Are Aussies running out of letters?

[Stan]

Quote:

SYDNEY (AFP) – An Aussie university is probing one of the most prominent features of Australian life: the national habit of shortening words.

From "barbie" (barbeque) to "arvo" (afternoon) and "rellies" (relatives), University of Tasmania (or Uni of Tassie) researchers are hoping to find out what lies behind the widespread abbreviations.

"What we'd like to find out is how people feel when they're listening to someone using those kinds of shortenings, compared to someone who's not," doctor Nenagh Kemp told AFP from Hobart.

"It might tell us more about whether people think it makes you sound more friendly or more intelligent or more casual, and also differences."

Kemp said while abbreviations were present in all forms of English, they were more common in Australia, where tradesmen are "tradies", firemen are "firies", ambulance workers are "ambos" and service stations are "servos".

She believes that the shortenings are a way of conveying a sense of informality in a country known for its egalitarian ethos.

"I think it does set up a feeling of companionship or casualness and friendliness," she said.

"You might use that to say, 'hey, I'm on the same level as you. I'm not being too pretentious."

Kemp said young people had their own set of abbreviations, while she has also observed gradual globalisation of short forms.

"Young people are more likely to come up with abbreviations for the technology they're using, such as 'mobes' for the mobile phone and 'lappy' for their laptop (computer)," said Kemp.

"Many of the (abbreviations) that older Australians use are not used so much by younger Australians, who might be adopting more American diminutives," she added.

"I think that the more TV shows and the more movies, when everything's becoming more globalised, the Australianness of many of them might diminish."

Kemp and her colleague Jo Underwood will play recordings of people using abbreviations to volunteers and gauge their response, with their study due for completion in October.

Why do you think they are making the words shorter?

:)

[LynnDel]

Can you imagine what it will be like in a few hundred years? They will have created a language that none of us will recognize as being related to English.

LD

[aldona]

Quote:

Why do you think they are making the words shorter?

1. to appear casual and easy-going = as if to say "I'm not one of those elitist boffins who uses big words". Just look at the ridicule heaped upon our former leader (Kevin Rudd) for using words like "programmatic specificity"...and more recently, Senator Bob Katter and his use of "paradigm".

2. shorter words use less energy to say and to understand (many of us did not do the extra higher edumacation required to grasp words of more than two syllables).

3. we are being charged by the letter (or by the syllable) by the universe's Cosmic Telegraph Office.

4. because we speak much slower than our US counterparts, we have to shorten our words if a sentence of the same duration is to convey the same amount of meaning.

5. many of us are descended from the British, who have language anomalies such as "Gloucester" pronounced "Gloster" and many others. As someone once explained: "You come on strong with the first syllable, and then swallow the rest." This tendency has crept into the rest of our language.

I'm sure my fellow Aussies, and linguists everywhere, will think of more reasons.

AJ (and yes, I confess to using many of the abbreviations mentioned in the article)

-off to have a barbie with the rellies (and other fellow Sevvies) - trying to find some snags (sausages) that will suit the vegos (vegetarians)

[aldona]

sorry...couldn't resist putting in this one (from Pundit Kitchen)...

[Gerr]

Quote:

From "barbie" (barbeque) to "arvo" (afternoon) and "rellies" (relatives), University of Tasmania (or Uni of Tassie) researchers are hoping to find out what lies behind the widespread abbreviations.

It seems to that's still too long. I'm surprised they didn't come up with "UniTas".

[Bravus]

Had a squiz at this over brekkie, but stone the flamin' crows, I'm flat out like a lizard drinkin'. Won't be able to give it a fair dinkum butcher's 'til smoko or maybe even later this arvo.

[Gerr]

Now translate.

[Gerr]

PS

And "bloody" this and "bloody" that?

[Bravus]

'Bloody' is an interesting one, since it was considered a fairly severe swearword when I was growing up, and is still kind of frowned on in many circles, but has gained more mainstream use. I try to avoid it, whereas something like the 'flamin'' above is much milder.

OK, rough translation:

squiz - look

brekkie - breakfast

stone the (flamin') crows - an intensifier, making the sentiment stronger

flat out like a lizard drinkin' - extremely busy

fair dinkum - real, genuine

butcher's (hook) - rhyming slang for 'look'

smoko - smoke break, but now almost no-one smokes, just coffee break or recess, mid-morning

arvo - afternoon

See, all perfectly clear and straightforward!

[Stan]

Quote:

Why do you think they are making the words shorter?

-off to have a barbie with the rellies (and other fellow Sevvies) - trying to find some snags (sausages) that will suit the vegos (vegetarians)

Sweet :)

[Stan]

I do think you should ship all the unused vowels to the countries in the former Yugoslavia, they sill seem to be short of them.