Despite my name, I do not speak Australian.

I've just finished a crime/suspense novel set in Australia by Patricia Carlon, "The Unquiet Night". I had several questions re different words myself...
I'll see if I can find some of them again.











I'

It's pronounced jail.


Interestingly, I believe it was once in common use in the US...at least my Superman comics always spelled it "Gaol".

I think you must have gotten some kind of nutty Superman translation, dlowan. Supermate maybe!

Thank you for the pronounciation! It seems Australia's history lends itself to stories about "gaol" as nearly every book I've come across at least mentions it.

I'm really fascinated by the fact that the language is so similar but so different. For me, it requires a lot of concentration. I've really been wanting to go back and reread some of the books I liked but felt I was missing a big chunk of because of the language.

Boomer, I have this link among "my favorites." Always nice to be able to refer to a foreign language.

http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/anonymous@4338263282/-/p/dict/index.html

(And, yes, 'gaol' is pronounced 'jail', and no, it's not strine, it's how the Brits have always spelled [spelt] the word. Go figure.)

Oh, Boomerang. I reopened my collection of Michael Leunig cartoons, upon reading this. I'll be darned if I understand the cartoons, either.

No, they were fresh from the USA.

I remember being very puzzled as I had never seen the word written before, ( I was a weelowan) and I had no idea how to pronounce it!


It was much later that I realized we had "gaols" too. Indeed, I sometimes visited one for work...the now retired from active duty Adelaide Gaol.


Normally we call the things prisons

In the US, Deb, we differentiate between 'jail' and 'prison.' A prison is the place where a judge commits you after you've been found guilty by a jury. A jail, generally, is just a holding facility for those accused but not yet convicted. (Except that, at the county level, people might be imprisoned in a jail for relatively minor offenses, not warranting sending them off to a state or federal prison.)

If you read a newspaper here, they spell it jail as well. Always annoys me, because if a school kid is asked to spell the word in a test, Australian teachers will be looking for gaol. (Personally, I think the American spelling makes more sense in this case).

It's usually spelt as "jail" in the UK, and it always makes me do a double take when I see "gaol" anywhere. Very old fashioned English.

"The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde.

http://emotionalliteracyeducation.com/classic_books_online/rgaol10.htm

Harrumph.

I jest leerve you boomer, maaaaaate. spose a roots outa the question?

That dictionary is great, Merry! Thank you. I know that will come in handy.

"Theft" is actually an easier read than most of them have been. It helps that there isn't a lot of dialogue and, so far, there are really only two characters.

Reading these books reminds me of when I read "A Clockwork Orange" years ago - in a knuckleheaded edition without a glossary. It took a couple of readings before I could puzzle it all out. It is challenging in a word game sort of way.

I really think a good book about the history of Australia would help bring a lot of the novels into context for me.

Any recommendations?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manning_Clark
Charles Manning Hope Clark AC (3 March 1915 - 23 May 1991) is one of Australia's most distinguished historians, recognised for his mammoth six-volume work History of Australia published between 1962 and 1987. He was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civil honor, in 1975. In 1980 he was made Australian of the Year.


http://www.mup.unimelb.edu.au/catalogue/0-522-84523-1.html

Manning Clark's six-volume work, A History of Australia, is an Australian masterpiece. Published between 1962 and 1987, the work was some three decades in the making. It is the testament of Clark's commitment to Australian scholarship and to telling our story.

abridged version by Michael Cathcart

Poor fella my country, Xavier Herbert. a story with an historical basis. Well and truly dated by now but still usefull.

Boomerang, it's funny how the names we adopt often come bac to haunt us. I dread to see what jlNOBODY will bringme.

I met a bunch of Australians and New Zealaners. Delightful folks with a great capacty for enjoying themselves.

Well, slap my ass and call me Shirley... I had no idea that is how "gaol" was pronounced or what the meaning was!

Also, what's a newzealaner, Shirley?

Doesn't it mean "Jail:? and itsn't it prounced "Jelll"? (as in American)?

Hey, boomer. One of the doctors on Dr.House is Auzzie. At first I thought he was a cockney Brit. Love the accent:

JL. Welcome back to the boards. and yes, even newscasters and those who do commercials has forgotten the long "A". Drives me nuts.

Here's a poem:

The Integrated Adjective

First verse of a poem by John O'Grady (1907-1981)

I was down on Riverina, knockin' round the towns a bit,
An' occasionally restin', with a schooner in me mit;
An' on one o' these occasions, when the bar was pretty full
An' the local blokes were arguin' assorted kinds o' bull,
I heard a conversation, most peculiar in its way,
Because only in Australia would you hear a joker say:
"Where yer bloody been, yer drongo? 'Aven't seen yer fer a week;
An' yer mate was lookin' fer yer when 'e comes in from the Creek;
'E was lookin' up at Ryan's, an' around at bloody Joe's,
An' even at the Royal where 'e bloody never goes."
An' the other bloke said "Seen 'im. Owed 'im 'alf a bloody quid,
Forgot to give ut back to 'im; but now I bloody did.
Coulda used the thing me-bloody-self; been orf the bloody booze,
Up at Tumba-bloody-rumba shootin' kanga-bloody-roos."