Throughout my stay in the States, I’ve had countless Americans come up to me and say I don’t “sound Australian”. After being polite for the first 100 commenters, I’ve now reverted to stating “I’m using my polite voice.” Done, conversation over, thank Christ. And thank you, to the one person over the last six months that guessed correctly my country based on the way I talk. I feel validated.
I had lunch with an Australian today and apparently I said “poker game” in a very American way – he asked if I was loosing my accent. What are you supposed to say to that? Yes, I’m un-Australian. Sandpaper off my Southern Cross tattoo and feed me to McDonald’s meat patty maker cause I’m loosing my Aussie accent y’all!
They’re over-rated and I’m sure if you spend more than a year in one country, you’d pick up things too.
I am, and always will be Australian, regardless of the way I pronounce things.
Note: My awesome cousin-in-law came up with a theory that empathetic people absorb accents more readily than those that have personalities set in stone. I’m sticking with that. I just adapt to change, that’s all. Unless I’m on the phone to my sister, then I sound like a bogan. “Awh yah, miss you heaps too.”
I was reading a marketing book the other day and it discussed how to asses a culture when marketing a product. In this case, they tackled the good ol’ Aussie stereotype. First of all, I’m disturbed by stereotypes of any kind, secondly, I can’t imagine making sweeping generalisations to the point of writing a book about it, or even a living. Generalisations result in diamond adverts that claim you’re not loved unless you have a cold, hard stone on your wedding finger.
I’m writing this post because I wanted to know if you thought the below sterotype was true or not. Some I agree with, others don’t apply to my friends and I at all.
What are Australians?
“Australia has a distinct culture. According to Hugh MacKay, in his book, Australia Reinvented: The Mind and Mood of Australia, Australians are:
Very casual: The don’t tend to treat people differently, even when there are great differences in age or social standing.
Direct: They don’t talk around things. To some foreigners, this may appear as abrupt or even rude behaviour.
Competitive: Some foreigners may find Australians assertive or overbearing, particularly in sports.
Achievers: They like to keep score, whether at work or play. They emphasise accomplishments, particularly in sports.
Questioners: They ask a lot of questions, even to someone they have just met. Many of these questions seem pointless (“How ya doing mate?”) or personal (“What do ya do fer a crust mate?”) ( I think this is a bit of a cop-out. A lot of cultures ask pointless Qs like ‘how are you’ without waiting for the answer)
Gamblers: Australians will bet on almost anything, even on insect races – and you can bet on it.
Xenophobic: Australians mistrust foreigners, particularly when the foreigners speak in their own language in front of Australians – seen as sign of rudeness and ignorance.
Australians value leisure: They work to live, not live to work. Most effort is usually leisure oriented, even if material standards fall as a result.”
Some of these I’m proud of, others, not so much. I am a little too relaxed, while others are working night and day to be the top dogs in their work place, I’m more concerned with aiming for closer goals. I don’t play sport but I do have a penchant for getting to the point. As for the xenophobia, I do get pissed off when people are talking in another language when I’m in the conversation. I’m working on that.
Are these stereotypes accurate? In my case, yeah, I would say so. I wasn’t born in Australia and yet the culture has absorbed under my skin over the last 16 years.
What do you think is quintessentially Australian? More so, what is typical of your country? What are you proud of and what do you despise?