An early Start Again!

Well I had hoped to do a proper post tonight.
Unfortunately about ten minutes ago one of my staff phoned in saying he is down with gastric and won't be fit for the morning (No I don't think he's chucking a sickie).
I don't have anyone else who I can put in at such short notice.
So instead of lazing about tomorrow I'll be up before dawn and off to work.

Hence I'm off to bed so no post.
But a teaser, a piccie I took today.












Can anyone guess what this little establishment might have been used for?

A Tinny at the Footy

We had a busy weekend. Mon, my sister-in-law (Deb’s sister), her husband and two young children came down from Queensland to visit us.
Mon has never been to Melbourne (or for that matter Victoria) before, so we had an eventful couple of days operating as tour guides.

Because of our visitors, I arranged the roster to give myself the day off yesterday.
For those in the know, I did not ‘chuck a sickie’.
We took my dearly beloved’s rellies to the zoo.

A brief note about Oz English ‘rellies’ are relatives.
Aussies have a habit of shortening many words or phrases by dropping syllables and/or substituting ‘ie’ or ‘y’ at the end.

So: a sick day becomes a ‘sickie’; a barbeque becomes a ‘barbie’; a beer tin becomes a ‘tinny’.

An aluminium dingy isn’t a ‘dingy’ as would be logical it is a ‘tinny’ as well. So to say: ‘I drank a few tinnies while at sea in a tinny”, would make perfect sense to an Aussie.

Another small point: Australians call Australia ‘Oz’ because we pronounce ‘Aussie’ as ‘Ozzie’. When most Americans say ‘Aussie’ it sounds like ‘Arsey’ to our ear which means something entirely different. An ‘arse’ is a butt, I believe ‘arsey’ means ‘unpleasant’ in British English, but in Oz English it means ‘lucky’

As to our beloved mother country, many Aussies (or is that Ozzies) following our tradition of dropping syllables now say not “Aust-ra-li-a” but rather ‘Ah-stray-ya’ or for the verbally lazy ‘Stray-ya’.

While I am rambling about Oz language I should mention briefly another word much beloved by many Aussies.

Footy.

I am largely mentioning footy because of a conversation I had with Lisa of Lit and Life.

What is Footy you might ask? Well following the rules of Oz grammar it is an abbreviation of “Football”.

“Ah,” they say, “that makes perfect sense.”

Unfortunately it doesn’t, there are four widely played codes of football in Oz. The word ‘Footy’ has differing meanings across the country.

Perhaps foolishly I will attempt to explain.

The four major codes of football in Australia are:

Soccer: this international game is usually called ‘football’ in most of the world. Not many Aussies would call Soccer ‘footy’. However, fans of this sport are attempting to claim the word ‘football’ exclusively for their game and if they are successful (which is probably unlikely) Soccer would no doubt become ‘footy’.

Rugby Union: The international version of Rugby. ‘Union’ is a minority sport in Oz. But if you go to a private school odds are when you say ‘footy’ you mean ‘Union.’

Rugby League: A version of Rugby played widely in the North East of Oz (and in New Zealand). If you come from New South Wales (NSW), or Queensland (QLD)it is expected that you believe ‘League is the one true footy.’

Of course if you come from the rest of the country, Victoria (VIC), South Australia (SA), The Northern Territory (NT), Western Australia (WA) or Tasmania (TAS) there is only one sport. Australian Rules Football sometimes called ‘Aussie Rules’ but in its home states simply ‘footy’.

American Football is played by a tiny minority of people in Oz. It is never called ‘footy’ rather it is usually called, well as is obvious, ‘American Football’ or sometimes ‘Gridiron’.

Being an adoptee of the state of Victoria (although once a Queenslander always a Queenslander) I should say a bit about the home grown ‘footy’ Aussie Rules.

Australian Rules Football is akin to a national religion in Victoria. It is incredibly popular. I think this popularity stems from the fact that it is not only a traditional game here, but it is incredibly fast. For example the 2009 Grand Final score was Geelong Cats 80, beating Saint Kilda 68, and that was considered a fairly low scoring game!

I include a link to some footage of the 2009 Grand Final. That should make Lisa happy being a Cats supporter!

Now I have waxed lyrical about Language and Footy for so long that I have run out of time to do what originally intended.

So next time: The cuteness factor.

A Day in Oz

Well down here in Oz it is “Australia Day”.

Australia Day (The 26th of January) is that day when all us Aussies have a public holiday to remember. What are we remembering?
Well Aussies of non-indigenous ancestry remember the day a guy called Captain Arthur Phillip, led eleven tall ships (which we Aussies call “The First Fleet”) into Sydney Cove and established the first permanent European settlement in Australia.
Aboriginal Australians tend to remember the day the invaders from Europe began most of the problems they are still dealing with today.

Interestingly our approach to this day, our second most important national day (ANZAC Day in April is easily our most important), probably says a lot about us. There are no particular ceremonies or events that we are expected to participate in. Yes there are events like re-enactments of the good captain’s landing at Sydney Cove, and other “patriotic” events around the country.

Sydney Cove Australia day 2008

However, as a whole most of us see the day as an excuse for a relaxed day away from the office (so to speak).

In fact a good number of us, when the day falls on a Tuesday or Thursday see it as a good excuse to “chuck a sickie” and have two days off at the company’s expense. A quick note about Oz English: most Aussies are entitled to some form of paid sick-leave as part of their working conditions; to “chuck a sickie” is to take a day off when you are not sick and claim it as sick-leave.

Of course the inherent risk of a “sickie” is that your boss will turn up on the beach next to you. Excuses like “the doctor told me to get some sun” are not likely to wash in such circumstances.

The head of the Retailers Association, says people who joined the mass sick day so are un-Australian.
I’d have to disagree, one thing most Aussies have had in common since day one is a shared disrespect for both convention and authority. The “sickie” is a time-honoured symbol of that attitude and is probably as “Australian” as almost anything.

In fact one of our former Prime Ministers Bob Hawke, endorsed the "sickie" saying in 1983, "I tell you what, any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum."

Aussies would say the “sickie” is “as Australian as meat pies and Holden cars”. Of course this saying is absurd as the invention of meat pies vastly predates European settlement of Oz, and Holden is a local brand of the American company General Motors.

Judging by the amount of traffic that was not on the road when I was on my way to work yesterday the sickie is alive and well.

As you have all probably had enough of the vagaries of Oz culture, I will say a little about my Australia Day.

As many of you will already know, I take almost any day off as an excuse to get out of the city.

This time we struck a little father afield than usual, driving about two hours to Mansfield in the foothills of the Victorian section of the Australian Alps.

We stopped for a drink break at the war memorial park of a little place called Bonnie Doon.Then we drove on to Mansfield.

This interesting monument stands slap bang in the middle of the main street. Today it was festooned with flags (Australia Day remember). This rather elaborate memorial is to three policemen who: well read the thing for yourselves.I may post about the “Armed Criminals” at a later date so stay tuned.

I am getting a bit carried away, but it is late and I have an early start. I will have to complete my ramble in a further post.

So for now – Goodnight!