# Dear Ed Zotti. Re: Restrictive Language. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 29, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685 "2011-12-29T00:40:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/41 "2011-12-29T15:29:21Z")
> [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](#): > > I thinks its a bloody good idea. Treat it like a game. Some one who has put a bug up ya arse, challenge in a formal fight in the BBQ pit rather than a slanging match on the street. > > Verbal Gladiators or a boxing match for word wise Muhammed Alis, full of vitriol and sharp, fiery wit, should be fun I reckon. > > Have it a controlled setting make it short and fun. Though you have allow some time for the match to play itself out for not everyone is on the computer at the same time. You’re welcome to challenge an adversary to a “match” under those terms. However: 1. Your adversary would need to agree. And probably the only ones who will accept would be ones that are sure they could beat you. 2. Bystanders will be commenting on both your posts, so it’s not going to remain a one-on-one match. 3. The moderators are not going to referee the match or try to control what other posters say (as long as they stay within forum rules). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/42 "2011-12-29T15:31:21Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Why can’t Americans ever get this right? > > If they spell it correctly (Aussie), they invariably pronounce it “ossy” (rhymes with “bossy”), which is wrong. > > And when they manage to work out how to pronounce it, they then insist on spelling it like a character from a 1950s sitcom. > > It’s spelled Aussie, and it’s pronounced “ozzie.” > > Fair dinkum. Why can’t you non-Americans just recognize that we now own the English language. If we do it a certain way, it is, by definition, right. Do we need to drop some bombs on you or something? ---
**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:** [December 29, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/43 "2011-12-29T16:48:21Z")
> [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](#): > > As a person who lives among the working classes, and am proud of that fact … Oh, a working-class hero is something to be … > [@](#): > > as a person who sometimes confronts others who I have deemed, even if ever so slightly, to have “paid me out” so I “pay them back” with a little stronger language than is necessary; is it not fair to request, say that if the situation does get out of hand and two people are going at each others throats and the moderator steps in to say “break it up!!!”, a page in the BBQ pit where the opposing elements could spit it all out, have their sling match, shake hands, and depart on reasonably good terms? The problem is that these kinds of exchanges turn out not to be nearly as interesting, exciting, or witty as their drunken participants seem to think they are. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/44 "2011-12-29T16:50:43Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Why can’t Americans ever get this right? > > If they spell it correctly (Aussie), they invariably pronounce it “ossy” (rhymes with “bossy”), which is wrong. > > And when they manage to work out how to pronounce it, they then insist on spelling it like a character from a 1950s sitcom. > > It’s spelled Aussie, and it’s pronounced “ozzie.” > > Fair dinkum. It’s not that we _can’t_ get it right. It’s that we can’t be bothered to care. If Australians care so much about it, then they should make the spelling match the pronunciation. If it’s “Aussie,” pronounce it “ossy.” If it’s pronounced “ozzy,” spell it “Ozzie.” Otherwise, just let it go and consider “ossy” the American English pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/45 "2011-12-29T17:08:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > If Australians care so much about it, then they should make the spelling match the pronunciation. Genius! I assume, based on this recommendation, that when you speak, you pronounce all of the following words the same: thought through dough enough cough ---
**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:** [December 29, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/46 "2011-12-29T17:14:50Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Genius! > > I assume, based on this recommendation, that when you speak, you pronounce all of the following words the same: > > thought > through > dough > enough > cough I don’t hear anyone whining about the pronunciation of those words. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/47 "2011-12-29T17:36:42Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > If every post had to be in the form of a Yo Mamma joke I could get behind this. Yo Mamma is a very beautiful and kind lady and is an excellent cook. Is that how it works? ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/48 "2011-12-29T17:53:53Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Genius! > > I assume, based on this recommendation, that when you speak, you pronounce all of the following words the same: > > thought > through > dough > enough > cough We’re working on it, but people are resistant to being corrected. Via its millions of fast food outlets, McDonalds Corporation has been working diligently with “drive-thru”. The various govenments have renamed dual carriageways to “thruways”. Meanwhile, our rock bands and graphic novelists are working on changing enough to “enuff”. The Homer Simpson campaign started off well but wandered off in the wrong direction. Doh! I’m counting on America’s texting teens to reduce the remainder of those words to their correct spelling any day now. They’ve made remarkable progress on extracting the ugh from thought to produce “thot”. So far, everyone’s stayed away from cough as if it had cooties. I’m thinking that we’ll just replace the word with “GAAAK !!” ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/49 "2011-12-29T17:56:48Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > If every post had to be in the form of a Yo Mamma joke I could get behind this. You know who else could get behind this? Yo mamma. > [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Everyone’s momma is fat. You know who else is fat? A fat guy. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/50 "2011-12-29T22:12:53Z")
Here I was thinking it was some sort of homage to Oz, the land from the Frank L. Baum books. I keep wondering why Australians are so fond of a story that started in Kansas. But since Oz is a mysterious and magical place, the assumption was that was the connections. Australians are trying to say that Australia is mystical and magical and fun and not at all boring like Kansas. And so they spell it Ozzy. “I’m an Ozzy.” “Ozzies like Fosters.” Not that they can’t pronounce Aussie correctly. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/51 "2011-12-29T22:38:54Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Here I was thinking it was some sort of homage to Oz, the land from the Frank L. Baum books. I don’t think it started that way: it was just a shortening of “Australia”. However, starting in the 1960s people noticed the L. Frank Baum connection and wrote “Oz” instead of “Aus”. Richard Neville may have been responsible, with the publication of the magazine [Oz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oz_%28magazine%29), but Barry Humphries may have helped in popularisng the term. But generally I agree that Australians write the words as “Oz” and “Aussie”. I don’t think they are trying to confuse Americans, but I can see that they might. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/52 "2011-12-29T23:57:44Z")
Hey, it isn’t Oz-tralia with a z sound, it’s Aus-tralia, with an s sound. We’re right, they’re wrong. So says an Ammareecan. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/53 "2011-12-30T07:41:17Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I don’t think it started that way: it was just a shortening of “Australia”. I know Aussie was short for Australian, but I’m talking about the pronunciation and the use of Oz and Ozzy. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/54 "2011-12-30T20:10:58Z")
So, have we decided whether it’s allowed to call someone “aussie” in the Pit? Or have I missed the point of the thread? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685/55 "2011-12-30T20:47:00Z")
The rule is that you can’t call Kiwis “Aussies” (or “Ozzies”) in the Pit: if you do, Peter Jackson will have the orcs take you to Mordor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ed-zotti-re-restrictive-language/607685.md?page=2)