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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"
