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| Under Southern Skies |
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This is not my usual post, but a bit of fun for you "northerners" even you northerners who live in Texas or Florida. You see, I'm from the south, no, I mean the deep south, no, I mean the real deep south, south of the equator.
"Southern" to an American is they way they talk in Georgia or Alabama. "Southern" under the Southern Cross is the way we speak here in the antipodes, south of the equator. I hope you find some of our expressions fun.
When someone is a little slow, we say he is a few sandwiches short of a picnic. If he a little crazy, we say he has a few roos (kangaroos) loose in the top paddock. If he is at the same time rather angry, he is as mad as a cut snake. If we insinuate he is being a little childish with his anger, we say he spat the dummy (pacifier).
Australians love to abbreviate everything. Agro is short for aggravated. Sunnies are sunglasses. Ahvo is the afternoon. A pollie or polly is a politician. A cozzie is a swimming costume, bathers. If something is really tiny it is termed as small as a mozzie's cozzie, a mosquitos swimming costume. We don't drive pick up trucks, we drive utes (utility trucks) - same thing - and when we fill our cars with gas, it is not a liquid.
Christians are given abbreviations too. Baptists are Bappos, Presbyterians are Prezzies, Pentecostals are Penties, Salvation Army are called Salvos, and so on. We're so far south that even Floridians are called yanks, or in rhyming slang septic tanks. Come visit us some time! |
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| To add a comment to "Under Southern Skies" |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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| Would love to visit! (You aren't in the desert, are you?) |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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| No, we're inland, where it is dry but like parts of Texas. |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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| Wildlife? :-) |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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Yeah! We hit a roo a few months back. Had to use a rental car for about 3 weeks. One of the funniest things that ever happened to us! We were tooling along an outback road at about 4 in the morning, traveling the speed limit (100k), about 60 mph on the old scale, when all of a sudden grandpa roo (about 6 feet tall) is lying there in the middle of the road warming himself on the black tar. "Aaaaaaaaaaaa! What the....!" Brakes full on, in four wheel lock! "Stupid kangaroo!"
Jenny, my wife, lets out this primeval scream that I had never heard from her before and kaboom! Grandpa kangaroo meanwhile looks up with one eye as he sees this large Ford heading his way, brakes full on, and decides it is time to get up. However, being a grandpa and full of grandfatherly dignity, do you think he could get up and out of the way quickly? No, he just ambles up, and as we slam into him, begins a slow hop. Well, he bounced off the car and last I heard he was moaning something in the dark. I jumped out, looked at the damage and thought I could drive on. Do you think I could? Well, about a hundred meters (yards) down the road, the car overheated. I took another attempt and gave up.
So, we get on the mobile phone (cell) and call the RACV (AAA in your lingo). They tell me I need to call my insurance company. We call, but it's the weekend but finally we get the weekend emergency guy. They call back and tell us there's good news and bad news. Good news? They found someone out in the sticks to fix it. Bad news? It's an hour and a half away. So we sit there for an hour and a half waiting on the rollaway tow truck. Finally, we land in the middle of a mafia garage at Griffith, Italian territory, but they were nice to us, found us a hire car company that operated on weekends and we were on our way, with the memories of one of the funniest experiences ever. |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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| Wow, quite a story! I'll bet grandpa wasn't laughing about it, lol. Well, at least it wasn't a rhino or giant croc or something. (for all I know, those types are probably never seen in your neck o' the woods) |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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| "and when we fill our cars with gas, it is not a liquid." lol does this mean what i thank it means? |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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Mullett: LOL. Don't think I can answer that one.
Mike: No crocs down here in the south. They are up north in the tropics. Next worse thing to hitting a roo is a wombat. Now you'll have to figure that one out. LOL. |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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yer talkin about pootin right?.. passin gas? |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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| Mullett: LOL. Gas in your car down south here is usually propane gas or natural gas or sometimes even methane gas. I suppose that methane gets the closest to what you're talking about. Gasoline is called petrol here. Don't ask me why. That's just the way it is. LOL. |
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| October 09, 2007 |
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| oh, <slowly walks away in dissapointment> |
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| October 10, 2007 |
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G'Day Grant! Glad to meet someone from down under! So you live in the south near Melbourne? Are you close to Adelaide? Mullet, he had us going there for a while didn't he? ;-) |
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| October 10, 2007 |
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I'm from what we call the bush around here. That's sort of like calling somebody a hillbilly in Appalachia. My brother-in-law lives in Appalachia and he's not admitting to being a hillbilly, that's folks further up the hill. So, saying you're from the bush or the outback? That's often the folks further out than we live. LOL.
So, what I mean by all that rambling is that we are not big city folk. We don't live in the big smoke as we call it. We live in a small rural town on the Murray River, which borders NSW and Victoria. Because we live on the southern side of the river in the state of Victoria, we are jokingly refered to by those in New South Wales as Mexicans. We joke about their roads sort of like Marylanders joke about Pennsylvania roads - you can tell when you cross the border because the road gets bumpier. :) |
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| October 10, 2007 |
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So, Grant, with THAT funny story I was expecting Grampa Roo to come back with some friends while you were waiting for your tow. When you mentioned mafia garage, I had this image of a gang of roos. I thought you'd get a kick out of what they say about Roo Conflicts in Wikipedia:
Conflict with vehicles A "kangaroo crossing" sign on an Australian highway.  A kangaroo crossing a highway. A collision with a vehicle is capable of killing a kangaroo. Kangaroos blinded by headlights or startled by engine noise have been known to leap in front of cars. Since kangaroos in mid-bound can reach speeds of around 50 km/h (31 mph) and are relatively heavy, the force of impact can be severe. Small vehicles may be destroyed, while larger vehicles may suffer engine damage. The risk of harm to vehicle occupants is greatly increased if the windscreen is the point of impact. As a result, "kangaroo crossing" signs are commonplace in Australia. Vehicles that frequent isolated roads, where roadside assistance may be scarce, are often fitted with "roo bars" to minimise damage caused by collision. Bonnet-mounted devices, designed to scare wildlife off the road with ultrasound and other methods, have been devised and marketed. |
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| October 10, 2007 |
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| Will you put a shrimp on the barbee for me? |
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| October 10, 2007 |
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Gene: Yes, kangaroos are our "deer" hazzard. Deer around here are not as populous as roos, so deer signs are rare, but roo signs are common as deer signs in Pennsylvania.
Jess: Yes, you're welcome at my BBQ anytime. |
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| October 10, 2007 |
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G'day Grant! I looked up the area you mentioned and it is a ways inland. I understand about not wanting to be in the big smoke. We live in a town about 25,000 people and we moved out in the country because our town was too big. *grin* It is nice to raise a family in a small town environment (our personal choice). The country hicks around here live farther out than us. *smile* |
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