder (getting) Better
Baddle (into) Battle
Canna or Cannr Canada (Yes! His brother went to Cannr).
Camra Camera Very common
Charradee Charity
Conwelf Commonwealth (New)
Crimmles Criminals Politicians
Currenly Currently M/C on Strictly Dancing, ABC TV.
Cumny Company Business Person
Deffly Definitely (New)
Dennl Dental (care)
Dorder Daughter (her father had a Hardattack)
Ennertane munt Entertainment.
Erridge OR Errij Heritage (Yes!) (New)
Fordy Forty (her father was only Fordy-Nine)
Gunmn Gunman Newsreaders- very common
Hardattack Heart Attack
Hunner Hunter
The Word As Heard Original Word Source / s
................................. ........................
.................
(Many from Current Affairs programs)
Innerview Interview
Idems Items
Idennidy, Idennify Identity, Identify.
Innus Interest (rate)
Kwonnass Qantas Airways
Layda Later
Liddle Little
Ninies 1990's
Pleece Police Politicians- very common.
Prodesters Protestors
Sevennies 1970's
Sennerlink CenterLink
Sinny Sydney
Sunnly Suddenly
Straya Australia Our Pauline......
Technl Technical (really!)
Terrist Terrorist
Twenny Twenty
Tennerfeel Tenterfield (traveller) Hugh Jackman,
singing on stage in Boy From Oz!
Toadle Total.
.....More Please...?
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