AUSSIE SPEAK

I must write this blog for prosperity. I have been here nearly a month and am acculturating, notably through speech. I am getting a better feel for this foreign tongue, day by day. You see while my English is passable I now live in the midst of 2 unfamiliar languages, French & Aussie Speak. Slowly but surely I am improving, you will hear less of 'excuse me, what was that again' from me these days.

Being a friendly and easy-going culture the root word in all Aussie Speak is, 'Mate', pronounced 'Mite', lest people will not understand you. To qualify for citizenship you better learn to use this word frequently & freely. If you can attach 'Mate' to say, the end of every third sentence that will be just about right, Mate!

To make an Aussie feel at home, try the following. You must do it vibrantly, in your most robust tone, with confidence and lots of affection though.

* G'Day Mate ... ie Good Day Mate, be sure you pronounce it right ie Gud'Day
* You'Be Right Mate ...
* Right-To Mate ...
* No Worries Mate ...

Then there is this very special one known to all current & past LCB Cuisine students at various levels. Remember my 'idol' Chef Steve, our no-nonsense lecturer in Cuisine? He uses this expression at the end of a task : 'Bob's Your Uncle!' Hello? All of us were in complete bewilderment, those poor chaps on English Proficiency Courses were scrambling at their portable dictioneries, to no avail. If we were to guess it must mean something like; done, completed, finished etc but 'Bob's Your Uncle?' Sure, but so is Kalid! I told the class one day I will do everyone a favor, I will risk my grades, and pose the question : 'Chef, can you tell us more about our Uncle, Bob?' Yeah, Raymond, right ... they are cheering me on, they are not dumb.