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| 2012 Sculptures by the Sea, Cottesloe |
One of the joys of moving interstate is learning a new language.
It is enough that I have to remember to say "Bathers" instead of "Swimmers"or "togs". The kids no longer take a "kit bag" to school to carry their sports gear; they take a plain old "sports bag". And sports gear is called sports gear, not kit. But perhaps that was peculiar to their schools, rather than a general term.
Language can be quite specific not only to a State but a suburb, or even a school. When I was at high school in Perth many many years ago non-uniform clothes were called "civvies", yet the high school down the road called them "colours". In Sydney "mufti" was the term used at every school my kids went to.
Blossom (13) told me last night that she has been in fits of giggles at school trying to understand what her friends are saying. 'Random' was a catch-all word for just about everything, good, bad or ugly in Sydney; while in Perth her friends put 'Hell' in front of anything to mean the same thing:
Hell No
Hell Yes
and my personal favourite:
Hell Bogan
Hell Bogan it seems is the best approximation for the negative side of 'Random'. As in
"OMG I totes need new clothes, mine are Hell Bogan".
Perthites seem to have somewhat of a thing for bogans given the rise of the CUB (Cashed Up Bogan) in the resources boom.
Add to this 'Ceebs' (Can't Be Bothered [with]) and 'Seedy' (not hungover, just creepy or random) you get a sentence like
"OMG I totes ceebs Science today, Chem is Hell Bogan and our teacher is so seedy"
7 comments:
HEll Bogan is quite good, I would be using that to the point of abuse if I lived in Perth I reckon. I think Blogger is Hell Bogan for making me decipher and type two word verifications instead of one.
Two indecipherable verifications at that!
I like Hell Bogan too! That last sentence would have taken me years to figure out on my own. I'm that way with texting short-hand too. R is a letter not a word... the same for "c" and "u".
My kids call carbonated beverages "coke" regardless of whether it is Coke or Pepsi. That is a regional thing. We don't say soda or pop, like other parts of the u.s.
I love that your Southern babies call all carbonated drinks coke. Such a linguistic coup for that Southern drink by the same name!
Hell bogan is like a totally random thing to say. It's like so hell random.
:)
Have her friends given Bloss a suitably shortened/lengthened nickname yet? As you know, one of the MAIN factors in us leaving Perth was the hideous nickname the girls at school gave Queenie!!
Hell Bogan is very impressive. I hope it catches on here.
But mufti? Wow, I'm still reeling. Do Sydneysiders really say that?
Fairlie: No nickname that I know of, yet. We left a nickname she hated behind in Sydney that one of the DADs of her friend group gave her.
Suse: Yep, mufti is a word in Sydney.
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