# Can anyone teach me to speak Strine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781 "2014-05-20T00:15:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/1 "2014-05-20T00:15:51Z")
It appears I’ll have to learn, because VWife and I have been selected for family relocation Down Under. She received this OFFICIAL E-mail over the weekend. Of course, this screamed scam, and 10 seconds of Google-fu confirmed my suspicions. E-mail addresses deleted to protect the guilty, but you can find them easily enough if you wanna play ========================== From: Australia Immigration To: Recipients Sent: Fri, May 16, 2014 6:53 pm Subject: Re.: You have been selected for family resettlement to Australia Attn: You have been selected for family resettlement to Australia , you are among the list of nominated for 2014 resettlement visa to Australia from our head of mission and we have granted your resettlement on the condition that you meet some basic requirements. Please confirm if you receive this notice, then send us email so that we can give your requirements. Start Now: Family Application - Immigration Assessment to Australia \>\> We look forward to providing you with professional and personalized immigration support to Australia. Should you required more information, please do not hesitate to contact us and we guarantee a prompt reply. Our Regard, Hon. Thomas Smith AUSFIS - Certified Immigration Experts ``` © Copyright 2014 AUSFIS ``` All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/2 "2014-05-20T00:56:21Z")
So, I guess we’ll need to call you \*\*VunderBruce \*\*from now on? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/3 "2014-05-20T00:59:55Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > So, I guess we’ll need to call you \*\*VunderBruce \*\*from now on? Only if I can join the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wallamaloo. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/4 "2014-05-20T01:11:38Z")
I’m an American expat here. Where are you settling? Feel free to send me a PM if you want help or advice. ETA to add some sort of sarcasm font as it came across as far too sincere. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/5 "2014-05-20T01:25:59Z")
I love the Australian accent. I hope you pick it up quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/6 "2014-05-20T01:29:11Z")
> [@Buttercup\_Smith](#): > > I love the Australian accent. I hope you pick it up quickly. I lived ten years in Oz. Never picked it up at all. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/7 "2014-05-20T01:43:40Z")
[Let Stalk Strine](http://www.textfiles.com/humor/strine.txt): \*\*Air Fridge: \*\*A mean sum, or quantity; also: ordinary, not extreme. As in: The air fridge person; the air fridge man in the street. **Baked Necks:** A popular breakfast dish. Others include emma necks; scremblex; and fright shops. **Egg Nishner:** A mechanical device for cooling and purifying the air of a room. **Garbler Mince:** Within the next half hour. Also Greetings. As in: `I’ll be with you in a garbler mince’ And so on. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/8 "2014-05-20T03:56:59Z")
They were trying to break it to you gently, **VunderBob** , but it’s not really a voluntary opportunity. I mean, you do realize that Australia is a penal colony, right? (And what the heck did you do, anyway?!?) ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/9 "2014-05-20T05:16:05Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > [Let Stalk Strine](http://www.textfiles.com/humor/strine.txt): > > \*\*Air Fridge: \*\*A mean sum, or quantity; also: ordinary, not extreme. As in: The air fridge person; the air fridge man in the street. > > **Baked Necks:** A popular breakfast dish. Others include emma necks; scremblex; and fright shops. > > **Egg Nishner:** A mechanical device for cooling and purifying the air of a room. > > **Garbler Mince:** Within the next half hour. Also Greetings. As in: `I’ll be with you in a garbler mince’ > > And so on. That sounds Kiwi to me, not Australian. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/10 "2014-05-20T05:39:42Z")
It’s easy to speak Strine? It goes like this? Just intone every sentence as if it were a question? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/11 "2014-05-20T05:46:22Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > It’s easy to speak Strine? It goes like this? Just intone every sentence as if it were a question? If you want to sound like a 16 year old female. **Emma Chizit?** : What price is this item? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/12 "2014-05-20T05:50:52Z")
Just ask [Eric Bana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqFcdz4gGKA). ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/13 "2014-05-20T05:55:04Z")
OK. You’ll need to understand some basic terms, forget the pronunciations for the time being. You will drink beer. Good beer. You will also visit a pub. A pub is a place that decants beer. Depending upon where you are going to be living, beer comes in different types of glass. In NSW you will ask for a _schooner_. If you come to Victoria, the bartender will laugh at you if you ask for a schooner. In Vic you ask for a _pot_. If you are buying bottled beer, it comes in two sizes: 700ml is a longneck, 375 ml is a stubbie. It is perfectly couth to drink beer straight of a stubbie, but if you try the same with a longneck, people will assume you’re a hopeless alcoholic. Do not ever try to hide your beer in a paper bag…the assumption noted above applies. Do not drink Fosters beer. Only Americans drink that shit. Same with light beer…why bother drinking something that is not going to get you drunk? Your first purchase here should be an ESKY. It is a lightweight, portable box that keeps beer cold. 😃 ---
**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:** [May 20, 2014, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/14 "2014-05-20T05:57:05Z")
Be sure to call anyone with red hair Bluey. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/15 "2014-05-20T06:00:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Be sure to call anyone with red hair Bluey. …and the short guy Lofty, the big bloke Tiny and the magistrate Yer Honour. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/16 "2014-05-20T06:46:17Z")
It’s also possible to spend years in the capital cities (and even a goodly area around them), and never hear ANYBODY that sounds like Steve Irwin. The non-rhotic element is still there of course, and yes we can do some odd things to vowels sometimes, but that traditional twang isn’t prevalent to the levels some people think it is. In the cities especially, it’s the first locally-born generation of children of migrants from various places who seem to be adopting a new version of the accent, and others are picking up on it. It’s faster than before, a bit more clipped, and they say there is a strong New Zealand element to it. You hear the Irwin thing a bit in more remote country areas, but it’s increasingly rare. Also, beware those online lists of Aussie slang - most of that stuff is lifted straight from the 1950s, and you will sound stilted if you use it. Not that there isn’t a lot of slang about, but I’m talking about things like “stone the flamin’ crows”. People just don’t say that stuff these days. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/17 "2014-05-20T06:57:50Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Not that there isn’t a lot of slang about, but I’m talking about things like “stone the flamin’ crows”. People just don’t say that stuff these days. Tell that to Alf Stewart from _Home and Away_. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/18 "2014-05-20T06:57:58Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > In NSW you will ask for a _schooner_. If you come to Victoria, the bartender will laugh at you if you ask for a schooner. In Vic you ask for a _pot_. Remind me to take you for a pub crawl next time I’m down your way. There are schooners aplenty to be had in Melbs these days. Y’ just gotta know where to look. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/19 "2014-05-20T07:04:06Z")
… and of course Steve Irwin’s signature “Crikey” is almost (though probably not quite) as quaint to modern Australian ears as “Stone the flamin’ crows”. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781/20 "2014-05-20T07:07:03Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > If you are buying bottled beer, it comes in two sizes: 700ml is a longneck, 375 ml is a stubbie. Actually I think you’ll find a longneck is 750ml unless you Victorians have smaller sizes. And increasingly stubbies are 330ml, dammit. The standards (VB, XXXX, Crown etc) have stuck to 375ml but anything else is the smaller size. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-teach-me-to-speak-strine/688781.md?page=2)