# Australian English **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128 "2015-04-20T16:58:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/41 "2015-04-25T00:19:49Z")
The weirdest Aussie language oddity for me is their habit of calling redheads “Bluey.” No one knows how that started. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/42 "2015-04-25T00:45:10Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The weirdest Aussie language oddity for me is their habit of calling redheads “Bluey.” No one knows how that started. Two schools of thought on that one. Either: A) Australians are a bunch of contrary bastards, so red = blue, or B) Redheads are supposedly particularly short tempered, this much more likely to get into a fight aka a blue. Hence Bluey. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/43 "2015-04-25T00:46:52Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The weirdest Aussie language oddity for me is their habit of calling redheads “Bluey.” No one knows how that started. It’s just another example of perverse reversal. Never heard of a bald man nicknamed “Curly” or a short fella known as “Stretch”? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/44 "2015-04-25T05:23:55Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The weirdest Aussie language oddity for me is their habit of calling redheads “Bluey.” No one knows how that started. It’s cuz they live on the bottom of the planet. Everything’s upside down. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/45 "2015-04-25T05:41:23Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > It’s just another example of perverse reversal. Never heard of a bald man nicknamed “Curly” or a short fella known as “Stretch”? Or Lofty for a shortarse, and Midge for a tall bloke? 🙂 Re the Auntie thing: Auntie is a familiar term, for those who are or have been mostly present in your life. For example, my Auntie Nancy died recently, and my Auntie Evelyn died many years ago (but within my lifetime). But I have many Aunts who died many, MANY years ago, before I was born, and they are not my Aunties. They are Aunts. This is from a non-indigenous perspective of course. (And do you know, if you look at the word aunt or auntie long enough, it looks terribly strange…:D) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/46 "2015-04-25T06:23:34Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > “I’m chuffed” means “I’m pleased”. Indeed, but some people, at least in the UK, use “chuff” as a noun to mean something completely different. [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chuff](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chuff) ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/47 "2015-04-25T09:17:04Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Two schools of thought on that one. Either: > A) Australians are a bunch of contrary bastards, so red = blue, or > B) Redheads are supposedly particularly short tempered, this much more likely to get into a fight aka a blue. Hence Bluey. I always thought factor B was the other way round. That is, if you got two Blueys together, what you ended up with was a big blue… ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/48 "2015-04-25T11:10:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The weirdest Aussie language oddity for me is their habit of calling redheads “Bluey.” No one knows how that started. My dad has worked with some guys for 30 years who don’t know his first name. He’ll always and forever be Bluey to them, despite the fact that his hair has long since turned white and mostly fallen out. My kids, on the other hand, get “ranga”, as “Bluey” is rather old school. Ranga is short for orangutan (similar hair colour and all). In fact, dad was greeted at work one day with “Hey Bluey! Saw you out walking with a couple of rangas yesterday!”. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/49 "2015-04-25T12:24:12Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > First, I carry drugs across the Canada/US border all the time… > > I call that rising inflection “Valley speak” since I think it started in the San Fernando. It has not hit the east and perhaps never will. Awful isn’t it? Into which provence do you go? Making statements sound like questions is something very typical of Ontario. When I think of valley speak, it’s not so much the accent as things like “gag me with a spoon.” (kind of 1980’s perception, I suppose). ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/50 "2015-04-25T14:06:37Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Is Australian uptalk/rising inflection derived from valleyspeak or are they separate phenomena? The adoption of rising inflection by Irish youths has often been blamed on either the popularity of American TV shows and movies that have people talking valley or the popularity of Australian soap operas. Firstly, you need to understand that there is no such thing as “uptalk” in general Australian speech, any more than real Irish people talk like stage leprechauns. What you’re calling “Australian uptalk” is an affectation of the young and the foolish. It comes directly from US “Valley Girls”, and pretty much everyone with an IQ above retard level grows out of it by their twenties. Plenty of Australian teenagers never take it up in the first place. It is affected by actors on Australian TV soaps. Affected. It is not their natural speech. Presumably the producers of Australian soaps believe it makes their actors “sound young”. Really, you should not assume there is _anything_ realistic about Australian soaps, right down to the accents. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/51 "2015-04-25T16:08:05Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Firstly, you need to understand that there is no such thing as “uptalk” in general Australian speech, any more than real Irish people talk like stage leprechauns. Heh. I knew an Irishman who went ballistic if you said “Top o’ the mornin’ to you” to him. We used to do it all the time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/52 "2015-04-25T16:19:06Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Firstly, you need to understand that there is no such thing as “uptalk” in general Australian speech, any more than real Irish people talk like stage leprechauns. > > What you’re calling “Australian uptalk” is an affectation of the young and the foolish. It comes directly from US “Valley Girls”, and pretty much everyone with an IQ above retard level grows out of it by their twenties. Plenty of Australian teenagers never take it up in the first place. > > It is affected by actors on Australian TV soaps. Affected. It is not their natural speech. Presumably the producers of Australian soaps believe it makes their actors “sound young”. > > Really, you should not assume there is _anything_ realistic about Australian soaps, right down to the accents. OP here. As mentioned, I was watching a reality show about border officers. Nearly every professional in the show spoke with a rising, or uptalk or whatever it’s called. It really is an observable speech pattern in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/53 "2015-04-26T23:46:29Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > OP here. As mentioned, I was watching a reality show about border officers. Nearly every professional in the show spoke with a rising, or uptalk or whatever it’s called. It really is an observable speech pattern in Australia. On tellie it is, they are also asking questions so yeah it would be there. But as said before it is as common as a Canadian say “eh”. So not common but not unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/54 "2015-04-27T11:58:21Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > It comes directly from US “Valley Girls”, and pretty much everyone with an IQ above retard level grows out of it by their twenties. Is this linguistically established? Don’t forget that uptalk or something very like it is also a native part of several English regional accents. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/55 "2015-04-27T14:00:50Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Firstly, you need to understand that there is no such thing as “uptalk” in general Australian speech, any more than real Irish people talk like stage leprechauns. > > What you’re calling “Australian uptalk” is an affectation of the young and the foolish. It comes directly from US “Valley Girls”, and pretty much everyone with an IQ above retard level grows out of it by their twenties. Plenty of Australian teenagers never take it up in the first place. Yeah, right, Americans invented everything, even the things you disapprove of :rolleyes: Honestly, it’s a perfectly ordinary unexceptionable pattern of speech in my neck of the woods. It’s how people talked when I was a kid, and I’m 44. My classmates commented on it when I moved to Scotland in 1981 … we didn’t even know there was a “Valley” at that point. I just now finished an episode of Orphan Black with a Belfast pensioner lady doing the exact same thing - sounds perfectly normal to my ears. There’s nothing morally upright about going down at the end of every sentence. Some people do, some people don’t. Yes, it does have a semantic meaning … rising tone is more an invitation-to-connect, more emotional. Falling tone is more laying-down-the-law, being authoritative. Very roughly. Nothing wrong with either. No doubt it sounds weird to someone who hasn’t grown up with it. _shrug_. Americans saying ‘lever’, ‘tomato’ and ‘herb’ sounds weird to me, so what? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/56 "2015-04-27T14:11:04Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Australian pronunciations: > … > Data = dahtah > [@Leaffan](#): > > Data used to be “da-ta” in Canada decades ago, but we lost that battle to “day-ta” long ago… Down here in the mid-Atlantic states of the US we have this funny thing where t becomes d in a stressed syllable, so we pronounce it as “day-duh”. This is the same thing that is happening in pretty = “pri-dee” and when we talk about the well-known US-based religion The Church of Jesus Christ of “Ladder”-Day Saints. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/57 "2015-04-27T14:18:55Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > … > There’s a California valley girl rising at the end of most sentences, whether or not it’s interrogative… Fer sure, like, totally. Gag me with a spoon? Seriously, Californians _so_ talk funny. As if. Also, they seem to have a lot of trouble, like, totally not being able to tell the difference between Don and Dawn? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/58 "2015-04-27T14:22:46Z")
Some Australians say haitch for H, so they’re all right by me. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/59 "2015-04-27T22:20:13Z")
:). Haitch has resurged in the last 20 years or so. Pretty soon it will be universal. Makes elderly teachers swoon… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128/60 "2015-04-28T00:45:59Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I act as a practice moot judge every now and then and almost every year I have to counsel some of the students against uptalking. It’s _always_ young women who have the problem. And it _is_ a problem in the context of a moot because uptalking sounds uncertain and lacking in confidence; as if you are making a statement and querying yourself at the same time. I heard an analysis of uptalk and its perception. It found that, yes, uptalk was perceived as being used by someone lacking confidence or authority, but it suggested that any characteristic of speech that becomes associated with young women is given the same set of negative perceptions. In other words, it’s not uptalk itself that makes you sound like you’re lacking confidence, but because it marks you as sounding like a young woman. In other words, it’s not because of the speech characteristic itself, but because of sexism. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-english/718128.md?page=4)