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You know what drives me crazy about the Australian accent? Everything seems to go up at the end? Like everything is a question? I can't stand it? Augh?
You know what drives me crazy about the Australian accent? Everything seems to go up at the end? Like everything is a question? I can't stand it? Augh?
As someone may have already mentioned, Australian speech is not so much an 'accent'. It's rather a mangled version of the London 'Cockney' manner of speech. Maybe it's from that area of England where the first convicts were exported to Australia. Not so much these days, thank God, but up until a few decades ago 'rhyming slang' was quite common here. 'Rhyming slang'? Pure Cockney, found nowhere else in the world. In some of the early Australian movies local actors were hard to find. And so they used English actors who were either from the 'Cockney' area of London or they could otherwise impersonate someone from that area.
Speech patterns have evolved here in Australia over the last couple of centuries into a more 'official' accent and it may continue to do so. Educated Australians such as TV news readers tend to sound as though they just arrived from England. I think it's the 'ocker Australian' style of speaking that tends to grate on the nerves of many but this appears to be going out of style. Again, thank God. These types come across as being uncultured 'hicks' and are more of a novelty to the rest of the world than to be taken seriously. Take the Crocodile Dundee movies as examples of this. While the rest of the world fell in love with Paul Hogan and his ridiculous onscreen character I cringed much of the time when I saw the first - and only the first - movie of his.
Incidentally, just so this post doesn't appear to be picking solely on the Australian 'accent', what I find cringe-worthy these days for some reason that never affected me previously is the 'nasal whine' of many of the American women on TV. I married an American girl and, if she had this same nasal whine that I refer to I never noticed it. Perhaps I'm becoming more astute the older I get. Or, maybe I'm getting to the age where I'm starting to find pretty much everything to be cringe-worthy and annoying.
Last edited by RomulusXXV; 05-01-2021 at 07:31 PM..
As someone may have already mentioned, Australian speech is not so much an 'accent'. It's rather a mangled version of the London 'Cockney' manner of speech. Maybe it's from that area of England where the first convicts were exported to Australia. Not so much these days, thank God, but up until a few decades ago 'rhyming slang' was quite common here. 'Rhyming slang'? Pure Cockney, found nowhere else in the world. In some of the early Australian movies local actors were hard to find. And so they used English actors who were either from the 'Cockney' area of London or they could otherwise impersonate someone from that area.
Speech patterns have evolved here in Australia over the last couple of centuries into a more 'official' accent and it may continue to do so. Educated Australians such as TV news readers tend to sound as though they just arrived from England. I think it's the 'ocker Australian' style of speaking that tends to grate on the nerves of many but this appears to be going out of style. Again, thank God. These types come across as being uncultured 'hicks' and are more of a novelty to the rest of the world than to be taken seriously. Take the Crocodile Dundee movies as examples of this. While the rest of the world fell in love with Paul Hogan and his ridiculous onscreen character I cringed much of the time when I saw the first - and only the first - movie of his.
Incidentally, just so this post doesn't appear to be picking solely on the Australian 'accent', what I find cringe-worthy these days for some reason that never affected me previously is the 'nasal whine' of many of the American women on TV. I married an American girl and, if she had this same nasal whine that I refer to I never noticed it. Perhaps I'm becoming more astute the older I get. Or, maybe I'm getting to the age where I'm starting to find pretty much everything to be cringe-worthy and annoying.
A bit different from Cockney though. Strine never dropped the H. Always found Cockney retort sharper and witter. Was rhyming slang ever that widely used in Australia?
I think those with a stronger ("bogan") Australian accent sound obnoxious or mean. I don't get a friendly vibe from a thicker Aussie accent (same way with an American redneck accent and the English Cockney accent). There is a humble nanna nearby who comes over to spend time with her little granddaughter. I never heard her speak as she is a bit distant from where I live but I do see her clearly with her cute granddaughter. But, as soon as I heard her speak the other day with a grating bogan accent, I instantly got turned off by her. Lol.
But sometimes it can sound comical, like this reporter (the way she pronounces THIRTY):
You know what drives me crazy about the Australian accent? Everything seems to go up at the end? Like everything is a question? I can't stand it? Augh?
See #101. And yeah, it's weird and quite irritating.
See #101. And yeah, it's weird and quite irritating.
That's Australian rising intonation. Yes, it is annoying. Most people in Australia don't speak like that. I'd say it's less than 10% of the population. It affects women more than men.
That's Australian rising intonation. Yes, it is annoying. Most people in Australia don't speak like that. I'd say it's less than 10% of the population. It affects women more than men.
In milder forms I think it's actually pretty prevalent in Australian speech patterns. It's just not that noticeable until you hear a UK, US or South African accent along side.
Another stand out is the different pattern to stressing syllables, that is often described as Aussies combining allthewordsinasentencetocreate onehugeword.
It's just the way folk speak. It's not any more "weird" than the downward inflection at the end of a sentence and "choppy" stressing of syllables in a lot of UK, US and South African accents. I suspect it's why these groups often get labeled as whining and condescending, overly serious, and just outright bossy.
Then there are the Canadians with their obsession with boats, who want to randomly insert "a boat" into every second or third sentence....
I think those with a stronger ("bogan") Australian accent sound obnoxious or mean. I don't get a friendly vibe from a thicker Aussie accent (same way with an American redneck accent and the English Cockney accent). There is a humble nanna nearby who comes over to spend time with her little granddaughter. I never heard her speak as she is a bit distant from where I live but I do see her clearly with her cute granddaughter. But, as soon as I heard her speak the other day with a grating bogan accent, I instantly got turned off by her. Lol.
But sometimes it can sound comical, like this reporter (the way she pronounces THIRTY):
I agree that the Bogan accent doesn't sound remotely in the main friendly , but not so with the Cockney accent , which found very much more 'creative' and 'alive' and 'quick' in retort when worked with these folk back in the eighties in London. Very much enjoyed their wit and humour , something I would rarely say, if ever about a Bogan.
I suspect from later visits that accent is on the decline in East London, with a type of 'patois' seemingly the language of the streets these days. (perhaps a result of heavy immigration into the area?)
I find Bogan very direct, lacking in the word play and as mentioned humour.
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