into the wild - australian slang

Cheers mates,

sorry aber jetzt wird ernst. Ich sehe es einfach nicht mehr ein, dass ich mich akademisch mit English rumschlagen muss und Ihr genüsslich euer bayrisch, plattdeutsch, schwäbisch oder klingonisch reden dürft.........

Hence, I write on in english. Actually, when I came to Brisbane I was quite satisfied with my english skills, perhaps until I attended my first tutorial in "European Political Issues". I admit I hadn`t done the readings about IR Íntegration theories of europe and was quite surprised what Australians all know about it. After a short discussion about Neofunctialism and Intergovernmentalism I was sitting relatively calm and smaller and smaller on my chair. Finally, only 5 minutes to go, one australian student had the brilliant idea to ask me as an German and expert on EU integration what I think about it.
Within 10 seconds I realised that I spent the last 5 years speaking english about football, good and bad beer, travelling and asking for the best cheap hostels in the next city (:-).

However, meanwhile I get along with my english at Uni too. But, when writing reports, reviews or essays my best friend still is www.dict.leo.org. What a brilliant website.
The Australians speak a nice english dialect. Important features seem to be speaking with a closed mouth and raising the voice at the end of every sentence. Good day, mateeeees.

Moreover they love abbreviations and mix everything up with aboriginal words. So, for instance, the Cricket Ground here in Brisbane is in Woolaangabba. Long and difficult word, I know. Hence, signs write W`gabba at least, but everyone names it just "Gabba" though.

Aussies are the Australians, sunnies my sun glases, footy is football, sunday we`re having a barbie = barbecue with some stubbies of beer..... I could go on and on....

I assume, perhaps you have all listened once to the inofficial australian national anthem "Waltzing Mathilda". Here we go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INdjRCNcZj0&feature=related

They play this song before all major sport events and the womans football national team even is called the "Mathildas".

These are the lyrics of the first part:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolabah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

On the one hand these lyrics a hard to understand and on the other hand the content is just crazy. So a swagman lives on the open road, a swag is a blanket,a billabong is a waterhole.
Before you finish to read line one it`s a good point to ask, why someone campes in a waterhole...and so on...Anyway, the song is not bad, Australians love it, and we sometimes, while sitting with a beer on our front stairs, sing it "Waltzing Mathilda".

I believe what I just wrote was not that interesting for most of you. Therefore I publish some pics of what I`m doing here "down under"....

cheers mates