I’ve been living in Australia for over three years now. I’ve managed to pick up most of the dialect, and I even use some of it, although my speech is still distinctively American and so is my accent.

In the time I’ve been here, I’ve had to learn new words to describe the things I want. I’m not talking about pronunciation, although that can be confusing enough (you say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to, let’s call the whole thing off…). I mean actual words and phrases that are really quite different. It can be frustrating at times.

Here are just a few that immediately come to mind:

Then there are the phrases that I just find odd. Like someone says they’ll see you “Tuesday week,” which means “a week from Tuesday.” Or the phrase “fall pregnant” instead of “become pregnant” or “get pregnant”. I always find that one pretty amusing. Like you were just walking along and you tripped and WHOOPS! You’re pregnant!

And on the subject of pregnancy is the weird use of the phrase “pregnant to” instead of “pregnant by”. In other words, I was “pregnant to Andrew” (after I tripped and fell, presumably on him).

Some Aussie phrases are pretty good, though. Like “down the gurgler” for “down the toilet”. But Cool Australian Phrases is probably a topic for another mini-essay on another day, I think. As for me, I normally use some “cool” Aussie phrases and words if I like them, and I use Australian names for things if I must (such as asking for paracetemol in the chemist, since they probably won’t know what acetominophen is). When I’m tired or distracted, I still use the American dialect, though, and some things I just plain refuse to say, like “pusher” instead of “stroller” (you know, a little chair with wheels that you put a baby in).

Thankfully, Andrew can translate when necessary. He’s bi-dialectic.

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