Guest chris955 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 There are accents but it isnt related to what State you are from, there is a difference between country and city accents but acountry accent from the Perth area would be the same as one from Brisbane and really it isnt so much a different accent but just the way they speak. Country folk speak real slow LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabloinperth Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 thats because there IS no accent here.....is it just me, or is there no difference between the States in relation to accents here. I mean, in Scotland alone, people know if you were raised half an hour doon the road from them. Exactly, I can pretty much tell where a person is from in Scotland, even England from hearing them speak. Multi-talented me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 There are accents but it isnt related to what State you are from, there is a difference between country and city accents but acountry accent from the Perth area would be the same as one from Brisbane and really it isnt so much a different accent but just the way they speak. Country folk speak real slow LOL. Yup real slow and with the dreaded rising terminal at the end of every micro thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Yup real slow and with the dreaded rising terminal at the end of every micro thought! "Aaargh-yeaaah......" Comes complete with a dopey sh*t-eating grin, a back to front baseball cap and a can of Wild Turkey and cola mixer! Oh, and a tattoo....and thongs.....and, I can't go on! :arghh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thistle13 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 [/b] "Aaargh-yeaaah......" Comes complete with a dopey sh*t-eating grin, a back to front baseball cap and a can of Wild Turkey and cola mixer! Oh, and a tattoo....and thongs.....and, I can't go on! :arghh: you can spot them a mile off, driving their "you beaut ute" covered in stickers, trillions of lamps attached to the front bumper and of course the minimum 10 aerials in which size obviously counts, the bigger the more country they are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conniebygaslight Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 you can spot them a mile off, driving their "you beaut ute" covered in stickers, trillions of lamps attached to the front bumper and of course the minimum 10 aerials in which size obviously counts, the bigger the more country they are? You forgot the Bull terrier/Blue healer in the back on the way to the dog &car wash....lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Julz Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 oh and not forgetting the mullet!! Has anyone watched Houses? Hillarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest72037 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 The difference in accents isn't as vast as the UK but there are slight differences. Eastern states use a short vowel sound (especially graph, grass etc), South Australians use long vowel sounds (gr-aa-ph for graph) and enunciate more than a lot of other states, QLD speak really slowly etc etc. Country dwellers are very "ocker" When we lived in QLD people had difficulty understanding my husband and said he had a foreign accent. He is South Australian! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 The difference in accents isn't as vast as the UK but there are slight differences. Eastern states use a short vowel sound (especially graph, grass etc), South Australians use long vowel sounds (gr-aa-ph for graph) and enunciate more than a lot of other states, QLD speak really slowly etc etc. Country dwellers are very "ocker" When we lived in QLD people had difficulty understanding my husband and said he had a foreign accent. He is South Australian! I've noticed people from Adelaide often sound quite English Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graciemay Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Thats very true. I dont think they learn about world geography or world history at school. No-one seems to have any knowledge of anything outside of Australia. That could be why they are totaly disinterested in anything else, they are taught from a young age, that Australia is the world, and thats all they need to know about. I sometimes wonder how some of these people get through life,with no general knowledge, and very little common sense. They don't know any better, so in ignorant bliss i would imagine. It's only those of us that had experienced living in a real world that struggle living here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Dunno, Harpo, I think it may be more where you come from. The only one of my acquaintance who absolutely loves Aus after 40 years is a woman from Manchester who left during a snow storm and rarely, if ever, returns. All the others I know are from the South or rural Yorkshire or Scotland and they are either returning or deadly envious that I have! I can imagine that if you grew up in any of those big midland/North cities then Aus would be paradise on a stick.I'd also like to consider longevity - whether things change the older you get. Most of the posters are still in the honeymoon phase as far as I can see - heck, even I was happy for at least 10 years! Nope, I'm from a big Northern town! Admittedly going back to Scotland but not the Scotland the tourists see but to here Grangemouth.bmp When we lived in london I jokingly said I was born under the shadow of the cooling towers and that's where my child will be born, I didn't actually mean it but it turned out that way I haven't had time to read all the posts but I have secretly harboured simlar thoughts to the OP, class is as much about social identity as it is about money. The Thatcher years sold the 'dream' that everyone can be middle class, however British culture runs deep and there is still a divide between the so called ABC1's and C2DE's and this is reflected in salary and status. The '80s saw the birth of 'Essex Man' I guess the Aussie equivilant of a 'cashed up bogan' - remember our neighbour at the time boasting 'he wouldn't get out of bed for less than 500 pounds a day' and he was a builder of sorts, I was a teacher at the time earning about 20k a year! But this was limited to certain booming areas and the recession in the 90s saw the end to a lot of it - my neighbour took to cleaning windows (and I bit my tongue...). Australia promises that cashed up lifestyle to some - tradies are much more valued here and so they should be, I am in complete awe of the craftsmen that built our house, the carpentry alone is incredible. It's wrong that manual labour isn't held in higher esteem in the UK but it is a product of a society based on class. I'm a strange creature (it has been said!) I grew up in a very working class family but 'aspiring middle class', my parents owned there own home, in a nice part of town but then we were the last people (ever!) to still have a black and white TV, the oldest car of anyone (ever!) and holidays were a caravan in the country. The aspiring parents and nice neighbourhood benefited me with a good education and I climbed the social ladder but I never felt like I fit in anywhere. To the working class I am a 'snob' or a 'champagne socialist', to the middle class I don't read the right books or watch the right films and on the whole my best friends have tended to be working class or at least like me from working class backgrounds. Australia has done me good, in that I have got the working class chip off my shoulder. In the UK I refused private medicine even when it was provided free as part of my benefits package at work, I resulutely went to an NHS dentist even though the time off work cost me more than going private would and so on. In Australia my son goes to a private school and we have a private health plan! No-one thinks anything less of me here for that, 50% of children go to private schools compared to 7% in the UK. In fact people would think it strange if you could afford private health care and didn't have it. I will be going back to the UK different and I expect some stick from my friends, my socialist ideals have been long debated!! I used to say I'd love to be a politician but I had too many dark secrets! I meant of the sex 'n' drugs 'n' rock n' roll type but now i have even darker secrets! My DH said the other day 'didn't Tony Blair's children go to private school' and that didn't make me feel better.....I recalled my wrath at the time! Interesting topic, hard to discuss without resorting to stereotypes and offending people! I think it is about values and attitudes and they are linked to upbringing and class but not exclusively. Grangemouth.bmp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzybangs Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I know an awful lot of Brits who know nothing about Australia and only today was having a conversation with a single guy in Cornwall who has only been there and Evesham and can't understand why anybody would want to go abroad. I was trying to explain that we have States and Territories! I also know of many who think that they might one day a weeks package trip to Oz! I tell them that by the time they get to Oz and get over their jet lag, it would be time to return to UK! I lived back in UK for 9 months about 14 years ago and the only time Oz got mentioned on the news was because of an MP who had been a fish and chip shop owner (Pauline Hanson) and something similar that they thought amusing about that place Down Under. It is not only the Aussies that don't travel and know nothing about geography. I think this thread has got decidedly one sided which is as bad as some of the Aussies on PIO. Having lived in both countries for 31 years I think I know both sides pretty well. Australia has changed over the last 31 years. It used to be a wonderful country to bring up children in but I do not think it is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 I know an awful lot of Brits who know nothing about Australia and only today was having a conversation with a single guy in Cornwall who has only been there and Evesham and can't understand why anybody would want to go abroad. I was trying to explain that we have States and Territories! I also know of many who think that they might one day a weeks package trip to Oz! I tell them that by the time they get to Oz and get over their jet lag, it would be time to return to UK! I lived back in UK for 9 months about 14 years ago and the only time Oz got mentioned on the news was because of an MP who had been a fish and chip shop owner (Pauline Hanson) and something similar that they thought amusing about that place Down Under. It is not only the Aussies that don't travel and know nothing about geography. I think this thread has got decidedly one sided which is as bad as some of the Aussies on PIO. Having lived in both countries for 31 years I think I know both sides pretty well. Australia has changed over the last 31 years. It used to be a wonderful country to bring up children in but I do not think it is now. In what way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I know an awful lot of Brits who know nothing about Australia and only today was having a conversation with a single guy in Cornwall who has only been there and Evesham and can't understand why anybody would want to go abroad. I was trying to explain that we have States and Territories! I also know of many who think that they might one day a weeks package trip to Oz! I tell them that by the time they get to Oz and get over their jet lag, it would be time to return to UK! I lived back in UK for 9 months about 14 years ago and the only time Oz got mentioned on the news was because of an MP who had been a fish and chip shop owner (Pauline Hanson) and something similar that they thought amusing about that place Down Under. It is not only the Aussies that don't travel and know nothing about geography. I think this thread has got decidedly one sided which is as bad as some of the Aussies on PIO. Having lived in both countries for 31 years I think I know both sides pretty well. Australia has changed over the last 31 years. It used to be a wonderful country to bring up children in but I do not think it is now. Really?, my Australian OH is adamant that Aus is best. How has it declined for kids do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Really?, my Australian OH is adamant that Aus is best. How has it declined for kids do you think? Why would he think it is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzybangs Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Why has it declined, in my opinion? When I came out here it was very egalitarian. If you worked you knew you could get ahead. Prices of houses, land and food was cheap. Kids were free to roam wherever and nobody worried about what they were up to. We used to say it was 20 years behind the UK. Lemon trees dripped their fruit beside the roads - free to whoever wanted them, likewise oranges. Stall holders sold their wares along the roads and their produce was locally grown and fresh, not imported. You can still see this in odd places in Oz if you travel widely enough as we have done. Baskets of tangerines with notices saying 'Help Yourself' and people in those small communities take only what they need and leave the rest for others. It is not like that any more in the towns and suburbs. Schools were good. They taught kids the 3 R's and were strict - very strict actually. I'm talking about the State schools here, not private. (One of my sons moved to a private school and realised that his State school had better science teachers so returned there.) There was definitely a community feel in the suburbs and nobody cared what house you lived in or what your driveway looked like nor suggested you granosite your home. If you managed to bjuy your own home then you were applauded. People did not discuss property prices nor interest rates even though they were as high as 28% at one point - you just got on with it. People did not expect so much from the government nor from each other. If you didn't have then someone gave to you if you needed it. If you moved house your friends helped you, likewise anything you needed to do to your house - it became a community project by word of mouth. 'No 16 needs a new fence so are you coming to help of Saturday?' kind of thing. I found out years after that my daughter was having her breakfast and then going to her friend's house for another breakfast each morning. I heard years after that my son had got hold of my car keys and had driven my car into the fence and neighbours had repaired it before I got home from work and nobody told me. I heard years later that my son and his friend had taken my car out one night when I was on holiday and something happened to the gears and his friend's father had repaired it free of charge and nobody told me LOL. We were a community and we looked after each other's kids. I could go on forever......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Why would he think it is? She. Oh it's the usual, all British kids are depressed, have to carry a knife and lose their virginity at 10 etc. Whereas Australia is a bit like some kind of Hobbit village where no bad stuff ever happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 She. Oh it's the usual, all British kids are depressed, have to carry a knife and lose their virginity at 10 etc. Whereas Australia is a bit like some kind of Hobbit village where no bad stuff ever happens. I realise you are exaggerating a bit but I seriously have met Aussies that really do believe this kind of thing. You only have to read many many threads on here and you wonder what drugs some people are on. How many times have you read that it isnt safe to walk the streets in the UK whereas it is safe to do so in Australia ? Crime is so much less in Australia even though figures show that not to be the case. Some people arent interested in facts if those facts dont support their view, they put their fingers in their ears and sing lah lah lah. As Australians we have been brainwashed into thinking Australia good, UK bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 She. Oh it's the usual, all British kids are depressed, have to carry a knife and lose their virginity at 10 etc. Whereas Australia is a bit like some kind of Hobbit village where no bad stuff ever happens. Thats funny. I work with several young british grads here. We have chatted about their long term plans - not in a employer / employee way, just as friends over a beer. All are happy here, but all have said they would never raise a child here and these are young guys barely out of being classed as children themselves. For me, i think Oz has some great things about it. But i too would prefer to raise a child in the UK - as i have twice. Why. Because all the bad stuff happens just as much in Oz as it does in the UK. There is crime, teen pregnancy - walk around Mandurah shoppinjg centre during the week and no shortage of kids pushing kids around in buggys. There are kids getting drunk and causing merry mahem, kids thieving and things. I am not sure the education system is any better and some of the recent reports suggest its worse. Something that working on a mine site seems to tally as it is shocking the amount of guys that can barely read and write. But, overall, the problems are pretty similar. But there are a few areas i think the UK wins. For most, having the extended family. Maybe doesnt apply to you so much as there will be one in each. But having the ability to travel and do europe is a massive one that i think is underestimated. I do find that the university education in Oz is poor at undergrad level. I was shocked recently when i had a summer student who had completed 3 years and just had honours to do and i thought she was at A level standard. Not her fault, on questioning, it was simply she wasnt been taught things. People talk about the outdoor nature. I just dont see it. I barely see children here. In the UK when i was growing up, the summer holidays would come and my parents would hand over my sleeping bag and tent and i would see them again 6 weeks later. I was never home rain, snow or shine. I think British families moving to Oz to give their kids a better lifestyle are in for a nasty shock and that they would be far better saving the money and sending the kids to a good private school Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Im not sure if people really believe things are that much better in Australia or that they feel they have to believe it or what else have they got ? I see absolutely nothing to suggest kuds overall are magically happier or better off in Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted February 9, 2013 Author Share Posted February 9, 2013 Why has it declined, in my opinion? When I came out here it was very egalitarian. If you worked you knew you could get ahead. Prices of houses, land and food was cheap. Kids were free to roam wherever and nobody worried about what they were up to. We used to say it was 20 years behind the UK. Lemon trees dripped their fruit beside the roads - free to whoever wanted them, likewise oranges. Stall holders sold their wares along the roads and their produce was locally grown and fresh, not imported. You can still see this in odd places in Oz if you travel widely enough as we have done. Baskets of tangerines with notices saying 'Help Yourself' and people in those small communities take only what they need and leave the rest for others. It is not like that any more in the towns and suburbs. Schools were good. They taught kids the 3 R's and were strict - very strict actually. I'm talking about the State schools here, not private. (One of my sons moved to a private school and realised that his State school had better science teachers so returned there.) There was definitely a community feel in the suburbs and nobody cared what house you lived in or what your driveway looked like nor suggested you granosite your home. If you managed to bjuy your own home then you were applauded. People did not discuss property prices nor interest rates even though they were as high as 28% at one point - you just got on with it. People did not expect so much from the government nor from each other. If you didn't have then someone gave to you if you needed it. If you moved house your friends helped you, likewise anything you needed to do to your house - it became a community project by word of mouth. 'No 16 needs a new fence so are you coming to help of Saturday?' kind of thing. I found out years after that my daughter was having her breakfast and then going to her friend's house for another breakfast each morning. I heard years after that my son had got hold of my car keys and had driven my car into the fence and neighbours had repaired it before I got home from work and nobody told me. I heard years later that my son and his friend had taken my car out one night when I was on holiday and something happened to the gears and his friend's father had repaired it free of charge and nobody told me LOL. We were a community and we looked after each other's kids. I could go on forever......... What you're describing sounds like the cultural change which has occurred in the UK as well, thats life. Yes therewere communities where people looked out for each other, but the disabled and 'people of colour' were often badly descriminated against, so its swings and roundabouts. The community feel you described comes from living in a very homogenised community, where families all move in around the same time, have similar age kids etc. My wife grew up in such a community: a newly established suburb in Geelong, loads of couples who bought new houses, then had kids. I saw a snippet of this when someone in my wife's family died a few years back. The amount of support was amazing, mostly from neighbours whom they'd known for 40 plus years. Since then my wifes parents have stayed put in the same house, but out of the original 6 or 7 other families who'd all grown up together on the same street, only one other couple (now elderly, their own kids in their 40s) remains. Now its 'yuppies', bogan renters etc that they share the street with, and no one talks to each other! Progress... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 I agree Dom, I think those types of communities did exist both in the UK and Australia a generation ago or so, but no longer. My parents were/are (mother deceased) working-class Liverpudlians who lived their entire lives within a couple of miles of where they were born. Whilst they certainly benefitted from having strong family and friendship networks to tap into for support, that did come at a cost. People knew each other's business to an unhealthy degree and socialising was restricted to family and a small group of friends. That brings huge pressures to conform to other people's expectations. Nowadays people live more socially and geographically mobile lives so those community ties are loosened, and that goes across the world. It amuses me that people assume, and then assert that Australia bucks social trends and problems like those described by V.S. I know the place is geographically isolated but it's still part of the world. For me, the people who try and suggest that Australia stands apart from the world like some shining beacon of community and solidarity are either deluded or they're engaging in spin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mygirlies Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 I have been living in Aus for 18 months and the honeymoon period was over very quickly!! A matter of weeks in fact. I don't 'hate' Australia but all the criticisms I have read on this tread I agree with ;p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Geordee Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Holidays in WA mean .. " down south or Bali " For us, it's down south, Rotto or UK, in rotation for last 13 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Geordee Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 I was asked very patronisingly And what part of the Emerald Isle are you from -Er England They do not listen to accents so ask me if I am Irish ,Scot or Welsh ?? I just tell them I come from the North East of England where we got raped and pillaged by everyone lol I am from the north east too and always get asked if I'm from either Ireland or Scotland! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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