QJ
Goods Engine
I'm not dead!
Posts: 338
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Post by QJ on Jan 7, 2006 1:14:07 GMT
I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, so you'd think I have a casual Australian accent. I agree with that, but most people say I have a nondescript American accent. I don't blame them. I did grow up with Sesame Street! I woudn't actually know different kinds of Australian accents, but we certainly don't 'put a shrimp on the barbie'! Barbecueing seafood is disgusting!
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Post by CPK on Jan 7, 2006 1:21:36 GMT
As far as I know, I don't have an accent - although others in my family seem to. Occassionally, people will pick up on when I use words that people don't normally use, such as "hence" or "conspiracy"......
Then again, I am the only person I know who uses perfect spelling, punctuation and grammar over Instant Messenger......
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Post by The Old Bean on Jan 7, 2006 2:39:00 GMT
Then again, I am the only person I know who uses perfect spelling, punctuation and grammar over Instant Messenger...... I do that too!
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Post by Cläy on Jan 7, 2006 2:44:36 GMT
Then again, I am the only person I know who uses perfect spelling, punctuation and grammar over Instant Messenger...... I do that too! And me...when I could be bothered. Typos annoy me no matter where they are. I don't think I have an accent myself, but some people say I've a very strong Australian accent. Rather odd, I think. But I suppose being accustomed to the sound of your own voice you don't generally consider it an accent...
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Post by Alaric on Jan 7, 2006 10:32:15 GMT
Scouse (Liverpool) North Eastern (Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland) Actually, Liverpool has 2 types of accents. Manchurian (possibly spelt Mancurian) and Scouse. Manchurian would be like a Beatles accent, and Scouse would be a Craig Charles accent. Apparently Manchurians hate Scousers, but that's just what I've heard. And North Eastern? Yeah, more commonly referred to as Geordie (pronounced Gee-or-dee). An officially recognised language (We've got a Bible and everything!). Be careful when calling a North Eastener a Geordie though. We like to keep that term for the Tynesiders. In fact, this might interest you. Different names for people in some of the different regions of the North East. Tynesiders (Newcastle)-Geordies Wearsiders (Sunderland)-Mackems Teessiders (People from the Teesside area, like me)-Smoggies Hartlepool-Monkey Hangers (derives from when the people of Hartlepool hanged a monkey during the Napoleonic Wars, believing it to be a French Spy) Just make sure never to be in those areas when using those names, or you'll get duffed in. Mind you, don't let that put you off coming to the North East of England. We've got a lovely cathedral in Durham you might like to see. And prices are a lot cheaper than they would be in the South. I mean, you could buy a mansion here for the price Southeners would charge for a room in a flat.
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JimBobDunnie
Branch Line Engine
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Posts: 1,002
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Post by JimBobDunnie on Jan 7, 2006 11:04:53 GMT
Nope, American Football and Rugby are two different games. Good try though Well, I can speak a bit of Welsh (Bore da! ) so I'll have a try at translating a few words here, not now cos I don't really know what to write...
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Post by stepneydude on Jan 7, 2006 12:50:51 GMT
Are they? D'oh! And yes, The Simpsons are as popular over here as they are in America... perhaps too popular
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Jan 7, 2006 14:11:24 GMT
I heard the word "mackem" came from the Tynesiders' opinion that people from Sunderland were stupid and therefore only fit to be ordered about. "You mack 'em dee this and you mack 'em dee that." Is that the origin, or is this another of those "nice story if true" anecdotes?
Wow, from international translation to intranational translation...
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Post by Alaric on Jan 7, 2006 21:04:21 GMT
Nah, a Mackem is someone who would make a ship's rivets back in the early 20th Century. Not sure why it became associated with Sunderland, but then I guess they had to call themselves something. Anything other than Geordie.
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Post by The Old Bean on Jan 7, 2006 21:32:21 GMT
Are they? D'oh! And yes, The Simpsons are as popular over here as they are in America... perhaps too popular Oh and 'ere as well! It's one every day at 6 PM.
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Post by dragonfox on Jan 7, 2006 21:50:11 GMT
Are they? D'oh! And yes, The Simpsons are as popular over here as they are in America... perhaps too popular Oh and 'ere as well! It's one every day at 6 PM. Over here, it's a double, triple or quadrouble bill every flipping night! And it doesn't help that it's on two channels at once! Regarding accents, I'm not too sure about my voice. It keeps changing accents from a sort of Geordie to a Japanese accent, maybe even Cockney from time to time. Funny considering that I'm a Brummie! Bloody hell, my 100th post already! Time to grab my coaches and take those contsantly complaining commuters (see Ernest the Engine and Others, the best comedy sketch ever)
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Post by Ryan on Jan 7, 2006 22:33:36 GMT
The Scottish accent is one I find utterly fascinating if I'm honest. For such a small country, it varies so much. In places like Dunoon, there's an accent, but proper pronunciation.
If you're ever in Scotland, take a trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh, and stop off in places to listen to the accents as you go along. Every time you do, the accent will change a little, becoming a little more musical as it goes...until you hit Fife and you need the bloomin' music sheets to keep up with what folk are saying!
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Post by The Old Bean on Jan 8, 2006 7:51:42 GMT
The Scottish accent is one I find utterly fascinating if I'm honest. For such a small country, it varies so much. In places like Dunoon, there's an accent, but proper pronunciation. If you're ever in Scotland, take a trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh, and stop off in places to listen to the accents as you go along. Every time you do, the accent will change a little, becoming a little more musical as it goes...until you hit Fife and you need the bloomin' music sheets to keep up with what folk are saying! The Scottish Accent is the Coolest. Accent. Ever.
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Post by sillyevan on Jan 8, 2006 8:42:46 GMT
The Scottish accent is one I find utterly fascinating if I'm honest. For such a small country, it varies so much. In places like Dunoon, there's an accent, but proper pronunciation. If you're ever in Scotland, take a trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh, and stop off in places to listen to the accents as you go along. Every time you do, the accent will change a little, becoming a little more musical as it goes...until you hit Fife and you need the bloomin' music sheets to keep up with what folk are saying! The Scottish Accent is the Coolest. Accent. Ever. Especially Sean Connery's
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gonzerelli
Goods Engine
The definition of 'Crazy Musician'
Posts: 268
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Post by gonzerelli on Jan 12, 2006 10:03:21 GMT
Wow, a few points I'll have to go on here...
Accents Unlike either America or UK, there's no difference in accent from area to area in Australia (apart from accents of people who grew up speaking another language)
I guess what makes you realise how your national accent sounds is when you hear it done badly. Sadly, the Australian accent is butchered way more than any other. Listen to the "Australian" accents in the episode of The Simpsons where they come to Australia, and watch an Australian show (such as Neighbours) to see just how badly it can be screwed up.
Interestingly, when recording the voices for Thunderbirds, Gerry Anderson preferred to use Australian actors, since they could quite easily speak with British or American accents, while British or American actors had trouble sounding genuinely from the other side of the Atlantic.
Immigrants Australia is a VERY Multicultural society. Seriously, there's people from all over the globe who call Australia home. I have to say though, to answer the question, there aren't all that many people who would be called Jamaican who live here.
We do, however, have quite a number of people from Southern and Eastern European descent, thanks to an immigration policy after World War 2. (The less said about the details of this policy the better)
While we're on immigration - we have people coming out of our ears who want to come to Australia. Activists are quite annoyed at the fact that people who are immigrating by illegal means are being locked in detention centres. (Funny story here... Activists freed some illegal immigrants from a detention centre, and left them. Where? In the desert with no supplied. Nice one...)
I've seen on forums people asking why Aboriginal Australians aren't represented on Australian TV shows (such as Neighbours). The fact of the matter is there aren't all that many Aboriginals around. I'd even go as far as to say more people classify themselves of Italian descent than would Aboriginal. Opportunities are afforded to Aborigines to help them interact within our society, but it's sad to say that not many of them make the most of these opportunities.
In the lead-up to Christmas, there was quite a brou-ha-ha around riots which were happening in Sydney. The basic story here is that gangs of guys identifying themselves as "wog" (yes, identifying themselves) were monopolising a beach, brutally bashing lifeguards and members of the public. People identifying themselves as "Aussie" got sick of this, and retaliated in a massive riot through Sydney's southern suburbs.
Reading the above might suggest that Australians are racist. That couldn't be further from the truth. We are a very accepting society, we really have to be with all the people who come from other places in the world living here. But the above example is an extreme demonstration that we still identify ourselves as Australian.
Voting It's compulsory from age 18. No really, if you don't bote in elections, you're fined by the Government. For Federal (National level) elections, there are two ballot sheets - House of Rep.s and Senate. The House of Reps is easy enough to vote for - up to a dozen boxes to number in order, with 1 being the highest preference.
The Senate paper, however, is usually the size of your average tablecloth. And you're given a choice - You can either number one box above the line (with the number 1) (voting for preferred party), or you can number every box below the line (voting for individual rep's). I'm only 20 so I've only had one Federal election to vote in, but by memory there were around 120 boxes below the line. I literally laughed at the idea of numbering every one of those bozes - what do they think I have all day? And what if I lose count??
Comes up with a plan for next election... I might start numbering the boxes below the line... then pretend to make a mistake and ask for a new one... do it as many times as it takes for the humour to come through without it getting old... Well, it might be fun if I've got a spare hour...
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Post by Skarloey on Jan 12, 2006 18:39:20 GMT
VotingIt's compulsory from age 18. No really, if you don't bote in elections, you're fined by the Government. For Federal (National level) elections, there are two ballot sheets - House of Rep.s and Senate. The House of Reps is easy enough to vote for - up to a dozen boxes to number in order, with 1 being the highest preference. The Senate paper, however, is usually the size of your average tablecloth. And you're given a choice - You can either number one box above the line (with the number 1) (voting for preferred party), or you can number every box below the line (voting for individual rep's). I'm only 20 so I've only had one Federal election to vote in, but by memory there were around 120 boxes below the line. I literally laughed at the idea of numbering every one of those bozes - what do they think I have all day? And what if I lose count?? Comes up with a plan for next election... I might start numbering the boxes below the line... then pretend to make a mistake and ask for a new one... do it as many times as it takes for the humour to come through without it getting old... Well, it might be fun if I've got a spare hour... Now that's what we need here in the UK! I think the turnout for last year's election was 68% percent or something similar... it wasn't impressive, anyway. I suppose that's a good thing, though, most of the non-voters so busy being idiots that they don't understand it. I do and I'm four years off voting age.
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Post by Alaric on Jan 12, 2006 19:08:25 GMT
Last year's election turnout-61%
Labour gained 36% of the vote, Conservatives 33%, Liberal Democrats 23%, Others 8%. Labour victory with an overall majority of 65.
Yes, I'm a Politics student. Does it show? Flawed as British politics is though, you've gotta respect the fact that we have a politcal party called 'The Monster Raving Loony Party' that regularly gets votes.
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Post by Ryan on Jan 12, 2006 20:19:07 GMT
Well, I intended to vote in this year's national election, it would have been my first to do so. Only thing was, apparently they thought I wasn't born until my 20th birthday which was seven months away!
They got my birthdate wrong on the register, believing it to be 28th December 2005, rather than 1985! So I missed out on both the Scottish Parliament elections in 2004, as well as the national elections. Mind you, with the "first past the post" voting system and living in a Labour Safe-Seat, your vote counts for very little.
Personally, I'm undecided as to which party I support. Had you asked me a few years back, I would have claimed SNP - why? Scottish Independence, the prospect of being our OWN country rather than continue to be "ruled" by England. Then I realised what a farse the Scottish Parliament has turned out to be and reconsidered THAT view!
If anything, I'd probably vote Labour. People focus too much on the negative issues such as the Iraq war, and not on the positive stuff closer to home when it comes to the Government's actions and policy. I choose to ignore it myself, we showed allied support to America, and it'll stand us in good stead in the future should we need it. Not that I condone war, but there WILL be positive aspects from this.
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gonzerelli
Goods Engine
The definition of 'Crazy Musician'
Posts: 268
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Post by gonzerelli on Jan 13, 2006 1:54:31 GMT
Well "first past the post" is kinda how it works here... Kinda...
I forget how the Senate works, but for House of Reps, all the ballot papers are sorted by first preference votes. If one candidate doesn't have over 50% of the votes, then the person with the least number of votes (number of ballot papers in "their pile") is eliminated, and their ballot papers are sorted according to second preference. This continues until one candidate has over 50% of the formal votes, and they become the representative for that electoral area.
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gotSTEAM?
Branch Line Engine
Still dreaming <3
Posts: 1,234
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Post by gotSTEAM? on Jan 13, 2006 5:58:24 GMT
Scottish Accent = Something I'd like to have instead of an upper midwestern accent I live in a nice, quiet suburb of Chicago, so my manner of speaking is the clearest I think you'd find in the USA. Seriously, I have a lot of trouble understanding an Eastern accent (New York, for instance), and a Southern accent, as well as some of the accents you'd find in the western USA. But I've always been fascinated with accents in the UK. And the way things are spelled - I spell a lot of different words the UK way ~Elizabeth
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