The questionable Australian accent
March 4th 2011 02:49
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Vyoos news
VYOOS EDITORIAL
In the news this week was a story which rated the Australian accent the world's fifth sexist. It's a safe bet there were no Aussies on the voting panel. I know no fellow Australians with particular affection for our accent. We call it Strine, which sums up the nasal twang which characterises our speech.
World's fifth-sexiest? Sexiness, it seems, is in the ear of the beholder.
It brought to mind a magazine article I read last week which quoted an Englishman describing the Australian accent as one which turns all statements into questions.
As anyone who has been in the country recently will know, this is now the accepted way of speaking in Australia. You can hear politicians, academics, TV show hosts and every 20-something in the land putting an upward inflexion on just about every sentence. I have no doubt that chief executive officers, civil celebrants, nuns, kangaroos, koalas and dingoes have adopted the habit.
It's a habit I am in a unique position to hate.
My position is that I left Australia 20 years ago, when Aussies did not speak this way, to live overseas. Sometime between then and four years ago when I returned, most spoken Aussie statements became questions. It's a major upheaval in Ocker culture. I'm still dealing with the shock. It's just not my lingo any more.
At least I have always been able to seek consolation in the written form of the language. It has always been my favourite form, perhaps because it is more difficult to corrupt.
Enter David Meagher, Editor of wish magazine, a hugely glossy insert in The Australian newspaper and so cool it doesn't use a capital letter in its name. Or is that retro-cool? Surely the gimmick has been around so long it's cliched.
Anyway, Mr Meagher has on Page 14 of today's issue a column in his name which starts: "There is something about London that seems to allow creativity to flourish. Maybe it's the weather that keeps people indoors with their thinking caps on? Or maybe it's something more ingrained in the city's culture?"
Did you spot the Aussie accent in Meagher's writing? Yes, the question marks on the second and third sentences - sentences which aren't questions.
It's spreading. It's another cane toad.
Stop it. Despite what they say overseas, it's not sexy.
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