Hey folks. I have been MIA for a few days, just finished a 9 day trip through the northern and central outback, going from Darwin to Alice Springs and seeing many of the sights along the way. Although this blog is not intended to be a Discovery Channel briefing, the story behind some of the outback in the Northern Territory is too interesting to be left unsaid, an attempt at humor can come after the history lesson.
The Northern Territory (one of Australia’s 8 states/territories) is 1/6 the landmass of the Australian continent. Yet, there are only about 200,000 people living there! (that is less than 1% of the entire population)...and 30% of those people are Aboriginals (not very well integrated into the society, but seems like Australia is making a much more heartfelt attempt to mitigate wrongs than the US is with it's natives). Our first (and most interesting) stop was Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is technically a tropical savannah that has extreme dry seasons (the temp was over 100 during the day) and extreme wet seasons (where a majority of the park is closed due to many meters of water flooding the landscape and surrounding structures). Honestly, the landscape and the birds remind me of Africa...It is a very hot and very harsh environment. The only thing missing are the large herds of animals and the carnivores that live off them. Kakadu is also a special place because it is a World Heritage site according to the UN and is designated as such for 2 reasons: 1) natural beauty, 2) "creative genius" from the many aboriginal paintings throughout the park. This is a massive place, roughly 20,000 square kms and it was designated a national park by the Aboriginal people of the region. In the 1970s and 1980s the Aboriginal people of Australia (in many cases) successfully argued in the high courts to get their land returned from white settlers. They had to prove an attachment to the land both in terms of subsistence and spiritual activities. They were given large tracts of land and Kakadu was originally handed over as aboriginal land to do with as they wish. In order to save their culture, produce revenue and protect the environment, the Aboriginal people of Kakadu agreed to lease the land back to the Australian Parks authorities and they now jointly administer the park for environmental and cultural preservation. Needless to say, this was a special place with amazing sights. After Kakadu we drove down to the "Red Center" where the landscape turns into desert and the land becomes dustier and drier. This is also where the famous Ayer's Rock (Uluru) is located. The trip was great fun, good sights and many new, fun friends.
OK - now we need to continue the language lessons from the first Aussie blog. I am also making the executive decision to include not only Aussie phrases but also British phrases that are worth writing about. After all, Australia was once under the auspices of the British throne.
1) "Sort of" - This is the Aussie version of "like." You know how everyone in the US peppers their sentences with "like" unnecessarily? The Aussies say "sort of." It is less prolific than some "like" abusers in the us and occasionally has its place in the sentence, but it pretty much is like...a filler word, sort of.
2) "Bloody" - There is no way of beating around the bush on this one. It is a substitute for F-cking...and no I don't mean the verb but the adjective. And seriously, relax, not trying to be derogatory, but the fact of the matter is people in the US drop the f-bomb a lot and in Australia and the UK they just say bloody. When you think about it the word sounds bloody weird, but it is not "foul" language per se. Some examples: "This bloody idiot pulled out in front of me." "I need to answer this bloody phone." "Why are there so many bloody Germans in this country."
3) "Bloke" - This is an important lesson because it incorporates some learning from the first lesson and requires a bit of distinction. Bloke means: dude, guy, man, etc. It should not be confused with "Mate" - which can also mean some of these things but in a different context. When you refer to your friends - you say "mate"..."I need to give my mate a call"; "Hey mate, how ya going?" When you are referring to another person as in "this guy said etc" or "this guy was walking down the street and got run over by my mate"...you can substitute "Bloke" for guy. Got it?
4) "Do One" - This is not aussie from what i am aware of, just British. But this is a good one because it is so terribly confusing. This means "to leave". The first time i heard it was hanging out in Sydney with these brisith blokes, one of which is my mate (you confused yet?). We were standing in line, there were lots of attractive girls around, i was terribly confused when they said it. "Do one?...uuuhhh." Nope, not what your thinking, but "you wanna do one" actually means "let's get out of here", "let's leave" or if you want to bring it back to the 1990s hip hop i am cool even though i am white phase: "let's bounce"....you could even say "let's skedaddle" if you are sort of over 50.
5) "Having a bubble" - Saving the best for last. This means: "you making fun of me", or "you laughing at me." It is British, technically cockney rhyme, but it is my favorite one. So when the British say "are you making fun of me" or "are you joking" they actually say: "are you having a laugh" (with the accent of course). So to get to bubble we need to do some rhyming. Laugh rhymes with bath and you always take a bubble bath. Here is the sequence: "Are you having a laugh" ---> "Laugh" rhymes with "bath" ---> "Are you having a bubble bath" gets shortened to "Are you having a bubble."
Another good rhyming scheme: Bees = Money...what? "Bees and Honey" - honey rhymes with money therefore Bees = Money. pretty good
I think we should bring some of these to the US, maybe "Bloke", "mate" and "are you having a bubble."
Off to the east coast again in a few days.
Hope things are well in the US
dave
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