# Ozzy dialect question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260 "2002-08-04T04:05:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/1 "2002-08-04T04:05:08Z")
Was just watching Steve Irwin on Animal Planet and noticed something. Why does he say ‘disorientated’ instead of the more familiar (in the States) ‘disoriented’. I’m also interested in other Australianisms that we’re not too familiar with in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/2 "2002-08-04T06:36:25Z")
Ozzy = Aussie? I guess. I expected an Ozzy Osborne question. Oh, well. Anyway, people in some parts of the USA use that form too. Possible linguistic roots? Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/3 "2002-08-04T06:41:01Z")
Or Steve just doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Does he say “supposably” too? ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/4 "2002-08-04T06:43:43Z")
Shaaaaaaaaron!!! Short answer? Irwin is a git. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/5 "2002-08-04T06:48:21Z")
Regarding Steve Irwin as a lingustic expert is a worry! Though in this case I have some sympathy for his usage. Is a bit like flammable/imflammable where the shorter word is usually preferable. But my justification for (continuing) to use disorientated is: Orientate v Disorientate are antonyms Orient v disorient have no relationship (well at least in my archaic lexicon where Orient and Occident exist) I don’t see this example as being an Australianism. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/6 "2002-08-04T07:02:11Z")
I thought this was about Ozzy Osborne too and didn’t consider opening it until I saw that **woolly** had posted. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/7 "2002-08-04T07:12:50Z")
Well, now. [m-w](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary) likes it. Ya learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/8 "2002-08-04T07:41:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Babar714 \* > \*\*I’m also interested in other Australianisms that we’re not too familiar with in the U.S. \*\* You having a lend, ya galah? Strewth mate, next you’ll be skiting that you barrack for Essendon or Manly. Most be a few ‘roos loose in th’ top paddock. **ahem** That is to say, there are lots of them. It depends how much time you’ve got. I’m also interested in regional (lesser-known) US stuff, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/9 "2002-08-04T08:08:11Z")
It’s the same here, **TLD**. You’d need a book. People from different parts of the US often have some trouble understanding each other. One phrase you’ve surely heard in a popular song, “losing my religion”, is actually pretty rarely used. “Backwards and forwards to school” (Back and forh). “Chimley” (Chimney). “Come after a cold fire?” (Leaving so soon?) Where (and how) on earth _did_ Aussie lingo originate? Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/10 "2002-08-04T09:43:42Z")
For those who thought this was a thread about our good friend Coke-fer-Brains Osborne, I’m sorry. I don’t watch his show, and the most I’ve ever seen him speak was on The Daily Show and in Goldmember. I wouldn’t consider anything that came out of his mouth nowdays a dialect, let alone a language. And LoadedDog, I’d love to help, but I’m about as cultured as a sterile handi-wipe. You might be better off starting a thread to get more hits. I’ll be sure to chime in when I get more of an idea what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/11 "2002-08-04T09:52:13Z")
Most of us **Aussies** , don’t relate the term “Ozzy” to our country. Likewise, the term “Oz” (which I always assume is refering either to drug deals or that movie with Judy Garland). ---
**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:** [August 4, 2002, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/12 "2002-08-04T10:58:44Z")
Disorientated is more common in Australia than disoriented. However when it comes to accents, dialects and regionalisms, Steve Irwin is to Australia what Jed, Granny and Elly-Mae Clampett are to America. Strewth! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/13 "2002-08-04T11:14:15Z")
I use Oz. But then only about the place: we are definately not Ozzies, we are Aussies. So maybe this is Aus not Oz. But if you spell it like that it looks like you are merely writing an abbreviated form of Australia, instead of using a slang term. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/14 "2002-08-04T11:15:43Z")
But I’m still left wondering if anyone has insight about Ozzy’s dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/15 "2002-08-04T15:19:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FisherQueen \* > \*\*But I’m still left wondering if anyone has insight about Ozzy’s dialect. \*\* In an interview I heard on a radio show, Ozzy (Osbourne) said his dialect is a working-class Birmingham accent. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/16 "2002-08-04T21:52:47Z")
For TLD: Pittsburgh expression: Just jaggin’ your wires = just kidding you. I think it’s from the horrible American mispronunciation of Jaguar as Jag-wire. Eep ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/17 "2002-08-05T01:11:30Z")
**Mangeorge** , is “Chimley” a childish thing affected by some adults for its cuteness value? It sounds remarkably similar to the “chimbley” you hear in Australia sometimes. These are the kids who’ll say “somethingk” and “nothingk”. As for “needing a book”, most of the books on Australianisms always seem to somehow miss the mark. Using the words in the way they describe would usually earn you an, “Oi! You havin’ a lend, you Yank drongo?” 😃 I hope the US equivalents are better. A lot of the Irwinisms etc are very common in Australia these days. It’s probably a similar story in the USA. I blame a lot of it on the business-speak of the 80s-90s (eg. “Bush **set** to launch missiles” instead of “Bush to launch missiles”), and some of it on good ol’ laziness, and the fact that people just don’t read as much these days. There’s the classic “could of”, and the worst I’ve seen was a handwritten “isn’t it?” written as “is and it?” I think that sort of misuse is common in every English-speaking country. I’m more interested in the colourful stuff that just spontaneously happens in different places. Righto. Time to shoot through. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/18 "2002-08-05T02:25:25Z")
Do you mean, **TLD** , phrases such as; [ul] [li]“Rainin’ like a cow pissin’ on a flat rock”.[/li][li]“Goin’ to fist city”.[/li][li]“Hide behind a shade tree and watch”.[/li][li]“Bring a lunch”. (Going to take a long time).[/li][li]"\_\_\_\_ this" (Said while indicating one’s private parts).[/li][/ul] Stuff like that? ---
**Author:** ![auliya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@auliya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auliya)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/19 "2002-08-05T07:56:54Z")
“Beresk” used in stead of “beserk” I have truly heard people say it. Pauline Hansen is the one that springs to mind, but that could be just by association. How about “flat out like a lizard drinking” ? I think that means not very busy. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260/20 "2002-08-05T08:03:46Z")
I am not an expert on dialects (Aussie nor Ozzy), but to me Steve Erwin’s speech seems very exaggerated…sort of like the Australian equivalent of the Foghorn Leghorn/Boss Hog “southern” accent which no real southerner ever speaks in. I have NEVER heard an Australian talk quite like that. As for Ozzie Osbourne - I’d term his speech as “Quaalude-Brumie” dialect, that being the linguistic term of course. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozzy-dialect-question/122260.md?page=2)