Move along. There's nothing new to see here.

I was about to become quite petulant about Ms Ellipsis' previous post and launch into a rant something along the lines of: 'How dare those Generation Y-ners bastardize the English language as we know it? LOLcat and TXT-language indeed. How about mastering the Queen's English first?' when in a moment of pure serendipity, I stumbled across a reference to the practice of defence personnel and their sweethearts using acronyms in correspondence during World War II(Notebook:, August 2007, p. 48) . Perhaps, I paused to reflect, creating code-like language is not something new?

According to an entry at everything2, The World War II acronyms developed as a way of expressing endearments with extreme brevity (e.g. for use in telegrams) or as a 'secret' language between the lovers. The words could be concealed in sentences, or written across the back of the envelope.

Although some of these examples are well-known now, I wonder if the parents of that generation (and the correspondence censors) were as much in the dark about the meaning of BURMA, SIAM and ENGLAND as today's parents are about LOLcat?

Some of the less saucy examples are:

ITALY: I trust and love you
HOLLAND: Hope our love lasts and never dies
SWALK: Sealed with a loving kiss

And my personal favourite (although a little racier):

NORWICH: 'Nickers off ready when I come home

SNAFU (Situation normal, all f***ed up) and FUBAR (F***ed up beyond all repair) are also thought to have had their origins in the Second World War.

But the fun didn't stop with the Silent Generation. The Baby Boomers and their Generation X children have (among a multitude of other language tweaking practices) created a treasure-trove of acronyms to describe demographics and lifestyle choices:

DINKS: Double income, no kids
YUPPIES: Young upwardly-mobile professionals
LOMBARD: Lots of money but a real dickhead

And the one which always makes me LOL (laugh out loud):

SITCOM: Single income, two children, outrageous mortgage

The corporate world has also weighed in with examples such as:

SMART goals: Specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, time-bound goals
SWOT analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats analysis

Imagine these in context:
Q: Where's Bob? A: He's in the tearoom, doing a swot on the comestible supplies situation. He plans to set some smarts regarding coffee, fresh milk and Tim Tam availability levels.

Most acronyms seem to have been adopted from BrE or AmE, however in my extensive research(!) I did come across one which the good people at BBC' s h2g2 attributed to Australian origins. We Aussies can proudly lay claim to the classic:

FIGJAM: F*** I'm good, just ask me

So now, I'd like to say I'm off to RELAX (Research Every Last Acronym eXample) but I'd be lying. Instead I think I'll do a bit of HACK-ing (Have A Coffee and Krispy-kreme)!

Please don't be offended by my AuE

Anyone who has travelled internationally will know that misreading the regional and international differences in the English language can cause a raised eyebrow or two.

I have a well travelled friend who cannot stand the Aussie use of the word ‘toilet’ to signify the room in which the toilet sits. This is AuE (Australian English). She would prefer the AmE (American English) “restroom” or “bathroom”. The BrE (British English) version is “lavatory”, “loo” or “lav”. Toilet is used in BrE but is seen as ‘declasse*’.

I know this because, not wanting to offend anyone who reads this blog, I quickly checked Lynneguist’s blog Separated by a Common Language to see if there was a universally acceptable term. This blog is a haven of AmE/BrE quirks. From my extraordinarily extensive research there (!) it appears that we simply have to deal with regional differences.

So I’m sorry if I offend anyone but here in Australia we go to the toilet. Or if that is not ‘declasse’ enough - the dunny. If it makes you more comfortable my mum (AmE: mom) goes to the “lav”.


* OED: declasse: adj. “that has fallen in social class”

** photo of outback dunny courtesy of here

We Aussies are Top-Rate Spongers!

Have you ever checked out the Australian Word Map site? It’s a co-production between our own dictionary - The Macquarie - and the ABC to map Australian regional speech. I recommend you log on and add your own Aussie words or comment on whether you ate Polony, Devon or Fritz sandwiches as a child. Or whether you wear bathers, cossies or swimmers to the beach.

However, it doesn’t comment on pronunciation. From what I gather AuE (Australian English) is somewhat of a sponge language. We soak up words from everywhere. And since English, itself, is somewhat of a sponge on other languages we Aussies are top rate spongers! Can’t invite us anywhere.

The effect is that, according to our researchers at the Macquarie Dictionary, we not only soak up words from other countries and add them to our mix, but we also soak up their pronunciation (and give it our own little twist). As a result, we accept more than one pronunciation for each word and there doesn’t seem to be any clear regional differences.

the new studies seem to suggest that the pronunciation of Australian English everywhere is effectively the pronunciation of 'Sydney English’. This is why it is everywhere uniform to a surprising degree and why, paradoxically, it is everywhere various too. Macquarie Dictionary Online

Melbournites will hate to hear that. Anyone who has lived in Melbourne will know that they proudly pronounce “Reservoir” as Reservwar rather than Reservwa; and “Castle” as Cassle instead of Carsel.

But on the other hand there doesn’t seem to be any regional pattern to the pronunciation of other words such as Schedule (Skedyool/Shedyool). Your preference seems to depend whether you identify more with BrE* (Shedyool) or with AmE* (Skedyool) and that, I guess, may be revealing in itself. The Macquarie recognises both of these as correct. And many people say both, interchangeably.

I have a well-travelled friend who can’t stand the word “toilet” also can’t stand “schedule” pronounced “Skedyool” either. I guess she will be able to meet the Queen, and I won’t.


*BrE = British English; AmE = American English