An Australian Tangent

Friends,

I have returned and the Tangent Space(s) hiatus (felt by all 3 of you readers) is finally over! As promised, I spent 6 weeks on a mission trip that took me to the wonderful city of Melbourne, Australia. For a serious look at some of the lessons I learned, check out this post from our team's blog. For a silly look at some cultural observations I made, you can stay right here.



The Blogger Down Under
It's like The Rescuers Down Under, but without the talking mice or golden eagle or murderous poacher

Something very simple dawned on me for the first time when I started talking to Australians: Hollywood is in America. 

You might be thinking, "Yeah I already knew that." [If you're mean, it might be, "Jon, you're an idiot." If you're me in 7th grade, somehow reading this by virtue of some time travel device, I bet it's "No crap, Sherlock." If you're a pre-teen or teenage girl (or, mysteriously, my 27-year-old girlfriend), the word 'obvs' or 'obvi' might come into play.]

Ok, so the location of Hollywood is nothing new to me. But I'd never before considered its implications for world travel. For instance, if you ask Australians about life in America, they have so many sources to pull from-- blockbuster movies, sitcoms, talk shows, trashy shows on E!, trashier shows on Bravo, etc. This entertaining tapestry may not provide the most accurate picture of American culture, but they have a picture nonetheless.

Conversely, if I ask you what life in Australia is like, what would you say? My guess [whether you're 7th-grade-me, a pre-teen girl, or my awesome girlfriend] is something like, "Um... they have pretty funny accents, right?" We just don't have any media exposure to Australian culture, real or fictional.

What do we have? Some pretty (hilariously) sad caricatures:

"It'll make you happier than a koala up a gum tree."

"Crikey!"

Throw in a Men At Work song and Claire from LOST and you have a pretty comprehensive list of Australian stuff in our media. So, to help inform you a tiny bit about actual Australian culture, I give you...

My Top 5 common Australian words and phrases

They'll make you happier than a koala up a gum tree.

5. 'a bit'

Meaning: a little, somewhat, sort of, kind of

Comments: Sure, you might hear this in America. But you hear it a ton over there. Like, you won't hear any of the above phrases that mean the same thing. It's a bit ridiculous.

4. 'cheers' (or, even better, 'cheers mate')

Meaning: thanks

Comments: If you hold a door for someone, they will almost surely say 'cheers' to you. It's a bit weird to hear the word without mugs of ale being knocked together, but I guess it would also be a bit weird for people to carry around mugs of ale everywhere they went.

3. 'no worries'

Meaning: you're welcome, my pleasure, no problem, I forgive you

Comments: You can hear this in America too, but in Aussieland it's more versatile-- it's the default response to both 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry'.

2. 'good on ya'

Meaning: good job, well done

Comments: As with 'well done' or 'way to go', this can also be used effectively for sarcastic purposes.

1. 'it's my shout' (or 'I'll shout')

Meaning: I'll pay for you this time

Comments: Not only is this just a cool and unfamiliar phrase, but it's obvs one that you always like to hear.

What's your favorite appearance of Australia in our pop culture?

Which of the above phrases do you want to start using?

I'm out of questions, but it would really make me happy and ready to return to blogging if you would leave a comment!

Jon